Tornado Particle Effects in 3ds Max and FumeFX
In this tutorial, we will learn to create dynamic, flexible tornado systems and render them using a variety of techniques. Software required: 3ds Max 2011, FumeFX 2.0, Krakatoa 1.6.
What you'll learn
In this tutorial, we will learn to create dynamic, flexible tornado systems and render them using a variety of techniques. This tutorial will show how to set up a complex Particle Flow system to make a tornado inside of 3ds Max. Going beyond a traditional vortex field, the tornado that we'll create in this tutorial will employ recursive logic to keep the system alive while still being lightweight enough to be animatable inside the viewport. We will then look at getting much more natural movement by simulating FumeFX based off of the particle simulation. We'll also touch on Krakatoa and using that to render a large number of particles. Partitioning will be covered along with some of the rendering options available. Finally, we'll look at some techniques to fix artifacts in NUKE. Software required: 3ds Max 2011, FumeFX 2.0, Krakatoa 1.6.
Table of contents
- Project Overview 6m
- Particle Flow Tornado Logic 9m
- Using Particle Flow Forces 13m
- Getting Familiar with FumeFX 14m
- Continuing to Explore FumeFX 9m
- Using Particles as Emitters for FumeFX 12m
- Letting FumeFX Advect Pflow Particles 15m
- Diving Deeper into KRAKATOA 11m
- Loading the Particles from Disk 4m
- Fixing Artifacts in the Final Composite 11m
About the author
Matt Radford works in Computer Graphics for film, animation, and commercials. He started learning 3d Graphics with the release of the "XSI Mod Tool" that came out with Half Life 2. He would model these characters, which by today's standards look atrocious, but for some reason he kept with it. His passion for 3D modeling has paid off. Matt graduated from SCAD in 2010 and has worked for Method Studios, Hydraulx, and currently works at Blur Studio.The idea of creating something beautiful from nothi... more