By Bret A. Hughes, Autodesk (formerly Alias) Santa Barbara Development Center.
This script, dynFuncExplosion.mel, creates an emitter that emits particles. The emitter, Explosion, has extra attributes to control several properties of a simulated explosion. These attributes include the start frame, duration, intensity, fullness, and power of the explosion.
// dynFuncExplosion.mel // // Autodesk Script File // MODIFY THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK // // Creation Date: 21 September 1996; Modified 08 January 2000 // Author: bah // // Procedure Name: // dynFuncExplosion // // Description: // Creates a point explosion that can be modified. // // Input Arguments: // None. // // Return Value: // None. // // // ========== dynFuncExplosion ========== // // SYNOPSIS // Creates a point explosion that can be modified. // // global proc dynFuncExplosion() { // First delete anything that might be left over // from a previous test. // file -f -new; currentTime -e 1; // Display information to the user about what to expect from this // subtest and give some time for the user to read this information. // print( "\nBOOM!\n" ); system( "sleep 1" ); // Create emitter to be the source of the particles eminating from // the explosion. Add an internal variable to the emitter to // control amplitude attributes of the emitter. Render the particles // as multi streaks. // emitter -type omni -r 100 -mnd 0 -mxd 0 -spd 1 -pos 0 0 0 -n Explosion; addAttr -sn "ii" -ln "InternalIntensity" -dv 5 -min 0 -max 100 Explosion; particle -name ExplosionParticle; connectDynamic -em Explosion ExplosionParticle; setAttr ExplosionParticleShape.particleRenderType 1; // MultiStreak // Link some renderable attributes to the particles. // addAttr -ln colorAccum -dv true ExplosionParticleShape; addAttr -ln lineWidth -dv 1.0 ExplosionParticleShape; addAttr -ln multiCount -dv 10.0 ExplosionParticleShape; addAttr -ln multiRadius -dv 0 ExplosionParticleShape; addAttr -ln normalDir -dv 2.0 ExplosionParticleShape; addAttr -ln tailFade -dv 0 ExplosionParticleShape; addAttr -ln tailSize -dv 3 ExplosionParticleShape; addAttr -ln useLighting -dv false ExplosionParticleShape; // Create some user-modifiable attributes to modify the // explosion. // select -replace "Explosion"; addAttr -sn "st" -ln "Start" -dv 10 -min 0 -max 100 Explosion; addAttr -sn "du" -ln "Duration" -dv 20 -min 0 -max 200 Explosion; addAttr -sn "in" -ln "Intensity" -dv 10 -min 0 -max 100 Explosion; addAttr -sn "fu" -ln "Fullness" -dv 10 -min 1 -max 100 Explosion; addAttr -sn "po" -ln "Power" -dv 10 -min 0 -max 100 Explosion; // Create the time the explosion has been alive for // and the fraction of the full explosion for that time. // Make the explosion intensity a curve instead of // linear interpolation for the explosion fraction. // BEWARE of MAGIC NUMBERS!!!! // expression -ae true -s ("Explosion.rate = Explosion.Fullness * 40 *"+ "Explosion.InternalIntensity;"+ "ExplosionParticleShape.multiRadius = "+ "Explosion.Fullness * Explosion.Intensity * 0.005;"+ "Explosion.speed = Explosion.InternalIntensity"+ "* Explosion.Power / 10.0; "); expression -ae true -s ("if (frame >= Explosion.Start"+ "&& frame <= Explosion.Start + Explosion.Duration)"+ "{"+ "float $ExplosionLife = frame - Explosion.Start;"+ "float $ExplosionFraction = 1 - (abs($ExplosionLife - "+ "Explosion.Duration/2) / (Explosion.Duration/2));"+ "Explosion.InternalIntensity = Explosion.Intensity *"+ "pow($ExplosionFraction,"+ "121 / pow(Explosion.Power + 1, 2));"+ "}"+ "else"+ "{"+ "Explosion.InternalIntensity = 0;"+ "}; ") -o Explosion; // Set up the playback options. // float $frames = 70; playbackOptions -min 1 -max $frames -loop once; // Time how long it takes to play the scene and then determine the // playback frame rate. Make sure when getting the frame rate // that no values are divided by zero. // float $startTime = `timerX`; play -wait; float $elapsed = `timerX -st $startTime`; float $fps = ($elapsed == 0.0 ? 0.0 : $frames/$elapsed); // Print the frames per second (fps) of the subtest in the form X.X. // print("dynFuncExplosion: Done. ("); print((int)($fps * 10)/10.0 + " fps)\n"); } // dynFuncExplosion //
Each line of a multi-line argument following ‘-s’ for the expression command is required to be encompassed by quotation marks followed by a ‘+’. The only exception to this rule is the last line which must not be followed by a ‘+’. This is because ‘-s’ denotes a string, and a multi-line string must be joined via ‘+’ for Maya to interpret the command correctly.