Basics for Particle-based Simulations
You can use all the simulation powers in XSI to create your own compelling scenes—all the tools are there. You can use the particle, fluid, and explosion simulators to create any number of particle simulations. Natural forces, such as wind, gravity, and turbulence, let you add realism to all simulations. You can create collisions using any type and number of obstacles.
For information on forces and obstacles that you can use with any of the particle-based simulations, see the Simulation Basics guide.
The Three Particle-Based Simulators
There are three separate particle-based simulators in XSI that are special in the effects they create and the tasks you can perform with them.
• The Particle simulator is the standard “all-purpose” tool that you can use to create the widest variety of particles. All particle shaders work with this simulator, and many of the tools available for particles apply only to it.
For information on this simulator, see Particles.
• The Fluid simulator specializes in, you guessed it, fluid-type effects such as water, oil, or mud. The Blob shader is applied to it by default to achieve a liquid appearance.
For information on this simulator, see Fluid.
• The Explosion simulator specializes in smoke, flame, and spark effects associated with explosions and fires. The Explosion simulator creates its effects using three different phases for smoke, flames, and sparks. You can choose to use any combination of these phases to achieve the effects you want. As well, this simulator uses only the Explode shader, as it is designed especially for the three phases.
For information on this simulator, see Explosions, Fire, and Smoke.
This chapter describes some of the basic tools and tasks used for all particle-based simulations, including where to get commands and ways of viewing and playing back simulations.
Getting Started with Particles
XSI provides some particle type presets that you can find by choosing View > Toolbars > Shader Presets from the main menu. The SimPTypes tab contains various particle type presets which you can simply drag and drop onto a particle type in an explorer.
SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.6.01