since the link goes directly to vids.myspace and there is loads of videos im unsure how we find what effect you are trying to recreate
Main Topics
Browse All Topics
Loading Advertisement...
Question
How to create a smooth moving comet in 3ds max?
How do you create a comet that looks just like this in 3ds max: http://vids.myspace.com/in
I've managed to create a trail of particles following a path using the super spray feature. However, I'm not sure how to make it smooth. I tried making the particles so tiny that the trail would appear solid but it brought my machine down to a crawl & kept crashing. Also, I'm not sure how to make the head of the particle trail face the direction of travel?
This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.
Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get
Instant Access to this Solution
- Plus...
- 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
- Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
- Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
- Never be left without tech help again
Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.
- "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
- "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
- "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.
See what Experts Exchange can do for you.
Got a question?
We've got the answer.
Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.
Need individual assistance?
Our experts are ready to help.
If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.
Want to learn from the best?
Read articles from industry experts.
Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.
Working on a long term project?
Store your work and research.
Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.
Access the answers to your technology questions today.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?
Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.
Trusted by the world's most respected brands.
Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.
Try it out and discover for yourself.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Free Tech Articles
-
WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
-
SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
-
Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
-
Create a Win7 Gadget
This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
-
Outlook continually prompting for username and password
There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
-
Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...
Cloud Class Webinars
- Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
- Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
- IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
- Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
- Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
- How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...
Join the Community
Give a Little. Get a Lot.
Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.
Answers
The ? at the end of the link is causing redirection to the main video page - try this:
http://vids.myspace.com/in
ahhh, nice easy question, its trapecode particular for after effects.
http://www.trapcode.com/pr
Regarding my path deform suggestion above, I created a Max file to illustrate this procedure (in case you haven't worked with path deforms before). Notice that the material is 2-sided and uses the mental ray glow shader in combination with the glare output shader in the render setup.
The included PFlow particle system uses a link constraint to follow the spline path (Animation menu - Constraints - Path Constraint). Use the Motion tab on the command panel to adjust the path constraint.
By the way, I am using the Creativity Extension subscription update from Autodesk which provides some new PFlow operators...if you don't have it, your PFlow shapes might look a little different.
See the attached zip file. When you unzip the file, rename GlowingRibbon.txt to GlowingRibbon.max (EE won't allow upload of .max file extensions).
Good luck.
By the way, thanks for the info on trapcode particular. I checked out their website - looks like great stuff. I'm not sure if robanddeanna has After Effects. Without it, this is the best Studio Max method that I can recommend to achieve similar results.
It took a little less than a minute to render that clip. I used Mental Ray to render rather than scanline - I've pretty much abandoned scanline since MR came along.
After the initial setup, it's pretty simple to change the path of the ribbon - just change the vertex positions on the spline.
it is just so quick to set up a photorealistic scene.
i could wake up in the morning at 7 o'clock and look at the sunrays' shinning through the gaps in the blinds and the way that light reacts to the furniture and replicate it before 10 o'clock. I'd be lucky to finish by nightfall with mental ray. creating textures is also far more enjoyable and from my own experience, far more profound
3 Ways to Join
Business Accounts
- Perfect for organizations
- Multiple users
- Save over 36%
- Create a Business Account
Answer for Membership
- Earn free access
- Showcase your knowledge
- No credit card required
- Sign Up to Answer
Loading Advertisement...
by: bham3dmanPosted on 2009-07-15 at 22:44:17ID: 24866639
Greetings,
The effect you're seeing in that video is most likely done with compositing software like Autodesk Combustion or Adobe After Effects (or the higher end stuff). You'd have to get creative in Max to pull this off without a special plugin.
Particle Flow would be the way to go to achieve this with Max particle systems - but like you said, the calculation can bring a computer to its knees.
For the primary streaks, you might consider using the cloth plugin or Reactor cloth. You could bind one end of the cloth to a helper object or other non-renderable object and let the dynamics control the flow of the cloth to achieve this flowing ribbon effect. Then just use a glow material on the cloth. This would give you the clean lines you are seeing without tons and tons of work with a particle system.
You could then accent the effect with a simple particle system to generate the little sparkle particles following the ribbon.
Another idea is to create long straight ribbon geometry and bind it to a curvy spline using a path deform world space modifier. Use the percent parameter to control its position and speed along the path.
Hope this helps. Good luck.