Here's a question for you particle experts; I hope it's not impossible.  I want to show a snowplow moving down the street after a snowstorm, and I need it to be throwing out a huge, dense volume of snow off to the side of the road.  Does anyone have a thought on how I might go about this?

If you are ok with legacy particle emitters, then I can probably whip something up for you.  Shouldn't be too hard.  Just let me know.

https://marketplace.reallusion.com/iclone/author/biggstrek

Wow, that's super kind of you.  I do have an idea for a great little video if I can get snow in a dense, fast stream as from a snowplow as the plow drives down the road in a heavy snowstorm.  But I'd just as soon do it myself if you could just write a couple sentences to point me in the right direction; then I can figure out the details myself.  Give a man a fish... teach a man to fish, you know.  But if you just want to make it and put it in Marketplace, I'll surely buy it.  Thanks!


Hey, I just checked out your link to your particle emitters in Marketplace.  You have some really nice stuff there.  You should package them all into one big pack for Smart Gallery import.  I'd definitely buy it!  I'll probably buy some of your things anyway, though it's best if they are together in one package to make finding them easy.  One of my pet peeves in Marketplace is items that have to be manually downloaded instead of automatically imported, and then they never appear in Smart Gallery, but instead just get hidden away somewhere in Contents and are impossible to find when I need them.


Tim

I definitely understand your "give a man fish" desire, but it would also be easier (for me) to just create something that you could then adjust to your liking (which I'll be happy to help you with - I think that's like meeting you half way?)  As a help, check out the online Help section (search for "Particle") - there should be a section called "Particles" that has the basics of the system (this is the iClone 6 version, though it hasn't changed in many many versions):  https://manual.reallusion.com/iClone_6/ENU/Pro_6.0/default.html 

[EDIT:  here's the iClone 7 version - https://manual.reallusion.com/iClone_7/ENU/Content/iClone_7/Pro_7.4/11_Set/Particle/SFX_particle.htm?Highlight=particle ]

And you don't have to buy it, I'll just send it to you.  I do this stuff mainly for fun.  :)

As to packaging up my existing stuff, I do have a number of "six packs" of particle emitters (and other themed packs) but as I don't have Smart Gallery, I have no idea how they integrate into that system.  I'm kind of living in the past having not upgraded from iClone 6 due to my PC's (lack of) performance.  (And I think/assume Smart Gallery is part of iClone 7...?)  (All that might change soon, but that's another story...)

Anyway, give me a few hours to play around and see what I come up with and get back to you.  And I'll try my best to explain it when I send it.

https://marketplace.reallusion.com/iclone/author/biggstrek

Okay!  And tomorrow, when I get some free time, I'll go over to Marketplace and buy some of your stuff.
Tim

Before I get too carried away, he's a quick demo of what I have so far:



Am I heading in the right direction?  Is this what you are after?

Basically that's three very similar emitters spraying off to one side as they are all moving with the truck (no actual plow showing, but you get the point...:) )

https://marketplace.reallusion.com/iclone/author/biggstrek

And here's another variation, now with a fourth emitter added, as well as a second set rotated along the Z axis 180 degrees for the other side (so basically 8 emitters):



OK, for what it's worth, I now have 4 particle emitters located roughly at the same point, all emitting in a similar Spread and Diagonal and Longtitude and Latitude.  All slightly different to each other to make things more "real".

They are:  a Small (sprinkle?), Medium and Large emitter of snow.  The fourth I call BackGround and is mostly a cloudy white "filler".

As I don't know your level of knowledge of Particle Emitters I don't know what I need to tell you.  If you're a novice, I suggest playing with a simple emitter and change each setting and see what happens.  Definitely read through the help pages as this should give you an idea of the settings involved.

Anyway, I'll send you the emitters as-is and you can do with them as you will.  If you want to change something and don't know exactly how, shoot me a message and I'll try and describe what I think it is you need to do.

[EDIT:  I should also mention thebiz did a great video showing the basics of Particle Emitters.  Check it out if you haven't already: ]



https://youtu.be/WlA8A0JDJ6Y

https://marketplace.reallusion.com/iclone/author/biggstrek

Thanks!  I'm a pro with Popcorn FX and use it a lot, but I've never worked at a lower level.  I hope to learn a lot with this project.  I look forward to getting your stuff.
Tim

I want to publicly thank you for those excellent snow emitters.  They work extremely well and are exactly what I need.  Even better, they are models of good work that can serve as a leaping-off point for my learning more about particles.
Tim

You are most welcome.  :)

https://marketplace.reallusion.com/iclone/author/biggstrek