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The Particle Tuner uses custom logic to directly affect the particles of the Phoenix FD Simulator. It allows you to do very specific tweaks of the simulation which would otherwise be hard to achieve. It goes through all particles in the system from the Affect list changes the values only of those particles that pass the custom condition you created. Example Conditions and Actions would be:
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This will essentially force the fluid to start solidifying if it is emitted from a Source whose RGB is set to Red, and 5 seconds have passed since the fluid was emitted. Fluid which is colored differently will not be affected by the Action, even if it's age is greater than 5.
Unlike the Phoenix FD Mapper, the Particle Tuner can also delete particles from the simulation.
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The Particle Tuner is a powerful tool and it will not stop you from creating expressions such as "If the Age is higher than 0, delete the particle". This will kill all particles immediately after they are born which may cause confusion, so you must be careful. Note that the Particle Tuner affects all Phoenix FD Simulators in the scene unless they explicitly exclude it. |
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When [ Edit Condition... ] – Opens the Edit Condition window. The Edit Condition window is used to construct a sequence of tests which are evaluated for every particle of the Phoenix FD SimulatorPhoenix Simulator, at each simulation Step. If the particle satisfies the condition, the selected Then actions are performed - Delete Particle, Change Particle Channel or Affect By Forces. Otherwise, the particle is ignored. By default, the condition is set to "Age > 1.000", therefore only those particles whose age is greater than one will be affected by the specified action. Time Scale different than 1 will affect the Particle Age used by the Particle Tuners. In order to get predictable results you will have to adjust the buildup time using this formula: Time Scale * Time in frames / Frames per second See the Particle Channel Ranges page for more information on the channel ranges.
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The Edit Condition window is at the core of the Phoenix FD Particle Tuner. It consists of a Conditions Tree on the left and a Parameters panel for the individual elements in the tree on the right. The Delete Particle, Change Particle Channel or Affect By Forcesactions will only be executed for the particles of the Simulator which satisfy the conditions tree. The Conditions Tree is made up of the following expression types: Logic, Compare, Math, Value. Folding (collapsing) of a tree item in the view to the left will show you a simplified view of the expression. For example, collapsing the tree in the image below will change its text to "Age > 1.000", meaning the Particle Tuner will affect only particles whose Age channel is higher than 1 second. You can also read a simplified view of the entire condition expression in the text box below the Edit Condition... button. |
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Value Expression Item
Number | val_type, val_number – returns the specified value. Random Between | val_type, val_rand_min, val_rand_max – returns a random number in the selected range. Note: a different value is generated for each particle of the Simulator. The value also changes for every frame. Channel | val_type, val_chan_part – returns the value of the specified Simulator Particle Channel for the current particle. You must have this particle channel enabled in the Output rollout of your Simulator. The Channel can be one of:[ Size ], [ Age ], [ Viscosity ], [ RGB Red ], [ RGB Green ], [ RGB Blue ], [ Velocity X ], [ Velocity Y ], [ Velocity Z ], [ Speed ]. You can find out more about the usual particle channel ranges in Phoenix here. Distance To | val_type, val_dist_node – returns the distance from the current particle to the surface of the specified object. Will be positive if the particle is outside the object volume, and will be negative if the particle is inside the object volume. The distance is in simulation grid voxels. Note: currently you can only pick polygon meshes - measuring distance from the current particle to a nearest particle from a particle system is currently not supported. Texture | val_type, val_tex – returns the specified texture's color intensity in the position of the current particle. The Phoenix FD Simulator has no Explicit UV coordinates therefore the texture's Mapping should be set to Planar from Object or World XYZ for this to work. |
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