Maya Curve Flow Replace Particle Instancer Tutorial by Stuart Christensen

[Aellostrike]

but what if I want some of the 'flying donuts' to rotate in varying degrees? for example: I want some of them to rotate continously in x-axis; while others are in y-axis & the rest in z-axis? is there a need to change the swarm`s attribute(s)?

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@Aellostrike Sorry I'm so late on this response! Usually that sort of thing you will need to assign some per particle attributes or a special script. It's a little more extensive than a small tutorial can explain and requires a bit more knowledge about MEL scripting and particle stuff.....Stay tuned for more on this in the future and I will try and elaborate! OK? Sorry I can't be of more help on this at the moment.

[Aellostrike]

@deepfriedectoplasm so I really have to be extremely knowledgeable about mel scripts, ok thanks!

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@Aellostrike Particle expressions and scripts are a very good thing to learn. Stay tuned for my next tutorial as it is all about how to add random rotation to these particles. I've gotten this question a lot so I created a tutorial that shows how to do this...It should be posted this Thursday night! Stay tuned!

[VEGETADTX]

Extreeeemely useful tutorial! However how do I orient donuts along the curve? :)

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@VEGETADTX By default particles stay at the same scale and face the camera and the only way to vary from this point is to add expressions with per/particle attributes and this process is somewhat complex and could take many (or one very long) tutorial to explain. Maybe I will cover it in the future but for now, your best bet is to Google like mad and further research. Sorry I can't be of more help at the moment...Hope that helps?

[VEGETADTX]

@deepfriedectoplasm Hey! Thank you for your kind reply! :)

Yes that definitely helps a lot! Because you gave me an idea...I completely forgot about expressions! How could I!? :D

Hmmm...I know! I will select "donuts" apply orient constraint to them and see in script editor what's the code, then I will just integrate that code in the per-particle expression field...

Hm! does that even makes sense at all? :D Oh well I'll try it anyway! :D

Thanks again and keep the GREAT tutorials!!!

[VOODOOZ3]

hey

how can make the torus rotate over itself while floaing

and also scale up when it gets towards the end?

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@VOODOOZ3 Good question. By default particles stay at the same scale and face the camera and the only way to vary from this point is to add expressions with per/particle attributes and this process is somewhat complex and could take many (or one very long) tutorial to explain. Maybe I will cover it in the future but for now, your best bet is to Google like mad and further research. Sorry I can't be of more help at the moment...Hope that helps?

[VOODOOZ3]

@deepfriedectoplasm Yes, been googling for days now trying to find the expressions.. Thanks for ur concerns and keep up your good work :P

[warriorskin]

thank you very much! u are a grate instructor

[ryantheram719]

This is really cool I learned a lot of neat things about particles and the way they work thanks for the upload man, I will suscribe

[hayabusathemanslayer]

sir, you are an awesome instructor. Funny yet intelligent. Also, you sound somewhat like instructor and even says the "boom" like he does. thanks for this tutorial and for your others. Just a small thing, i think it would be helpful to explain what the attributes do. it'll help us beginners, like me XD, understand what the end result will be.

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@hayabusathemanslayer For the most part I try to get everything in there, but yes....there's so many various attributes for stuff it can be confusing. Sometimes I would hope that everyone will experiment with attributes that I don't mention. If they are sort of self explanatory I tend to leave stuff out....but thanks for the kind words and I will try to keep this in mind for future tutorials! Thanks for watching

[danielaldrete]

hey! i followed this tutorial and it's awesome! Actually I tried to do a bee swarm, the only problem is that the bees do not face the orientation of the curve as they go on... they keep facing forward all the time :S... what can I do, can u help me??? thanx a lot!!

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@danielaldrete There's quite a few other approaches depending on the detail and movement you need. However, the complexity can be a bit more challenging and sort of hard to cover in a short tutorial. I'll ponder a little more and put it on the list of topics for new tuts. In the meantime I'll send along some ideas soon that may help you out! As well, thanks for the nice words!

[kazmiasad]

@CinemaSketch - the best part of stu is that he is really so cooperative to taught and guide that we hardly find. I really learned a lot from his tutorials. The way stu speak is the coolets thing, soft and polite really like a teacher. Sorry stu , i was ill , but now i am back and looking for some more nice tutorials on your channel. :)

[CinemaSketch]

Hey I was wondering before I watch this if you can put this into after effects and lay it over footage so I could make a bee swarming video?

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@CinemaSketch Yesssss...This is the perfect thing for that kind of stuff. Create the particle effect and save it out as an IFF sequence and boom!...just bring it into AE and you are good to go!

[regismg2]

Dude, u really saved my day(days) - i have been searching for this a while. Thank you man!!!!

[TrandzikPeto]

Hi Stuart, tutorial is great but I have one additional question about particles and I hope you would help me, I need to create animation where some object(for example box) will decay(disintegrate) into particles. I know this has nothing to do with this tutorial but I dont know how to do that, and I hope you do. Can you help me? I need to have animation wheare this box decay from one side to another but at the begining this box is not disintegrated- it is complex...

[3rdcube]

hey thank you for the great tutorial i have a question, if i have a type of particle that is long and skinny going in a circle how do i make it follow the rotation of the curve so its not always pointing one direction. thanks

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@3rdcube Ahhh! Good question, by default the particles become sprites and sprites always face the camera not matter which way you spin around. The answer is to animate a camera and a curve. There is a method but that will take another tutorial to explain. I will put it on the list for upcoming stuff. But for now I will send you some instructions that might help you get it going that way. Stay tuned. Stu

[Ichiryu666]

@deepfriedectoplasm Hey dude. I love your tutorials, but I don't know how to make a curve, do you have a tutorial for that, if not could you tell me where I can find one. Thanks :)

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@Ichiryu666 Switch to the Top View in your viewport and go to the create menu and choose the CV curve tool, then just click around to some various points and you will magically see a curve being made.  Then, hit enter when you have a curve that you like. Switch back to the perspective view and then, select the curve, right click and choose Control Vertex option and you can then select various points to move up or down etc. Hope that helps.

[CinemaSketch]

@deepfriedectoplasm i cant seem to be able to right click and find the control vertex option

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@CinemaSketch Make sure your particles are active in the viewport! Then, right click and you should get a vertex option.

[BaneOfIslam10]

Awesome. This is exactly what I was looking for. I'm building some models for teaching tutorials on electric power and you just saved me a load of time.

[Dencii]

Sir, can I use this same concept to create say two low-poly opposing armies that will crash in the middle of a battlefield? Great tuts, by the way! You have another subscriber here :)

[HumanAfterAll07]

great tutorial!

[infinitesimotel]

Your tutorials ahould be way higher up in the search results, they're the best to follow Ive found yet.

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@infinitesimotel Thank you so much for your kind message. I'm low on the search results because You-Tube Ranks by views and I really just uploaded these tutorials in the past few months. The tutorials are aimed at helping anyone starting out with Maya to gain a massive leap in the learning curve and inspire the viewer to take a simple tutorial and apply the concept to ideas of their own. I just switched to Maya 2011 and a new mac system so I'll be back soon with more tutorials. Stay tuned.

[russellmasc]

lol Maya tutorials by Bill Lumberg :D

but thanks for the tut learned a lot!

[iSkyNets]

best quality of video!!!

[nekidspaceman]

This is a hugely useful tutorial, thanks, but has anyone seen 'office space'?

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@nekidspaceman

Thanks for watching and yes, I think we're going to have to move your desk down to the basement OK? Oh, and I just might need this stapler for a little while! Make sure to subscribe for more Maya tutorial updates! Thanks. STU