Assembler Tutorial Section 1
By: Jim Marten
2. Open Particle Storm2.
3. Click on Simulation in the Items view, and set Stop Time to 3.5 s.
4. Delete the Gravity controller by right clicking on it in the Items view and selecting Delete.
Rename the Particle Group for this simulation. Also, designate the amount of particles for the simulation, and create the .lwo file for the group.
5. Click on the Particle Group named Pgroup in the Items view.
6. Rename it to LWLogo.
7. Set the Number of Particles to 1000.
8. Click on the File Requester button.
- Choose the directory you would like to have your .lwo and .psm files stored.
- Type "LWLogo" for the name.
9. Right click on LWLogo in the Items view under Particle Groups, and select Create Effect Object.
Create an emitter for the particles.
10. Click on the Fountain Controller.
11. Set Birth Rate to 1000 particles/sec.
12. Set Position- X: 0; Y: 0; Z: -2 m.
13. Set Orientation- Heading: 0 deg; Pitch: 0 deg; Bank: 0 deg.
14. Set Scale- X: 0%; Y: 0%; Z: 0%.
Assembler settings
Set up the LightWave Logo for the particles to assemble into.
15. Right click on "Controllers" in the Items view and select Assembler.
16. Open the Position tree under Target, and set the Z value to 2 m.
17. Under Target- Shape Type, select LW Object Faces.
18. Click on the File requester button and select the Metalogo.lwo from the Objects directory in the LWLogo tutorial directory. This will be the shape the particles assemble into.
For now, we’ll leave all the other values as defaults.
19. Click the play button and watch the particles assemble into the LightWave logo.
There are many variations you can create, just by changing some of the values for both the Fountain and the Assembler Object. Try these:
20. Fountain Birth Rate: Go to Fountain, and increase the Birth Rate to 10000 particles/second. Press Play, and notice that the particles now all come out in one big clump- this way you can actually see them starting to form the logo before they even get there. Rewind the simulation to prepare for the next test.
21. Fountain Scale: Increase the Scale of the fountain to X: 200%, Y: 200%, and Z: 200%. This will cause your particles to be emitted from a large ball, then kind of shrink down to assemble into the object. Play the simulation, then Rewind it to prepare for the next test.
22. Use Particle Age: Set Scale back to 0% for all parameters and Birth Rate back to 1000 particles/second. Go to Assembler, and turn off Use Particle Age. This will require all of the particles to be assembled when the simulation time reaches the value designated in the Time To Assemble By parameter. If the particle is born after this time, it will immediately appear assembled on the Assembler Object. Play the simulation, then Rewind it to prepare for the next test.
23. Assembler Lag Time: Go to Fountain, and under the Rotation parameters, set the Heading to 90 deg. Press Play and note that the particles start to emit in the direction the fountain is pointed before they move towards the Assembler Object. Now, go to the Assembler controller and change the Lag Time to 0. Rewind the simulation, if you haven’t already done so, and press Play again. Notice that the particles immediately move towards the Assembler Object. Set the Lag time back to .5 s and rewind the simulation to prepare for the next test.
24. Assembler Target Count: Go to Assembler and set the Target Count to 5. This will cause Particle Storm to select only 5 points on the Assembler Object to assemble all of the particles into. Press Play, and you will notice that all of the particles are sent to these 5 points. Set Target Count back to 1000 and rewind the simulation to prepare for the next test.
25. Moving the Assembler Target: Go to Assembler and open the Position property. For the X parameter, select Envelope from the drop down list. Click on Edit Envelope, and Load the LWLogoMove.env from the LWLogo tutorial directory. Press Play and notice that once the particles assemble into the Assembler Object, they will do their best to stay assembled regardless of the position the Assembler Object moves to. Change the X parameter back to constant and the value to 0. Rewind the simulation to prepare for the last test.
26. Using Ordered Assembly: Go to the Assembler Controller and turn on the Ordered option under the Target Property. Press Play and notice that all of the particles seem to clump to 3 specific areas on the object. This is because the particles are being assembled in the numbered order of the polygons in the object. Increase the particles in the particle group to 4240(the number of polygons in the Assembler Object). Then increase the Target Count in the Assembler Controller to 4240. Finally increase the Birth Rate in the Fountain Controller to 5000 particles/sec. Now when you play the simulation, you will notice that the particles cover the entire object, but they are assembled in a very distinct order. Again, this is due to the numbered order of the polygons in the object. This will be a very important part of the next section of this tutorial. Rewind the simulation to prepare for Section 2.