This pluggin is what I define as charityware and can be freely distributed. If
you find it useful make what you feel as an appropriate donation to your
favorite charity. You cannot charge or make any money from this routine by
reselling or bundling them with another package/cd/web page without my
permission.
To install this routine just copy the files into your 3ds Max plugin directory.
1.1 Fixes a crash bug when the particle system is deleted and adds a checl box
where you can set the Effect Size equal to the particles size.
This is material turns a particle system into a spray paint can. Basically it
is a form of Blend material except that instead of blending 2 materials based
on amount or mask it uses a particle system. Anytime a particle comes near an
object with a particle paint material on it, the materials are blended.
Base Material - this is the base material of the object. It is the material
used when there is no blemding.
Paint Mateial - this is the material that is to be painted onto the object.
Pick button picks the particle system to be used as the paint can.
Persistance is how long the effect will last in frames.
Effect Size is how much of an area each particle will effect
Use Particle Size will make the effect size equal to that of the particles
Localize Paint Material - localizes the material UVW mapping to the center of
each particle.
X/Y/Z - control the orientation of the mapping when used Localized Paint is
checked.
Hose Paint - determines how the the blending is layered when Localized Paint is
checked. If it is not checked all the layers are just blended together. If it
is checked the layers are composited on top of each other instead of blended.
To see how Localize Particle and Hose Paint all work in conjunction load
PPAINT.MAX. Open up the Material Editor and examine Material #1 which is
assigned to the box. Render frame 15 and notice how the Daisy Material is being
uncovered by the particle system. Now turn on the Localize Paint check box and
render frame 15 again. Notice that instead of revealing the Daisy Material the
material is painted and blended across the box. You will notice that the Y axis
box is checked, this is the orientation/facing of the mapping. Now turn on Hose
Paint and rerender frame 15. Now instead of being blended each daisy is painted
on top of the previous. Also if you want to use alpha channel to decal another
material on top of the base use the opacity channel. For instance go into the
Daisy Material and turn on the Opacity Map that has the Daisy.tif assigned to
it and rerender. Notice how the grey is now knocked out.
The Mixing Curve is the same as the standard mix curve.
Bugs:
YOu cannot use a raytrace material in the paint slot when Localize Paint is
turned on.
Note this utility has not been fully tested in a production enviroment so use
at your own risk. If you encounter any problems please contact me at