Ecko Artifaks Thinking Particles

[throb36 0]

So I'm trying to figure out how to create that Ink Splat at the beginning of Monkey's Ecko Piece. Not the "Alpha Crush" but the one with thinking particles. I've got the metaball, and gravity and all that crap, I just can't get the "paint" to spread spherically when it hits the deflector. I've tried using spherical gravity but that seems to have the opposite effect. And Repulse/Bounce also doesn't seem to work right. Any help would be appreciated.

[oeuf 0]

PM Monkey, i'm sure he'll give you some insight.

He's on this board.

Better yet, if Monkey can come on here and let us all know...

[the_Monkey 8]

You try Spherical Gravity with negative values?

It helps to switch PGroups when the particles hit the surface so that they don't receive the gravity to soon.

 

-m

[throb36 0]

Yeah, I have two groups. And I used negative values on the strength of the gravity in the second group, and I just keep getting the same result. No Spread.

 

Here's the setup.

 

 

Null -> Pstorm -> Pgroup1

 

PPass (Group 1) -> Pshape

-> Pgravity

-> Pdeflector -> Pgroup2

 

PPass (Group 2) -> Deflector

-> PGravity (Spherical)

 

 

And of course I got the Particle geometry in a metaball.

 

Everything works, I just can't get the "liquid" to spread. I must be missing something here.

[chroma_ghost 0]

Yeah, I have two groups. And I used negative values on the strength of the gravity in the second group, and I just keep getting the same result. No Spread.

 

Here's the setup.

 

 

Null -> Pstorm -> Pgroup1

 

PPass (Group 1) -> Pshape

-> Pgravity

-> Pdeflector -> Pgroup2

 

PPass (Group 2) -> Deflector

-> PGravity (Spherical)

 

 

And of course I got the Particle geometry in a metaball.

 

Everything works, I just can't get the "liquid" to spread. I must be missing something here.

Have you tried a PRolling node on your 2nd Group? It may help with the spreading effect. Just a thought.

Good luck.

[throb36 0]

I've figured it out. You have to give the deflector a little bounce, like 5-10%. Otherwise the particles will just stick there even if you do have spherical gravity.

 

 

[yocfe 0]

for the noobs, can you give us a little explaining of how doing that? thanks!

[throb36 0]

I'm not going to explain how to use xpresso/thinking particles. You can find some tutorials on youtube or vimeo.

 

But here's the setup:

 

I have the Pstorm node going into a Pgroup (Group 1)

 

Then I have a Ppass (Group 1) going into a PDeflector, a Pshape and a PGravity. The Ppass also goes into a PGroup (Group 2). And the Pdeflector also goes into the Pgroup.

 

Then I have a Ppass (Group 2) that goes into a PVelocity, Pgravity, and Psize.

 

 

Make sure the deflector has about 5-10% bounce, and the Pgravity that Group 2 goes to is set to spherical. I also turned on the Psize gradient so the particles scale down as they die.

 

Make sure to put the particle geometry in a metaball and set the hull value to 1000% and turn on exponential falloff.

 

To make it look silky smooth like the ecko piece, group all that grap together, then add a smooth deformer. You can find that here:

http://www.welter-4d...plugins_en.html

 

Hope this helps.