Here is beta build #1 of Stoke for 3ds Max. The Work In Progress documentation can be found here: thinkboxsoftware.com/stoke/
We will start sending out the licenses to those who have provided their host name and MAC address soon. If you are on this forum and haven’t provided your licensing info, please do so by emailing sales@thinkboxsoftware.com.
The StokeUI.ms file included in the Beta 1 installer had a bug in the handling of FumeFX velocity data.
This updated script fixes the issue.
It also adds handling of both light and dark UI schemes of 3ds Max - the ListView controls will be adjusted accordingly.
Please replace the script file in C:\Program Files\Thinkbox\Stoke MX\Scripts\ with the attached one.
The following is a list of known issues in Beta 1.
[size=150]Bugs:[/size]
When removing particles during the simulation using the “Delete ‘Dead’ Particles” option, the extra channels acquired by the particle from the emitter like TextureCoords are not deleted correctly, resulting in messed up values in new particles. If this is an issue, use the Magma modifier delete approach (button with arrow up to the right of the “Delete…” checkbox) - this approach does not cause any problems.
[size=150]Not Implemented Yet / Known Limitations:[/size]
The Memory Cache is currently lost when loading a previously saved scene and has to be rebuilt. In the future, the Memory Cache will be a write-through cache which will store data on disk and will be able to restore, unload and otherwise manage the memory usage in a transparent manner. If you need a permanent copy of your simulation, consider saving to PRTs during simulation. The PRTs will not be re-loaded by Stoke itself, but can be processed further using Magma and other modifiers and rendered with Krakatoa.
Stoke does not provide sub-frame sampling yet, but it is planned for the final release.
Stoke does not support full PFlow systems, only the first Event (similar to Ember). This should be fixed before the final release. In the mean time you can save the PFlow to PRT using Krakatoa and emit from a PRT Loader instead.
Stoke particles cannot be meshed directly with the current build of Frost. An updated build of Frost will be posted in the near future to support the Stoke object. In the mean time, you can save to PRTs and mesh those.
Stoke saves the Age and LifeSpan channels as Float values. Krakatoa MX supports these channels as Integers. It is not possible to render particles with different data formats for the same channel using Krakatoa MX 2.1.7 and earlier (for example rendering Stoke and PFlow at the same time will cause an error). An updated Krakatoa build that saves Age and LifeSpan as Float Seconds and supports the transparent loading of Integer time channels from existing files as Floats exists internally and will be posted in the near future.
Stoke cannot emit directly from a FumeFX grid yet. The workaround is to use a PRT FumeFX to seed particles by Fire threshold (or Smoke, if desired), and emit from the PRT FumeFX instead. Support for direct emission from FumeFX might be added at a later point.
The attached script update fixes a few minor bugs reported in the Bugs thread:
The Help button now opens the Stoke page
The Directory dialog now defaults to the current path
The Velocity Scale is now disabled unless an entry is selected in the ListView.
Additional changes:
Added a new checkbox to vary the Random Seed during the simulation (when unchecked, if emitting from seed particles with an ID channel, the same particles would be used on each frame). Also, each emitter will now get its own random seed based on the object’s index on the list.
Also fixed the Random Seed to be taken into account during the simulation if keyframed explicitly. Originally, the random seed was set only once on the first frame and could not be animated.