Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

...

Section
UI Expand
title UI Path: ||Create panel|| > Helpers > PhoenixFD category > ParticleTuner button

Image RemovedImage Added

 

Parameters

Image Removed

 

...

Section
Column
width60%

Enabled | tun_enabled – Animatable checkbox that turns on and off the effect of the Particle Tuner.

...

Affect | tun_affectpartsys – Allows the Particle Tuner to separately affect the Liquid, Foam, Splash or Mist particles. You can also affect Drag particles in a Fire/Smoke simulation, but note that you cannot change their Velocity channel - they are simply dragged by the fluid. You could affect any Drag particle system by typing Drag in the list, or you can affect specific Drag particle systems by using their exact names.

...

When [ Edit Condition... ] – Opens the Edit Condition window. The Edit Condition window is used to construct a sequence of tests which are evaluated for every particle of the Phoenix Simulator, at each simulation Step. If the particle satisfies the condition, the selected 

...

Then actions are performed - Delete ParticleChange Particle Channel or Affect By Forces. Otherwise, the particle is ignored. By default, the condition is set to "Age > 1.000", therefore only those particles whose age is greater than one will be affected by the specified action. Time Scale

...

 different than

...

1 will affect

...

the Particle Age used by the Particle Tuners. In order to get predictable results you will have to adjust the buildup time using this formula: Time Scale * Time in frames / Frames per

...

second See the Particle Channel Ranges page for more information on the channel ranges.

Then:

Delete Particle tun_act_op_del – When the condition of the Tuner passes for a particle, it will be deleted. If this action is selected, Change Particle Channel 

...

and Affect By Forces

...

 will have no effect. Note that this is superior to the Clear Inside option from the Chaos Phoenix Per-Node Properties

...

 because it can also work for particles outside the simulation grid.

...

Change Particle Channel checkbox | tun_act_op_chan – When the condition of the Tuner passes for a particle, you can choose which of its particle channels will be changed and how:

...

Channel | tun_act_chan – Selects the Particle Channel to affect. Note that if set to Viscosity or RGB, the channel value can be no lower than 0 and no higher than 1 - Viscosity and RGB are clamped strictly inside this range. The Channel can be one of: [ Size ], [ Age ], [ Viscosity ], [ RGB Red ], [ RGB Green ], [ RGB Blue ], [ Velocity X ], [ Velocity Y ], [ Velocity Z ], [ Speed ].

...

Action | tun_act_chan_change – Specifies the type of action to perform on the selected Channel. You can choose to increase or decrease the value at each simulation step, or set it directly to a certain value.

Action Value | tun_act_value – Specifies the value for the selected Action.

Buildup Time (sec) | tun_buildup_time – Specifies the time it takes (in seconds) for

...

the Channel to gradually reach the specified Action Value. If Buildup Time

...

 is 0, the effect is instant.

UI Text Box
typenote

If the Buildup Time is set to 0, the specified Action will be executed for every step of the simulation. If the Steps per Frame parameter of the Simulator is set to a value higher than 1, the specified Action will be executed multiple times for a single frame.

Time Scale different than 1 will affect the Buildup Time of Particle Tuners. In order to get predictable results you will have to adjust the buildup time using this formula:
Time Scale * Time in frames / Frames per second

Affect By Forces | tun_act_op_force, tun_force_list – When the condition of the Tuner passes for a particle, you can choose which forces will affect it. You can pick 3ds Max forces, Phoenix forces, Mappers, or even other Voxel or Particle Tuners. Using this, you can for example tell a force to only affect the fluid inside a volume, or only affect fluid with certain speed, or even based on a texture mask. When using native 3ds Max forces in the Tuner, you can limit them only to certain particle systems using

...

the Affect list - without using a Tuner, all particle systems in a simulator would be affected.

With Multiplier | tun_force_mult –  Multiplier for the strength of the forces. This is particularly useful for easily scaling the effect of 3ds Max forces over a Phoenix simulation.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%

Image Added 

 

 

Anchor
editConditionWindow
editConditionWindow

...

Section

Value Expression Item


Anchor
valueExpression
valueExpression

Section
Column
width50%
UI Text Box
typeinfo

The Value Expression Item is the lowest level operator. It expects no sub-expressions but can be converted to a Math Expression Item by selecting it with the right mouse button in the Conditions Tree.

The Value Expression Item returns a raw number which can be either the value of a Particle Channel or a Texture for a given particle of the Phoenix Simulator, a manually-specified number in a certain range or the distance between a given particle and an object in the scene.

Image Removed

Number val_typeval_number – returns the specified value.

Random Between val_type, val_rand_min, val_rand_max – returns a random number in the selected range. Note: a different value is generated for each particle of the Simulator. The value also changes for every frame.

Channel val_type, val_chan_part – returns the value of the specified Simulator Particle Channel for the current particle. You must have this particle channel enabled in the Output rollout

 of

 of your Simulator. The Channel can be one of:[ Size ], [ Age ], [ Viscosity ], [ RGB Red ], [ RGB Green ], [ RGB Blue ], [ Velocity X ], [ Velocity Y ], [ Velocity Z ], [ Speed ]. You can find out more about the usual particle channel ranges in Phoenix here.

Distance Toval_typeval_dist_node – returns the distance from the current particle to the surface of the specified object. Will be positive if the particle is outside the object volume, and will be negative if the particle is inside the object volume. The distance is in simulation grid voxels. Note: currently you can only pick polygon meshes - measuring distance from the current particle to a nearest particle from a particle system is currently not supported.

Texture val_typeval_tex – returns the specified texture's color intensity in the position of the current particle. The Phoenix Simulator has no Explicit UV coordinates therefore the texture's 

Mapping should

Mapping should be set to Planar from Object or World XYZ for this to work.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width45%

Image Added 

 

 

Section

Compare Expression Item


Anchor
compareExpression
compareExpression

Section
Column
width50%
UI Text Box
typeinfo

The Compare Expression Item evaluates to true if the specified condition is valid based on the provided sub-expressions. Otherwise, it evaluates to false.

To create a Compare Expression in the Conditions Tree, right-mouse-button click either on a Logic or a Compare expression and select "Replace with: New Comparison".

Image Removed

 

Compare Type  

Compare Type  comp_type – Sets the comparison type to perform:

When set to "Is Greater Than", the Compare expression for a given particle will be true when the 

first Math

first Math/Value expression item should return a value 

larger than

larger than the second.

When set to "Is Less Than", the Compare expression for a given particle will be true when the 

first Math

first Math/Value expression item should return a value smaller than the second.

When set to "Is Equal To", the Compare expression for a given particle will be true when

both Math

both Math/Value expression items evaluate to the same number.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width45%

Image Added 

 

 

Section

Math Expression Item


Anchor
mathExpression
mathExpression

 
Section
Column
width50%
UI Text Box
typeinfo

The Math Expression Item returns a number calculated according to the specified Math Type and the provided sub-expressions.

To create a Math Expression Item in the Conditions Tree, right-mouse-button click either on a Math or a Value expression Item and select one of the "Replace with: (this) ..." options which contains a "+" , "-", "*" or "/" symbol.

Image Removed

Math Typemath_type – Sets the mathematical operation type to perform:

When set to "Plus", the Math expression returns the 

sum of

sum of the two Math/Value expressions below it.

When set to "Minus", the Math expression returns the 

difference of

difference of the two Math/Value expressions below it.

When set to "Multiplied by", the Math expression returns the 

product of

product of the two Math/Value expressions below it.

When set to "Divided by", the Math expression returns the 

quotient of

quotient of the two Math/Value expressions below it.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width45%

Image Added 

 

 

Section

Logic Expression Item


Anchor
logicExpression
logicExpression

 
Section
Column
width50%
UI Text Box
typeinfo

The Logic Expression Item is a top level operator which returns a value of either True or False, depending on the specified Logic Type and the provided sub-expressions.

To create a Logic Expression in the Conditions Tree, right-mouse-button click either on a Logic or a Compare expression and select one of: "Replace with: (this) AND ... " or "Replace with: (this) OR ...".

Image Removed

Logic

Type 

Type logic_type – Sets the type of logic to use: 

When set to "And", 

both Compare

both Compare expressions below should evaluate to 

true for

true for a given particle for the Logic Expression to be true. 

When set to "Or", at least one

of the

of the two Compare expressions below should evaluate to 

true for

true for a given particle for the Logic Expression to be true.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width45%

Image Added