Show in Contents
Add to Favorites
Home: Autodesk Maya Online Help
Create Liquid Simulations with nParticles
Creating nParticles
Set nParticle Emission Attributes
Convert nParticles to polygons
You
can convert an nParticle object to a polygonal mesh, which you can
then treat like any other polygon. Using the Output
Mesh attributes, you can set the resolution and quality
of the resulting polygon mesh.
Static nParticles as
well as emitted nParticles can be converted to a polygon mesh. Only
nParticle objects with Blobby Surface render
types, including Ball and Water style
nParticles, can be converted to polygons.
To convert nParticles to a polygon mesh
- In the scene view, select the nParticle
object that you want to convert to a polygon mesh.
To convert emitted nParticles,
either emit some nParticles into the scene and select them, or select
the nParticle object from the Outliner.
- Select
Modify > Convert > nParticle to Polygons.
To set nParticle Output
Mesh properties
- In the scene view, select the nParticle
object that’s been converted to a polygon mesh.
- In the Attribute Editor,
select the nParticleShape tab.
- In the Output Mesh section
do the following:
- Set Threshold to
control surface blending between the Blobby Surface nParticles.
See
Set Threshold.
- Set the Blobby Radius Scale to
specify the amount the nParticle Radius is
scaled to create a smooth surface on Blobby Surface nParticles.
See
Blobby Radius Scale.
- Set Motion Streak to
create an effect with the output mesh that is similar to a motion
blur. See
Motion Streak.
- Set the Mesh Triangle Size to
specify the size of the polygon triangles that are used to create
the nParticle output mesh.
Smaller Triangle
Size polygons produce smoother meshes, but take more
time to simulate.
See
Mesh Triangle Size.
- Set the Max Triangle Resolution to specify
the maximum resolution of the grid used to generate the output mesh
triangles.
If the grid size required
to create an nParticle mesh exceeds the Max Triangle Resolution value,
the output Mesh Triangle Size automatically
increases to compensate for increasing size of the nParticle mesh.
See
Max Triangle Resolution.
- Turn on Use Gradient Normals to make
the normals on an nParticle output mesh more smooth. See
Use Gradient Normals.
- From the Mesh Method list,
select the method you to use to generate the nParticle output mesh.
See
Mesh Method.
- Set the Mesh Smoothing Iterations to specify
the amount of smoothing you want apply to the nParticle output mesh.
See
Mesh Smoothing Iterations.