Hi,

I’ve been using 3ds Max 2010 trial for a while now. I tried to do an exploding text(from an online tutorial) using the PArray. However, once I had selected/checked some options, max will freeze for 1-2 minutes before I can change anything, and if I do, it will freeze again before I can see the effect. Also, from the tutorial I watched, my effect looked totally wild.

Here are the things I changed in PArray:
-picked object is the text
-viewport display is mesh
-particle type is object fragments (the part where it brings my pc to its knees. Other applications that are open at the same time work fine though)

I tried to change to directx10 from 9 and vice versa, and even tried opengl. Opengl is a bit better but still everything is still tremendously slow.

My pc specs:
Intel Cored 2 Quad Q9550 2.83ghz
4gb ram
Nvidia 9800gtx

Other info:
Tutorial website: http://maxafter.com/textexplosion.htm
Screenshots of the problem included.
1st screenshot: Text
2nd screenshot: With PArray, beginning of animation
3rd screenshot: Animation further down the timeline.

Polys: 83000
Tris: 88000
Edges: 244000
As you can see my framerate drops. Is 80k+ polys too much?

Please do tell me what I can do regarding this problem as I’ve only recently learned 3ds Max. I really don’t want to try out cinema4d’s trial as 3ds Max was too much fun until now. Please help!

Thank you so much.

Best,
Andrew

	Attachment

	Attachment

	Attachment

the polygon count is for your text only, not the the text and PArray, so i would say yes, it is too high. PArray will instance the geometry before fracturing it into chunks, so the higher the poly-count of your model the longer it will take to instance and fracture it. It also looks like you may have your minimum chunks turned up a bit too high. Another thing that may effect your computers response is if you have collisions turned on, turning off can dramatically improve performance. hope that helps

Quad Core Xeon X5355 - 8GB DDR2 - nVidia Quadro FX 4600 - 3Ds Max 2010