Ghostly Trails
First experiment in a series I’m working on. In this test, particles emitters were scattered on a rigged biped using a mocap file of a dancer, and splines were created per frame interval from emitters.
The animated splines are baked in the 3ds MAX file, so you can download the files and experiment with the scene. If you make something cool, post your own branch to this project!
This particle trails method is pretty easy to do in Cinema 4D, so I implemented mine in 3ds MAX using Pflow. It’s a pretty similar workflow as C4D.
Download my work files
-
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2r4tdewtuxdfde2/AAB_HsOW1X5FeJQwifbsz-Wsa?dl=0
Here is the 3ds MAX file with the animated splines baked out. You can scrub the timeline and see the trails emerging, but you might have to have a pretty powerful machine to view in real-time. Anyway, feel free to download, and play with the scene and post your own branch!
Here’s a basics rundown for Rayfire, if you’re unfamiliar with it. It’s pretty easy to use, and you’ll need to need to know how it works in order to use this file. It’s pretty easy though, just a standard modifier.
I kind of want to try something like this next, where particles are pouring from the biped emitters with physics. Pflow in MAX is totally capable, but I might pick it up in Cinema 4D, as it seems a bit more optimized.
I’ve used Frost a couple times before, but haven’t been able to fully control the sim like I want.. Let me know if you know of a better method/tool, or if you’re a Thinkbox master and can offer some ideas!
This particle trails method is pretty easy to do in Cinema 4D, so I implemented mine in 3ds MAX using Pflow. It’s a pretty similar workflow as C4D.