Vimeo now has it's official Orbaz Group. Please join and participate, share your work :) http://vimeo.com/groups/95796

Particle Flow Tools plug-ins - Box#2, Box#3 1.5 and Freebies - are recompiled for 3ds Max 2012 and 3ds Max Design 2012, both 32- and 64-bit versions. The update is available to the commercial license holders. Please send a request to [url=http://www.orbaz.com/request/UpdatePFToolsMax2012/]Orbaz Support[/url] with your serial number(s) to get the installer links. The installers for Particle Flow Tools: Box#2 Render-Only edition for 3ds Max 2012 (for render farm nodes) will be available in the next 2 weeks.

The Support/Download section has new download links with Update Installers for render farm nodes. The new installers simplify update of Particle Flow Tools plug-ins on a render farm. Previously the update on render farm nodes was only possible with "file dumps". If you need "from scratch" Render Farm Edition installers of Box#2 Pro, please send a request to [url=http://www.orbaz.com/request/PFTBox2RenderOnlyInstallers/]Orbaz Support[/url] with your serial number of Box#2.

Particle Flow Tools plug-ins - Box#2, Box#3 1.5 and Freebies - are recompiled for 3ds Max 2011, both 32- and 64-bit versions. The update is available to the commercial license holders and ready for download at the time of the official release of 3ds Max 2011. Please send a request to [url=http://www.orbaz.com/request/UpdatePFToolsMax2011/]Orbaz Support[/url] with your serial number(s) to get the installer links. Particle Flow is also ported as a standalone application to the Android platform. [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20100401/PFlowOnNexus.jpg[/img] You can download the PFlow standalone application for your Android-compatible cell phone at [url=http://www.android.com/market/]Android Marketplace[/url]

"PFlow Toolbox Office: Volume 2" is available now at Turbo Squid! Grab your copy here: http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/508223 [img]http://files.turbosquid.com/Preview/Content_2010_01_06__08_05_05/PFTO_Vol2_Signature_4x4.jpg2e211d93-e9f0-4b53-a15b-d0906a3c88e2Large.jpg[/img] - Over 9 hours of video on two-DVD set - Covers PhysX-based dynamics effects of Box#2 Pro - Advanced Box#2 Pro effects with a data bridge to Box#3 Pro - Several bonus videos about RayFire destruction plug-in Table of Content: [b]Box#2 Pro videos:[/b][list=1][*]Introduction [*]Explaining the Glue Operator [*]Me & My Katamari [*]Squash [*]Donuts [*]Bomb [*]Particle Cloth [*]Capture Net [*]Bamboo Ragdoll [*]Foliage [*]Ripping & Tearing [*]Glass Shattering[/list:o] [b]Box#2 Pro and Box#3 Pro videos:[/b][list=1][*]Box 2 & 3: Bomb [*]Box 2 & 3: Avalanche [*]Pimp my Toolbox[/list:o] [b]RayFire videos:[/b][list=1][*]Grayscale Fracture [*]Activate by Force [*]Custom Properties [*]Glue[/list:o]

John Rand has finished three more [url=http://www.orbaz.com/visualguide/particleflowtools/box2/]Visual Guid[/url] tutorials for Box#2 Pro:[list][*] [url=http://www.orbaz.com/visualguide/particleflowtools/box2/PhysXShape_Chain.html]PhysX Shape Chain[/url] [*][url=http://www.orbaz.com/visualguide/particleflowtools/box2/PhysXGlue_Bridge.html]PhysX Glue Bridge[/url] [*][url=http://www.orbaz.com/visualguide/particleflowtools/box2/PSkinner_Gorilla.html]Gorilla Skull[/url] [/list:u]

Particle Flow has its own page on Facebook now: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=180146063994&ref=mf

"PFlow Toolbox Office: Volume 1" available now at TurboSquid! Grab your copy here: http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/index.cfm/ID/496125 [img]http://files.turbosquid.com/Preview/Content_2009_10_29__16_58_33/PFTO_Vol1_Signature.jpg773a69c1-7286-4e2a-ae50-33c4d11db349Large.jpg[/img] - The only tutorial collection for PFlow Toolbox#3 of it's kind - 25 Video Tutorials (over 7 hours running time) - including over 70 Max files (max2010) and bonus scenes. - Learn how to create custom PFlow Operators and TD Tools Check out the Vimeo Mini Trailer here! [url]http://vimeo.com/7367123[/url] Table of Content: Box 1 videos: 1. Feather Rig 2. Scripted Fracture 3. Laola Wave 4. Brittle Wall 5. Floating Money Box 3 Pro videos: 1. Introduction 2. Driving Particles with Grayscale values 3. Gradient by Distance 4. Speed by Gradient 5. Color by Camera Angle 6. Ocean Wake Particles 7. Revolve along Surface 8. Pipe Sub-Operator 9. Random Sub-Operator 10. Align to Object 11. Positional Object Locks 12. Force Influencer 13. Influence by Distance 14. Animated Collisions 15. Fire Embers 16. Shape Controls 17. Nanomites Part 1 18. Nanomites Part 2 19. Contol by Proxy 20. Pimp my Toolbox Stay tuned for Volume:2 soon! With kindest regards, Anselm

Orbaz Technologies invites hard-core Particle Flow users and aficionados to share their thoughts about Particle Flow's future, drop a few suggestions how to make it better, and get a peek at what comes ahead. Please send requests for participation by using [url=http://www.orbaz.com/request/AdvisoryBoard]this web form[/url]. It is expected that a VFX professional has his own website that attests to his CG addiction, so requests having an address with the generic mail servers like GMail, HotMail, or Yahoo will not be accepted.

Update 1.05 for Particle Flow Tools Box#2 Pro is available now. The registered users of Orbaz plug-ins can dowload it at the Support/Download section. To get access to the Support/Download forum please do the following:[list=1][*]Register at the Orbaz forum. [*]Send request to support@orbaz.com with the following information:[list=a][*]Date of purchase of Box#2 or Box#3 plug-ins; [*]Serial number of the plug-in; [*]User name at the Orbaz forum.[/list:o][/list:o] What's new in the 1.05 update:[list][*]NVIDIA PhysX 64-bit SDK v.2.8.3 is used therefore PhysXCOMServer is no longer needed. The usage of the 64-bit SDK makes Box#2 Pro plugin fully compatible with 64-bit flavors of WinXP, Vista and Windows 7. [*]Render-Only version of Box#2 is implemented. This version does not require installation of PhysX system software and it can be used on render-farm nodes. [*]Miscellaneous bug fixes - for details please look at Support/Download section. [/list:u]

Particle Flow Tools: Freebies plug-in is recompiled for 3ds Max 2010, both 32- and 64-bit platforms. Plug-in version was changed to 1.074 from 1.073 to signify the changes done in Camera IMBlur operator to accommodate the fixes for particle motion blur rendering in 3ds Max 2010. The plug-in is delivered as zipped *.dlo file without a reference documentation. The documentation is available online by clicking on "[b]?[/b]" button in the top portion of a PFlow operator interface. The plug-in is available in the [url=http://www.orbaz.com/download/index.php]Download section[/url] of the Orbaz web site.

The presentations given by John Rand at the SIGGRAPH 2009 show are now available as [b]Visual Guide[/b] at the [url=http://www.orbaz.com/products/particleflow/box2/]Box#2 Pro product web page[/url]. Direct link: http://www.orbaz.com/visualguide/particleflowtools/box2/

Particle Flow Tools Box#2 (already available) and Box#3 1.5 release (coming very soon) will be demonstrated by Anselm and John Rand at the Turbo Squid booth #3600 and Prime Focus VFX Technology Inc. (formerly Frantic Films) booth #3500. Tuesday, August 4th [list]10 – 11am by Anselm at Turbo Squid 2 - 2:30pm by John Rand at Prime Focus 2:30 - 3pm by Anselm at Prime Focus[/list:u] Wednesday, August 5th [list]10 – 11am by Anselm at Turbo Squid 1:30 - 2pm by John Rand at Prime Focus 2 - 2:30pm by Anselm at Prime Focus[/list:u] Thursday, August 6th [list]10 – 11am by Anselm at Turbo Squid 2:30 - 3pm by John Rand at Prime Focus[/list:u] See you at the show!

[img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/Box2LogoBar.jpg[/img] [i](June 03, 2009 Boston, MA) Orbaz Technologies releases Particle Flow Tools: Box#2 Pro.[/i] Box#2 provides operators and tests to replicate real-world effects such as natural and man-made forces, binding particles together and then breaking the bonds, collisions between particles and with other objects, and more. Also included are several new Birth operators that are optimized for physics simulations as well as a preset flow that makes initial setup a snap. To top it all off, Box#2 gives you three new modifiers that allow particles to interact with standard mesh objects in mind-blowing ways. [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/Box2Promo02.jpg[/img] Features include:[list][*]Three new Birth operators let you control placement and speed of particles when created, produce arrays of particles, and use any regular objects as particles. [*]Special PhysX operators and tests let Particle Flow communicate with the physics-simulation engine. You can adjust world settings, use 3ds Max forces in simulations, bind particles together and disintegrate bound groups, and more [*]Dedicated new modifiers use particles to make parts of regular objects appear and disappear, use particles as bones in mesh objects, and allow particles in a simulation to physically interact with standard objects. [*]Extras include sub-operators for controlling simulations with custom operators from Box#3, updated operators with advanced features, and material inheritance.[/list:u] [b]For more info on Box#2 follow the links below and watch the demo video.[/b] [url=http://www.orbaz.com/products/particleflow/box2/]Product Page[/url] [url=http://www.orbaz.com/gallery/]Gallery[/url] [url=http://www.orbaz.com/products/particleflow/box2/Box2ProDemoVideo.html][img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/Box2DemoVideo.jpg[/img][/url] For the first time, Box#2 enables special-effects artists to fully harness the power of 3D software to create such effects as beaded curtains, chains, collapsing buildings, destructible environments, and much more. The motion looks as real as can be, whether you're using 10 particles or 10,000, and setup couldn't be easier. Particle Flow Tools: Box#2 is compatible with 3ds Max 9 and all later versions (including 2010), with both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of 3ds Max.

Particle Flow Tools: Freebies plug-in is recompiled for 3ds Max 2009, both 32- and 64-bit platforms. Plug-in version was changed to 1.073 from 1.072 since there were few fixes in the plug-in. The plug-in is delivered as zipped *.dlo file without a reference documentation. The documentation is now available online by clicking on "[b]?[/b]" button in the top portion of a PFlow operator interface. The plug-in is available in the [url=http://www.orbaz.com/download/index.php]Download section[/url] of the Orbaz web site.

Particle Flow Tools: Box#3 Pro plug-in is recompiled for 3ds Max 2009. The update is available to commercial license holders. For non-ACAP version update (sold directly from Orbaz Technologies) please send a request to [url=http://www.orbaz.com/requestUpdateBox3Pro3dsMax2009/]Orbaz Support[/url] with your serial number to get the installer links. For ACAP version update (sold via Turbo Squid and their affiliates) please send a request to Turbo Squid.

Orbaz Technologies is now accepting requests for the alpha/beta testing of its upcoming plug-in Particle Flow Tools: Box#2 and the next release of Box#3. The initial phase of alpha/beta testing will be restricted to 3ds Max 9 and 2008 (on 32-bit and 64-bit OS) Individuals and companies with the experience working with Particle Flow, Box#1 [i]and[/i] Box#3 are encouraged to apply. Please send requests for alpha/beta testing to Orbaz Support by using [url=http://www.orbaz.com/request/AlphaBetaBox2_3/]this request form[/url]. Please keep in mind that at this phase of the testing it is necessary to have the current version of Particle Flow Tools: Box#3 (non-ACAP version, sold directly from Orbaz Technologies). There will be another round (but not this one) of beta testing for Box#2 that does not require the presence of Box#3.

Particle Flow Tools (with a sneak peek at version 1.4 of Box#3) will be demonstrated by Particle Flow masters Charley Carlat and Allan McKay. Turbo Squid booth #307 Tuesday, August 1st [list]10:30 – 11am 2:30 – 3pm 4 – 4:30pm[/list:u] Wednesday, August 2nd [list]10:30 – 11am 2:30 – 3pm 4 – 4:30pm[/list:u] Thursday, August 3rd [list]10:30 – 11am 1:30 – 2pm 2:30 – 3pm[/list:u] See you at the show!

[size=15][b]ORBAZ TECHNOLOGIES TO ANNOUNCE PARTICLE FLOW TOOLS: CACHE AVAILABILITY[/b][/size] [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20070523/ParticleFlowToolsCache.jpg[/img] Orbaz Technologies is pleased to announce the [url=http://www.orbaz.com/buy-online.html]immediate availability[/url] of [b]Particle Flow Tools: Cache[/b] plug-in for 3ds Max, releases 6.x and higher.* [url=http://www.orbaz.com/products/particleflow/cache/][b]Particle Flow Tools: Cache[/b][/url] extends the line of [url=http://www.orbaz.com/products/particleflow/]Particle Flow Tools[/url] products with an affordable solution for all particle caching needs. The plug-in combines the cache operators from Box#1 and Box#3 into one package - [b]Cache Disk[/b], [b]Cache Selective[/b], [b]Express Save[/b] and utility [b]Repair Cache System[/b]. The plug-in has two editions: Stand-alone for $49 and Network for $119. The Stand-alone edition is for the stand-alone version of 3ds Max, while the Network edition is for 3ds Max with network licensing and has an unlimited amount of licenses for a specific network license of 3ds Max. All licenses (standalone and unlimited network) are time-restricted and are issued for a one-year term. *[size=10]3ds Max 9 64-bit is not supported.[/size]

Update 1.07 for Particle Flow Tools Box#1, Box#3 Pro and Box#3 SDK is available now. The registered users of Orbaz plug-ins can dowload it by making a request at Support/Download forum. The update is for non-ACAP version of Box#3 Pro, and for ACAP version of Box#1. To get access to the Support/Download forum please do the following: 1. Register at the Orbaz forum. 2. Send request to support@orbaz.com with the following information: a) date of purchase of the Orbaz plug-in; b) license (authorization) number of the plug-in; c) user name at the Orbaz forum. What's new in the 1.07 update: [b]Box#1[/b] * A minor issue with Lock/Bond operator related to lock surfaces with null geometry is fixed. * Preset configuration for 3ds Max 9 is adjusted. Starting with 3ds Max 9, plug-in configuration is stored in folder C:\Documents and Settings\(Adiministrator or User name)\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\9 - 32bit\enu\plugcfg. The enu part is the language tag (for English), and it could be different for other languages. The default location for presets is Particle Flow Presets folder in the specified above location. * Licensing issues for 3ds Max 9 are fixed. [b]Box#3 Pro[/b] * Function sub-operator is extended with new options that can be used to simplify the alignment of a particle to surface normals. * Problem with Keep Apart operator and Particles suboperator when several particles are placed at exactly same location is fixed. * Problem with Select Object sub-operator reference to a proxy PFlow particle system. * Data View loading and redraw functionality is optimized.

Update 1.06 for Particle Flow Tools Box#3 Pro and Box#3 SDK is available now. The registered users of Orbaz plug-ins can dowload it at the Support/Download forum. The update is for non-ACAP version of Box#3 Pro. To get access to the Support/Download forum please do the following: 1. Register at the Orbaz forum. 2. Send request to support@orbaz.com with the following information: a) date of purchase of the Orbaz plug-in; b) license (authorization) number of the plug-in; c) user name at the Orbaz forum. What's new in the 1.06 update: * Function sub-operator is extended with the options Overwrite X, Overwrite Y, Overwrite Z and Overwrite T for Vector/Real and Vector/Matrix types. [i]For 3ds Max 9 32- and 64-bit versions:[/i] * Keep Apart operator is optimized. The performance gain is up to an order of magnitude. * Position Object+ operator functionality is integrated into standard Position Object operator. * Indexing problems for material operators - Material Static, Material Frequency and Material Dynamic - are fixed. * Preset configuration scheme is adjusted for a local user.

Info from the Orbaz web site - http://www.orbaz.com/products/particleflow/box3sdk/ The Box#3 SDK (Software Development Kit) is for those who want to go beyond the current capabilities of Box#3 Pro. If you have the technical expertise and means to write a 3ds Max plug-in with MS Visual Studio C++, and want to extend the set of sub-operators for your specific needs, you can now do so with Box#3 SDK. Not only can you modify the existing sub-operators, but you can also write your own. Features: [list]The SDK gives access to the complete source code of the PFTools sub-operators (more than 200 files with 100,000+ lines of code). In addition, you’ll get a free update of the SDK every time we update Box#3. The SDK includes a sample sub-operator project with a simple suboperator ( "+" function for real/integer numbers and 3D vectors) that you can use as a starting point for developing your own sub-operators. Included with the SDK are solution settings for Microsoft Visual Studio 2002 (for 3ds Max versions 6 through 8 ) and 2005 (for 3ds Max version 9, with 32- and 64-bit configuration options). You’ll gain access to the private "PFTools SDK" section of the Orbaz forum, where you can post questions and discuss problems related to the Particle Flow and Particle Flow Tools SDKs. [/list:u] The SDK is sold as a one-year subscription. The subscription includes all features listed above and one unit of SDK Support - an hour of phone/Skype consulting or two hours of e-mail/forum consulting (or any mix of phone and Internet) with a 72-hour response time. If necessary, you can buy additional units of SDK Support.

SciFi is a favorite domain for Particle Flow and Particle Flow Tools. Sam Khorshid, FX artist and CG Animator at [url=http://www.blur.com]Blur[/url], explains how they were used in the production of [b]The Triangle a Sci Fi mini series[/b]: There were over 9 hundred visual effects shots, including explosions, water dynamics, storms, and melting characters. Pretty much every complex effect they can throw at you. Particle Flow and the accompanying PFlowTools Boxes were used extensively to create several of these effects. I will go over 2 of my favorites, the whaling ship explosion, and the melting sailor. The idea behind melting sailor effect: our poor sailor found himself on the edge of a time space phenomenon, which liquefies his flesh and sends it swirling off. Mmm... sounds goopey. We had a small amount of RnD time for this effect, so I started by first creating a generic melting set up. Using Particle Flow, a generic character mesh was covered in a dense surface of particles; the particle surface would represent the sailor’s skin. Using different selection methods, sections of the particle skin would slide of the mass, controlled by different forces, and collisions. Pwrapper (blob mesh tool from [url=http://www.3daliens.com]www.3daliens.com[/url]) was used to envelope the particles, which helps create that fluid feel of the flesh as it melts away. Example 1: [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/animations/20061119/meltyman.mov]meltyman.mov[/url] (1.1MB)[color=white]______________[/color]Example 2: [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/animations/20061119/meltskin.mov]meltskin.mov[/url] (0.9MB) [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20061119/Examples1and2.jpg[/img] We had a film plate of the actor screaming at the camera, there was a lot of camera movement, so we stabilized the footage in Digital Fusion, creating a plate much easier to match our effect too. Example 3: [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/animations/20061119/liveaction.mov]Live Action[/url] (0.2MB)[color=white]_________________[/color]Example 4: [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/animations/20061119/stablefootage.mov]Stable Footage[/url] (0.2MB) [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20061119/Examples3and4.jpg[/img] Digital scans of the actor were taken, outputting a high resolution 3d mesh of the sailor. From that mesh, muscle layers and an underlying skeleton were built. These would be revealed as the flesh melts away. The sailor mesh’s then had to be rigged and animated to match the movement of the film plate. Once a generic set up was working and approved, the effect could be applied to the shot. The Skin and muscle layers of the sailor had the particle melt effect applied. Once areas of melting were agreed upon, we used Pftools box 3 to cache these sections, giving us the ability to separate out section’s of the effect, and make real time updates under director supervision. Using Pwrapper’s integration with Particle Flow’s event based nature, we were able to change the consistency of the sailors flesh depending on what state it was in. From the elastic firmness of skin, to the fluid viscosity of honey. The shader was also controlled on an event basis. When the skin is attached to the face a camera mapped shader was used to project the film plate onto the mesh, as it peeled off it transitioned into a subsurface shader, letting background light pass threw the melting skin, helping integrate the overall effect. Everything was rendered to layers using Brazil Rs, and composited together by Robin Graham using a whole lot of voodoo magic in Digital Fusion. Example 5: [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/animations/20061119/melt_final.mov]Melt Final[/url] (6.7MB) [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20061119/Example5.jpg[/img] Now to the whaling ship destruction: underwater activity lifts the ship and tears it in two. This sequence was especially tough, as we had to match the ocean and ship plates that precede the destruction. Example 6: [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20061119/Example6.jpg[/img] We created a rough animatic of the sequence, and used this to figure out how much ocean we would need to create, and what kind of interaction we would need. With Siti Sini’s Dreamscape we were able to create a general sea surfaces and swell patterns. By using an adaptive mesh (which allows for less mesh density based on camera distance), we were able to apply higher frequency waves on the surface, but keep the details only in the foreground, making everything more manageable with out compromising quality (well at least not too much). We were unable to emit particles from the adaptive sea surface. So we created low-resolution proxy surfaces, using displacement maps created from the adaptive sea surface. These were then used to emit particles, and gain the velocity/motion inherited information to create more realistic spray and splash movements. Example 7: [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/animations/20061119/ocean.mov]ocean.mov[/url] (0.5MB)[color=white]______________[/color]Example 8: [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/animations/20061119/mist.mov]mist.mov[/url] (0.5MB) [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20061119/Examples7and8.jpg[/img] Large scale splash interaction with the boat were created in Real Flow 3.0 but due to time constraints we were unable to get the simulation looking correct. We instead created a library of smaller generic splash elements in Glu 3d, and then set them up as Particle Flow birth events. Now that we had the sims in PF we were able to do secondary splash elements based on spawns and boat collisions. The advantage to this method, we were able to quickly alter the look of the splash interaction without having to recalculate the whole thing. Example 9: [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/animations/20061119/whaling.mov]Triangle Whaling[/url] (6.7MB) [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20061119/Example9.jpg[/img] It was rendered out in Vray and comped by Ben Grosmann in After Effects. [size=9] The Triangle a Sci Fi mini series Produced by Kelly van Horn, Volker Engel and Marc Weigert Executive Producers Bryan Singer and Dean Devlin [/size]

Orchestrating water fountains is not a simple task but with the help of Particle Flow Tools: Box#3 it becomes a whole lot easier. Mark Smith, Senior Animator with Time Light Space, gives us the details: “PFTools Box#3 and the team at Orbaz were indispensable to the process of completing the complex particle flows used in the Renaissance Village water fountain animation. The fountains are the focal point of an upscale mixed use development in Naples, Florida, and required 30 particle flows centered in a 3ds max scene of fourteen 2- and 3-story buildings. Using the Cache Disk operator in Box#3 and a lot of personal attention from Orbaz, I was able to render an otherwise unmanageable group of particle flows and finish the animation. I was mostly impressed with the level of service I received from Orbaz with issues that sometimes were not even directly related to the Box#3 software. It is refreshing to find a company that is genuinely interested in helping its customers through a project rather then dismissing the issue with the usual “It’s not our problem” response.” The complete fountains animation can be found at the gallery at [url=http://www.timelightspace.com]www.timelightspace.com[/url] [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20060827/RenaissanceFountains.jpg[/img]

With Box#1 and Box#3 currently available, we will be showing both Particle Flow Tools plug-ins at the SIGGRAPH show. Charley Carlat - the designer of the Box#1 CD cover and experienced Particle Flow Tools aficionado- will demostrate the world of possibilities when Particle Flow is enhanced with Orbaz' PFTools Boxes. Tuesday, August 1st [list]12:00 – 1:00 Autodesk booth #1706[/list:u] Wednesday, August 2nd [list]4:00 – 4:30 Autodesk booth #1706[/list:u] Thursday, August 3rd [list]12:00 – 12:30 Autodesk booth #1706[/list:u] See you at the show!

Hi just a quick heads up for anyone who is attending Siggraph in Boston this year. I'll be giving a 3dsmax Masterclass there on Particle Flow. I've split my session up into two halves, here is a quick breakdown as to what each section will offer. [b]Scripted Tesla Coil (Lightning) System[/b] In this 40 minute class I'll be showing a scripted PFlow system that aims to re-create one of those crazy Tesla Coil doodads that scientist have a habit of building in their back gardens. Here's a picture of one such "mini" coil in action... [img]http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/9646/874258932tesla7ft7ux.jpg[/img] Crazy eh This PFlow system uses quite a number of inter connected scripted Operators in conjunction with standard PFlow techniques to create a pretty cool simulation of one of these high voltage spectacles. I'm just putting the wraps on this system now, I'll try and post some images, and also an animation of it in action in a few days time. [b]PFlow/Dataflow Based Tornado System[/b] The second 40 minute section is on a Tornado system that uses Orbaz's new Box#3 system Dataflow. Dataflow allows you to create your own hard wired Operators from a set of sub-operators in pretty much the same kind of workflow as with the PFlow Particle View. The benefit here is that there Operators are easier to put together than scripted Ops, and they are a whole magnitude faster to calculate. This class will not show a fully rendered up final product, but rather three custom operators that create the basic Tornado system that you can then go on and embelish to your hearts content. Still, I think it will amply demonstrate just why Dataflow is going to change Particle Flow usage across the board. I'll post an animation of this in action in a couple of days. Here is a link to a PDF that lists all of the classes available. My class is on day two (Wednesday 2nd August) from 9.00am to 10.30 am. http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/fil...ent_details.pdf We (CG Academy) will also be selling our boxed sets outside the class at a show special price of 15% off. If you only want single DVDs, you can pick those up (again for 15% off) at the Autodesk stand within the exhibition hall. Hope you can make it along to the class, it should be cool. Cheers

Particle Flow and Particle Flow Tools were used in production of [b]Memoirs of a Geisha[/b]. Adam Watkins, 3D Lead, tells us about it: ...my favorite example from the show is what we called the "spring to winter" sequence, which marks the major transition of Sayuri from child to a young woman/geisha. In the beginning of of the sequence cg cherry blossoms were used to augment real cherry blossoms in the plate (a subtle effect). Then the sequence transitions to winter (several years later) with a very wide shot of 1930's Kyoto - integrating the California set with a huge multi-layered digital matte painting by Robert Stromberg, and layers upon layers upon layers of cg particle flow snow! The snowflakes had to match exactly with practical snow that comes much later in the shot and for this the Camera Culling and Camera IMBlur operators were invaluable. It let me put an enormous amount of flakes only where I needed them, and dial in motion blur to what the practical flakes were doing. The Box#1 group tools were incredibly important to this process - the grouping functionality let me trigger the different patches of snow the camera had to travel through and let me 'kill' the occasional errant flake that strayed right in the centre of the shot. Towards the end of the shot where we see the actress closing the house window, what isn't obvious is that a good chunk of the left hand side of the house has been entirely replaced! In the plate a practical flake actually landed and stuck to the middle of the lens, hiding [i]everything[/i] behind it. So I recreated the side of the building, and then used particle flow to place CG snow over the top of it, matching exactly the motions of the practical snow around it. It took me less than an afternoon to do and I got the perfect result first time. All artists that use Particle Flow should [i]definitely[/i] get the other tools too - they paid for themselves on the very first shot I used them on! [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20060709/GeishaSpringToWinter01.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20060709/GeishaSpringToWinter02.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20060709/GeishaSpringToWinter03.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20060709/GeishaSpringToWinter04.jpg[/img]

[size=15][b]ORBAZ TECHNOLOGIES TO ANNOUNCE BOX#3 AVAILABILITY[/b][/size] Orbaz Technologies is pleased to announce the [url=http://www.orbaz.com/buy-online.html]commercial availability[/url] of [b]Particle Flow Tools: Box#3[/b] plug-in for 3ds Max, releases 6.x and higher. With the development of the new particle data visual scripting interface [i]Data View[/i], and addition of 20+ sub-operators, the plug-in brings to special effects artists powerful and flexible tools to design their own operators and tests in Particle Flow. [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20050818/ParticleFlowToolsBox3.png[/img] [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20050818/ParticleFlowToolsBox3Demo.jpg[/img]

Update 1.05 for Particle Flow Tools Box#1 is available now. The registered users of Orbaz plug-ins can dowload it at the Support/Download forum. To get access to the Support/Download forum please do the following: 1. Register at the Orbaz forum. 2. Send request to support@orbaz.com with the following information: a) date of purchase of the Orbaz plug-in; b) license (authorization) number of the plug-in; c) user name at the Orbaz forum. What's new in the 1.05 update: A new [i]Express Save[/i] operator was added to speed up the process of saving the file during regular Save and Auto-Save. A new utility [i]Repair Cache System[/i] was added to deal with cache system misbehavior after merges. Some functionality improvements in Lock/Bond operator.

Edited Nov. 9th, 2005 [color=blue]The Beta testing phase of the upcoming PFTools:Box#3 plug-in will be coming to an end soon. Orbaz Technologies is currently NOT accepting anymore new applications at this moment.[/color] Orbaz Technologies is now accepting applications for the beta testing of its upcoming plug-in Particle Flow Tools: Box#3. Box#3 contains unique visual scripting interface to define particle data streams and modification. With Box#3, a special effects artist can design and create a new Particle Flow operator with the user interface similar to a standard Particle Flow operator. The plug-in also includes new Particle Flow operators for caching; and it is compatible with 3ds max versions 6, 7 and up. Here’s [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=359]more information[/url] about the upcoming plug-in. Individuals and companies with the experience working with Particle Flow are encouraged to apply. Please send requests for beta testing to beta@orbaz.com with the following information: [list]Name; Organization; City / Country; E-mail [size=9](either company e-mail address, or individual's website e-mail address; the generic mail servers like HotMail or Yahoo will not be accepted)[/size]; Operating system and 3ds max version to be used for testing; Hardware specifications – CPU, RAM, videocard, screen resolution; References to the works done with Particle Flow.[/list:u]

For those of you who missed the SIGGRAPH expo, we would like to present some demo videos about the upcoming PFTools:Box#3 plug-in. Box#3 is about more raw power and more flexibility to the Particle Flow artists. It gives the ability to get deeper into the guts of the Particle Flow engine, and design your own operators and tests without the headaches of maxscript and/or C++. Just for starters, here’s an example of Box#3 usage – [url=http://www.orbaz.com/animation/BloodMoon.avi]BloodMoon.avi[/url] (400x400, 375 frames, 11.1MB). We created this animation as an elaborate test of its spawning abilities and disk caching. [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20050903/Box3BloodMoonExample.jpg][img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20050903/Box3BloodMoonExampleSmall.jpg[/img][/url] Box#3 has two new cache operators – Cache Selective and Cache Disk – and a series of Data Operators – to get full control on particle properties modification and design your own operators. Data operators use Data View – the new user interface for modifying particle properties and data. The Data View interface is similar to Particle View, but instead of working with operators and tests, there are 22 new sub-operators to design the data flow diagram. Here’s an example of [url=http://www.orbaz.com/tutorials/Box3Intro/PFToolsBox3Intro.html]how a new operator can be created out of the sub-operators[/url] in Data View (1024x780; 5 min; 6.5MB). [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20050903/DataViewUI.jpg[/img] Once a data operator is designed by creating and wiring sub-operators, it is possible to transform it into a regular Particle Flow operator by [url=http://www.orbaz.com/tutorials/Box3SavePreset/PFToolsBox3PresetSave.html]exposing some of the sub-operators’ parameters, and saving it as a new preset operator[/url] (1024x780; 3 min; 3.1MB) [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20050903/SavePresetUI.jpg[/img]

Now, after the SIGGRAPH'05 show, we can reveal that dynamics animations at the [url=http://www.orbaz.com/gallery.html]Orbaz Gallery[/url] "Beach Balls in a Glass" and at the [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=247]Orbaz Forum[/url] were made by integrating the AGEIA physX SDK in the upcoming PFTools: Box#2 plug-in. Here is the [url=http://ageia.vnewscenter.com/press.jsp?id=1120108410928]press release[/url] from [url=http://www.ageia.com]AGEIA[/url]. The AGEIA's [url=http://www.ageia.com/technology.html]physX solution[/url] enables radical acceleration of rigid body dynamics, collision detection and fluid dynamics.

[size=15][b]ORBAZ TECHNOLOGIES TO DEMONSTRATE UPCOMING PARTICLE FLOW TOOLS[/b][/size] At SIGGRAPH 2005, Orbaz Technologies Inc. will demonstrate their latest product [i]Particle Flow Tools: Box#3[/i] for 3dsmax. The plug-in is designed to extend Particle Flow’s capabilities to the new levels of openness and power. It includes new operators for caching and deep-level control of particle data. Box#3 contains unique visual scripting interface to define particle data streams and modification. With Box#3, a special effects artist can design and create a new Particle Flow operator with the user interface similar to the standard Particle Flow operators. Oleg Bayborodin, the architect of Particle Flow, will showcase the current and upcoming Particle Flow Tools at the Discreet and Turbo Squid booths. Tuesday, August 2nd [list]11:00 – 11:30 Turbo Squid booth #1051 3:00 – 3:30 Discreet booth #1700 5:00 – 5:30 Turbo Squid booth #1051[/list:u] Wednesday, August 3rd [list]11:00 – 11:30 Turbo Squid booth #1051 2:00 – 2:30 Discreet booth #1700 2:30 – 3:00 Turbo Squid booth #1051[/list:u] Thursday, August 4th [list]11:30 – 12:00 Turbo Squid booth #1051 2:00 – 2:30 Discreet booth #1700 2:30 – 3:00 Turbo Squid booth #1051[/list:u] See you at the show! [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/Box3Workflow.png[/img]

There was a small bug fix in the Display Script operator that forced the update to the version 1.061. This is an insignificant update for the majority of the users. Display Script operator has new option 'Execution Order' that is relevant to the upcoming PFTools:Box#3 plug-in only.

Update 1.03 for Particle Flow Tools Box#1 is available now. The registered users of Orbaz plug-ins can dowload it at the Support/Download forum. To get access to the Support/Download forum please do the following: 1. Register at the Orbaz forum. 2. Send request to support@orbaz.com with the following information: a) date of purchase of the Orbaz plug-in; b) license (authorization) number of the plug-in; c) user name at the Orbaz forum. What's new in the 1.03 update: Functionality of Group Operator and Split Group test was exteded - instead of a single group now you can make a list of selection groups to work with. There is an option on how to combine selection status from different groups. Also the online reference was updated to reflect the functionality changes from release 1.0 to 1.03.

The Freebies update (version 1.06) includes three new operators: Copy Out, Display Script and Camera Culling. The [b]Copy Out[/b] test is a simplified version of the Spawn test that you can use to reduce overhead in the particle system when you simply want to duplicated particles without using other Spawn settings. It simply makes one or more copies of each particle that's sent to it. The [b]Display Script[/b] operator is a diagnostic tool that lets you display viewport data associated with each particle. The data is generated from a script prior to Display Script in the event, and you can use multiple occurrences of Display Script in an event. For example, you can display each particle's velocity, size, and distance from a given object. The [b]Camera Culling[/b] operator can reduce the geometry load in the viewports and/or at render time by filtering out all particles not visible to the camera. The operator can be used as a group selection tool to define a group by the camera view frustum. To download the latest Freebies update please go to the [url=http://www.orbaz.com/download/index.html]Download[/url] page. Here is a composite screenshot of the UI of the new operators. [img]http://www.orbaz.com/forumData/images/20041215/NewFreebiesUI.png[/img][b][/b]

Update 1.02 for Particle Flow Tools Box#1 is available now. The registered users of Orbaz plug-ins can dowload it at the Support/Download forum. To get access to the Support/Download forum please do the following: 1. Register at the Orbaz forum. 2. Send request to support@orbaz.com with the following information: a) date of purchase of the Orbaz plug-in; b) license (authorization) number of the plug-in; c) user name at the Orbaz forum. The 1.02 update has additional functionality for Split Group operator. For details click [url=http://www.orbaz.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=215#215]here[/url].

Update 1.01 for Particle Flow Tools Box#1 is available now. The registered users of Orbaz plug-ins can dowload it at the Support/Download forum.

Welcome to the Orbaz Discussion Forums. The purpose of these forums is to instigate a dialog with the users of Orbaz' particles and to have a general chat regarding particle systems and particle-related special effects in computer graphics. These are moderated forums and are monitored by Orbaz; please behave... or else. The history of particle systems in computer graphics spans for over 20 years. Here we are trying to collect as much information about particles in CG as possible. If you are a particles buff (as we are :)) we hope that you'll enjoy and use this new resource on the web. Thanks, Oleg B.