Binding the Displace to the Faucet

Now let’s unhide the loft object and get the Displace space warp to work its magic on the faucet.

1.  Open faucet_5.max from the CD or continue working from your current scene.

2.  Press the 5 key to bring up the Unhide by Name dialog box. Select faucet_loft and click Unhide to close the dialog box. If you play the animation now, the Displace gizmo moves but has no effect on the faucet mesh.

3. Select the faucet_loft and click the Bind to Space Warp tool. Click the Select by Name tool, highlight Displace01, and click the Bind button to close the dialog box. Click the Move tool to turn off Bind to Space Warp. The faucet is now bound to the space warp. If you look at its modifier stack, it should have Displace Binding at the top.

4.  If you play the animation now, there will still be no change. We need to adjust some of the Displace space warp parameters. Go to frame 25. Select the Displace gizmo, go to the Modify tab, and set the Strength value to 0.5". Notice the effect on the faucet. Set the Strength to 2". The bulge in the faucet gets bigger.

5.  Drag down the Strength spinner of the Displace to 1 1/8”. Add different values of Decay to see the effect and then set Decay to 1.21. Notice that the displacement is more confined to the area of the gizmo rather than distorting the entire model. Play the animation to see the effect. Save your file as faucet_6.max.

	NOTE Decay creates a distance falloff for the space warp effect.

Adjusting the Effect Range

If you drag your time slider from frame 0 to frame 100, you will notice that the animation starts with the bottom of the faucet being displaced and ends with the spout being displaced. We want the effect to move in and then move out, as if a burst of water is flowing in and out of the faucet. We will pull the first and last vertices of the spline away from the faucet to allow the space warp to move in and out of range of the faucet.

1.  Open faucet_6.max from the CD or continue with your current file.

2.  Go to the Display tab, click the Hide by Name button, choose the path_faucet object, and click Hide.

3.  With the left viewport active, press W to maximize it. Click Zoom Extents.

4.  Select the path_displace object and click the Vertex Sub-Object button in the Modify tab. Go to frame 100 and select the last vertex of the path_displace spline. Using the Move tool, drag on the Y axis shaft of the Transform Gizmo to constrain to Y, and move the last vertex down until the faucet is no longer effected by the gizmo.

5.  Now we want to do the same to the first vertex of the path. Go to frame 0. This time we will have to adjust the pivot point of the object in order to constrain to the angle of the spline. Leave the Sub-Object level, go to the Hierarchy tab, and click Affect Pivot Only.

6. With path_displace still selected, click the Align tool. Click the Select by Name tool, choose path_displace (again), and click Pick. In the Align Selection dialog box (Figure 11.26), check X and Y positions, check Pivot Point under the Current Object and Minimum under Target Object, and click OK. You have just moved the pivot point to the first vertex on the path.

FIGURE 11.26  Align Selection dialog box

7.  With the Rotate tool, move the cursor over the blue pivot point center to constrain the rotation to the Z axis and rotate the Pivot until its X axis is aligned with the path, as shown below. Click the Affect Pivot Only button in the Hierarchy tab to turn it off.

8.  With the path_displace object still selected, click the Vertex Sub-Object button on the Modify tab. Click the Move tool and set the Reference Coordinate System to Local. Constraining to the X-axis, move the first vertex away from the faucet until the faucet is no longer affected by the Displace space warp at frame 0. Play the animation. Save your file as faucet_7.max.

Adjusting the Animation Length

Before we work on the burst of water, let’s adjust the length of our animation. Currently the animation is set at the default 100 frames. The project designer would like this project to be about 4 to 5 seconds in length. With the animation being rendered at 30 frames per second, we will need to adjust our animation length to be 120 to 150 frames. Let’s adjust the length of the animation to 4 1/2 seconds, or 135 frames. We don’t want to make the animation we have slower, so we will just add 35 frames.

1.  Open file faucet_7.max from the CD or continue with your current scene.

2. Click the Time Configuration button, in the Time Controls area next to the viewport navigation tools. In the Animation area of the Time Configuration dialog box, enter a Length value of 135 and exit the dialog box. We now have 35 frames after our path animation is completed.

Creating the Water

To create the burst of water, we will use a Super Spray particle system.

1.  Make the top viewport active. Region-zoom into the spout portion of the faucet. Under Create Ø Geometry, choose Particle Systems from the drop-down list. Click the Super Spray button.

2.  In the top viewport, at the center of the faucet opening, click and drag out a Super Spray icon until it is approximately the diameter of the faucet opening, like the one in Figure 11.27. Drag the Icon Size spinner in the Create panel until it reaches 1/2”. If you need to, use the Move tool to center the Super Spray in the faucet opening.

FIGURE 11.27  Top view of the Super Spray

3.  Click the Rotate tool and then right-click it to bring up the Transform Type-In. Change the Reference Coordinate System to Local. Under Offset:Local, type 180 in the X axis field and then press Enter. The Super Spray emitter rotates 180 degrees so that it is now pointing down from the opening of the faucet. Close the Transform Type-In.

4.  Right-click to make the left viewport active. Go to frame 94, where we would like the water to begin coming out of the faucet. Right-click over the Super Spray object and choose Move from the shortcut menu. Move the Super Spray up, constraining to Y, until it is centered in the bulge of the faucet opening, as shown in Figure 11.28.

FIGURE 11.28  Left view of the Super Spray

Adjusting the Super Spray Parameters

If you drag the Time Slider slowly, you will notice the particles emitting between frames 0 and 30. We need to adjust the Super Spray parameters so that the particles begin to emit at frame 94.

1.  With the Super Spray icon selected, go to the Modify tab, and open the Particle Generation rollout (Figure 11.29). Check Use Total and set the number of particles to 150 in the field below the check box.

FIGURE 11.29  Super Spray Particle Generation rollout

	TIP By checking Use Total, we are asking the system to generate a total of 150 particles over the life of the particle system. This setting works best for bursts of particles. Checking Use Rate specifies the number of particles to be emitted per frame. This setting is better for continuously flowing particles rather than bursts.

2.  In the Particle Timing section, set Emit Start to 94 and Emit Stop to 95. Go to frame 94. Right-click in the perspective viewport and click the Quick Render button. The particles are very small and come straight out of the faucet.

3.  Now we need to adjust our particles. Under Particle Size, set the Size to 1.25". Set Variation to 15 percent to vary the particle size, giving some added interest to the burst of water. Set Grow For and Fade For each to zero.

4.  Make sure you are at frame 94, right-click a viewport, and press Shift+E to render with your last settings. The particles are bigger and run together, yet they sure don’t look like water, as you can see in Figure 11.30. We need to change particle types.

	NOTE Grow For defines how long it takes for the particles to reach full size. We set this amount to zero so that the particles burst from the faucet at full size. Fade For defines how long it takes for the particles to diminish to 1/10 their original size. For this animation, we will keep their size consistent.

FIGURE 11.30  Render of particle system with default particle type

© 2000, Frol (selection, edition, publication)