Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
lot of fun and can produce incredible
results. But you don't want to find yourself
in a production environment about to miss
your deadline because you opted to use
Dynamics on an animation that could be
done just as easily by hand.
Applied Dynamics
In the next few sections we're going to look
at four of the most commonly used
Dynamics properties: HardFX, ClothFX,
SoftFX, and Collision Effects. We'll be set-
ting up simulations that will give you a taste
of the power these tools offer. The manual
and online help system provide detailed
information on each of these tools and you
should refer to them when you need more
information on a specific setting. The
knowledge you gain over the next few
pages can be expanded upon to create many
of the complex animations that you see in
movies and on TV.
Bring up Layout and we'll begin.
Emitter will appear and the FX_Emit-
ter properties window will open.
Change Birth Rate to
500
(so that the
particles appear more quickly), then
switch to the Etc tab and change Grav-
ity in the Y axis to
-9.8
meters (which
simulates real-world gravity). When
you're finished, close the window.
Note
You'll notice that the Particle Emitter has its
own gravity setting. In fact, each of the per-
sonal dynamics (except SoftFX, which we'll
talk about later) has its own internal gravity
setting. Adding internal gravity applies the
effect to the object globally throughout the
scene. This eliminates the need for (and dif-
ferentiates it from) the social dynamic of
Gravity, which is typically used to apply the
effect to a limited region of your scene.
Collision Effects
Collisions are perhaps the most frequently
used social dynamic, and it's not uncommon
to have more than one
of them in a simulation.
Let's set up a simple
scene to see how they
work with other
dynamic objects.
1. Add a
Particle
Emitter
from the
Items | Add |
Dynamic Obj
menu. From the
Add Particle Emit-
ter window that
appears, accept the
defaults and press
OK
. A new Particle
Figure 19-4: Add a Particle Emitter, and change the Birth Rate to 500 and
Gravity in the Y axis to -9.8 meters.
