Painting With Particles
By Eric Keller
copyright 2007 Bloopatone

Part Three: Expanding the Script

Here are some suggestions for improving or expanding the script:

1. Add a custom control to the particleScaleMult that sets the initial range for the maxSize and growRate attributes for each particle. This could eliminate the need to edit the expression for each particle.

2. Try rewriting the script so that you can use it on instanced particles or particle sprites. This will require replacing the radiusPP attribute with a custom attribute for instances or a sprtiteScaleYPP and a spriteScaleXPP attributes for sprites.

3. See if you can find a way to add a jiggling/bubbling motion to the particles by randomizing their position on each frame or add another level of randomization to the radiusPP attribute as the particles are growing.

4. Try adding a Uniform force field to the particles so that they foat upwards. Then add an expression that scales up the dynamic weight of the particles the same way the radius is scaled (in face you can creat a direct relationship between the dynamic weight and the radiusPP). this way the particles wll start to float upwards as they grow. Great for making bubbles.

5. The biggest weakness with thsi workflow is that the particles are not really attached to the surface they are painted on. If you move or animate the surface the particles will just be left hanging in sapce. This technique is great when you have globs of goo taking over a static surface like a buidling, but not so great when you want goo coming out of an animated charcter's face. We'll look at fixing this in another tutorial (hopefully soon!)

If you enjoyed this tutorial or if you have questions/suggestions, please let me know. Also (shameless plug) check out my book "Maya Visual Effects: The Innovator's Guide" due out in March of 2007.

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