hi,
im using Create--Particles--Snow.

i can see the snow moving,
but how do i make it to go down to the ground?

thanks for any response…

Space Warp: Gravity
Space Warp: UDeflector on the ground to stop the particles.

Particle Flow is much better for particles. More variables to work with, but way more control.

Tim Wilbers [FA]

College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Visual Arts
University of Dayton
http://www.udayton.edu/
3ds Max: 7.5, 8, 9, 2008, 2009, 2010

Tim_Wilbers 10 October 2010 10:11 AM

Space Warp: Gravity
Space Warp: UDeflector on the ground to stop the particles.

Particle Flow is much better for particles. More variables to work with, but way more control.

im adding the Gravity following this tutorial:
http://docs.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/...db195112a1ceb6fd-7ff6.htm

but when playing the animation, the snow does not follow the gravity, it stays in the same place.

am i missing something here?

Point of Order. You posted your question in the Max2010 forum but you’re referring to a Max2011 help/tutorial file? It would help to know which is right…

The Snow particle system should “just work”.

Open Max
Create a Snow system in the Perspective (or the Top) viewport
Move the time slider (or hit the Play button) - it should work with nothing else in the scene. Make sure you have the Perspective or a side view active.

If you want it to hit something and not fall through:-
Move the Snow system up in Z
Create a Plane object (the ground)
Create Panel > Space Warps > Deflectors > UDeflector > drag one out parallel to the Plane
On the UDeflector Modifiy panel, click the Pick Object button and select the Plane
Choose the Bind to SpaceWarp button on the main toolbar (by the Link and Unlink buttons), click/hold on the UDeflector, drag until the cursor is over the Snow (the cursor will change) (a side view is easiest for this as the Plane won’t get in the way)
Play, and the snow should hit the Plane and bounce off
Change the Bounce (in the UDeflector) to 0 then the snow won’t bounce.

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

Steve_Curley 10 October 2010 04:02 PM

Point of Order. You posted your question in the Max2010 forum but you’re referring to a Max2011 help/tutorial file? It would help to know which is right…

The Snow particle system should “just work”.

Open Max
Create a Snow system in the Perspective (or the Top) viewport
Move the time slider (or hit the Play button) - it should work with nothing else in the scene. Make sure you have the Perspective or a side view active.

If you want it to hit something and not fall through:-
Move the Snow system up in Z
Create a Plane object (the ground)
Create Panel > Space Warps > Deflectors > UDeflector > drag one out parallel to the Plane
On the UDeflector Modifiy panel, click the Pick Object button and select the Plane
Choose the Bind to SpaceWarp button on the main toolbar (by the Link and Unlink buttons), click/hold on the UDeflector, drag until the cursor is over the Snow (the cursor will change) (a side view is easiest for this as the Plane won’t get in the way)
Play, and the snow should hit the Plane and bounce off
Change the Bounce (in the UDeflector) to 0 then the snow won’t bounce.

im using the 2010 version, but i posted a 2011 tutorial because i saw that it was the same after comparing it with the one i have in my help file.

i did all the steps you posted, and still the snow does not hit the ground, it stays in the same place.

here is the .max that im working on.

	Attachment
copy_of_bolos.zip

You need to rebuild your scene.

Your Biped is 16987.9 inches tall.
Your Snow emitter is 27,699.93 inches by 29,120.44 inches.
The distance from the Snow emitter to the ground is 30,000 inches.

Your snow is moving indeed, but at the scale you have built everything it will take a very long time for it to hit the ground.

Go to Customize: Unit Setup.
Click the radio button for US Standard, or Metric, depending upon your favorite units.
Click on OK to dismiss the dialog.

Now, all of your numerical readouts for distance and size will be in US Standard or Metric.

When working in Generic Units, the default System Unit Scale is 1 Unit = 1 Inch. That means if you build your Biped to be 16,987 units high, it will be 16,987 inches high.

Gravity works on real-world scale. Strength of 1 = Earth Gravity. (If I remember correctly.)

Tim Wilbers [FA]

College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Visual Arts
University of Dayton
http://www.udayton.edu/
3ds Max: 7.5, 8, 9, 2008, 2009, 2010

Your scene scale is so far out of whack I’m surprised anything is working.

Take the Plane01 object as an example (that’s the one the Pins are sitting on). Select it, go to the Modify Panel and look at the Length/Width values. Those are Inches.... 13,075.419 * 47,316.063 - there are only 63,000 Inches in a Mile!

Select the Snow, Delete one onf the UDeflectors in the stack. At the bottom of the Modify Panel are the width and Length values for it - change both to 120 (120 inches = 10 feet). Zoom in on it (press Z - it will be far too small to see otherwise). Scrub the time slider and you’ll see nice large flakes.

Anything to do with Particles, Reactor or anything which simulates or emulates the real world must be built to scale or you’ll get problems. I would suggest a File > Reset and recreate the scene at an appropriate size. Harsh, but this is something so many people fail to understand, and fall foul of, that it’s worth taking the hit now (on a simple scene) rather than sometime down the road when there’s a deadline looming.

Oh, and those bowling pins? Duplicate polys all over which are causing those horrible artifacts. The outline line should only be one half of the cross section with a Lathe of 360 degrees.

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

thanks Tim and Steve.
so i basically made everything to the size of Jupiter, :), which is kind of bad for 3ds max. i wasn’t aware of this.

i resized the snow and could see it falling.

so i will do the project again.