Fire Animation

If you have taken the time to complete the previous tutorial (Creating A Fire Material), then you will have a file that contains fire material. The problem you may be thinking to yourself is "how do I use the material in another project without having to recreate it all over again?" This is an important question that will be answered in this next section.

Open the file that you created your fire material in.

Press 'M' on the keyboard to bring up the Material Editor.

Select the fire material and click on the Put To Library icon []. You will be asked to provide a name, such as "Fire Material".

If you would like to use the material in any other Max file, click on the Get Material icon []. You will need to select the Mtl Library section to see the custom made materials.

The PArray Particle System (PArray) rollouts become quite complicated and you will want to play around with some of the settings not mentioned here. However, the following will provide you with a good overview of what is needed to make your fire more realistic.

Click on the PArray icon located under the Particle Systems tab.

You can now left click and drag anywhere in a viewport and a box with three triangles will be created. This box is only a placeholder. It does not actually do anything and cannot be rendered on its own. It simply says that a PArray exists in the scene.

To activate the PArray goto the Modify panel.

Under the BASIC PARAMETERS:

Select the Pick Object button and select the object that will have the fire material applied.

Under the PARTICLE GENERATION:

Keep a low rate if you have a large Particle Size. The example provided only has a rate of 3, but the size of each particle is 12.

The Speed should be brought right down to '0'. A wind spacewarp can be added later to control the speed and direction.

The Particle Timing should be changed to match when the fire should start and end.

The life of the material is how long it will last for. The default of 30 is way too long. The settings in the example is only 12.

In the Particle Size area, the 'Grow For:' and "Fade For:' are very important. Fire should have a whimsical fade in and fade out. By providing a very brief time, such as 2 or 3 for each, a more realistic effect will be created.

Under the PARTICLE TYPE:

Use Standard Particles and Facing. The Get Material From: area should be left with the default icon. The fire material will be dragged and dropped from the material editor onto the PArray icon in the viewport.

Under the ROTATION and COLLISION::

This final area is also important as a slight spin will create a bit of movement or flicker in the flame. Have a very short spin time of '1'.

The Spin Axis Controls should be given to one axis - the one that allows the material face to spin towards the camera, or renderable view. At this point, you may want to activate the Material Editor and drag your fire material onto the PArray emitter icon.

Although you should already be able to see your fire being created around your object, there will probably be a randomness about where the particles are going. The following section will help you to control the particles.

Wind Spacewarp: This can be used to control the direction and movement of particles. By placing a Wind Spacewarp under the particles it will attempt to push the particles upwards, providing a flame like appearance. Be cautious. Too much strength will cause the fire to look broken up. This can be helped by increasing the size and number of particles.

Gravity Spacewarp: This can be used to create a 'drip down' effect. The fire could be in a cauldron or tube and forced to spill onto the floor. This might be usefull with molten rock or metal being burned.

Containment: Containment of fire is sometimes necessary. The particles will want to go through most objects, so it is necessary to protect them.

To accomplish this use the UOmniFlect. It is "the universal omniflector, provides more options than the original UDeflector. This space warp lets you use any other geometric object as a particle deflector. The deflections are face accurate, so the geometry can be static, animated, or even morphing or otherwise deforming over time." (Taken from the 3DSMax Online Help). Woohoo! You survived.