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SMOKE CIGARETTES

   * From: rbyrne@3dform.edex.edu.au (Robert Byrne)
   * Date: Thu, 9 Feb 95 20:48:51 +1000 [59]
   * Subject: ideas on how to make chaotic cigarette smoke
Hello Allan, here's a couple of suggestions I've found, but can't take credit for. I've tested the Particles method but 1 frame took about 23 hours to render on an A3000. The texture method would be worth trying first.

SIMULATING SMOKE WITH PARTICLES

Check this Tutorial out:

-Detail Editor

  -add primitives: sphere


  -attributes:     color 128,128,128       fog 180


         CLRNOIZ TEXTURE:
                   color 64,64,64          r,g,b,color vary 0


  -particles:      cube
                   random align
                   interpolated
                   dimension 150 units


  -save object
-Action Editor

  -add particle effect to loaded sphere (to all anim frames)


      (TOT == number of frames)


               emission
               travel distance  100 units
               scaling  1
               time to terminal h  2
               elasticity  50
               time to terminal z  TOT
               velocity  .5
               min angle x  -5
               max angle x  5
               wind velocity  5
               wind angle  33
               wind start  -TOT  (minus TOT)
               wind stop  TOT
               emission  95%
               SET ALL OTHER VALUES TO  0
REMEMBER: add a backdrop picture, plane or something else behind the particle object because it is a fog obj!!! -- do you want see a blank/black screen?

SMOKE (GAS) USING THE NEBULAR TEXTURE

I've just been playing with the Nebular texture to create a little animated smoke. Works great, and I just thought some of you with 3.0 might make some use of this info.

Remember to render fog objects in front of a background object, and that this texture will apply to the area bounded by the texture axis, not the entire object. Scale the texture axis to affect the shape of the fog.

General Notes:

Noise 1 seems to affect the quality of the swirls. Higher numbers adjust the thickness and reduce the transparency. Noise 2 affects color transitions, color intensity of nebular color as set in texture requester, and color mixture, or grain. Grain appears as a very pointillated surface, as if there are thousands of dots of color rather than a smooth gradation or defined boundaries between object and nebula colors. Higher numbers of Noise 2 intensify the nebular color and increase grain.

Fog length and the 'T' value work together to determine amount and density of the fog appearing on the object. For stills I would set the 'T' value between .6 and .8, object fog length at .1, and adjust the 'Fog Length at T' to get the right density of fog. I would use the 'T' value combined with some of the noise values to create a fluctuating fog, or even to morph from a dense fog to one very nearly dissipated.

A nice, swirly smoke might use the following attributes in the nebular texture requester. I used these on a sphere primitive with diameter of 300, so use that number as a reference to fog length.

  Object color:
  R:150
  G:150
  B:175


  Object Fog length:
  .1


  Nebular attributes:
  Fog Length at T:500
  T:.8
  Noise 1 Magnitude:5.0
  Noise 1 Velocity:1.0
  Noise 2 Magnitude:.2
  Noise 2 Velocity:10.0
  R:150
  G:100
  B:225
The texture axis forms a square completely inside the sphere object, whose corners touch the inside surface of the sphere.

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