February 19, 2011

In our latest series of free videos, we learn to animate flocking behavior. In this hour-long series, we cover modeling, animation, and dynamics. The key element is the Particle Instancer, which places models on top of particles.

This is an intermediate level exercise, building on the previous Magic Wand tutorial. Some of the learning outcomes of this tutorial include:

Model and animate a simple articulated insect such as a butterfly
Convert the animation to a model sequence using Animation Snapshot
Prepare the Snapshot hierarchy for use with the Particle Instancer
Sketch particles with the Particle Tool
Instance geometry to particles with the Particle Instancer
Write a Creation Expression to drive a custom attribute
Employ Radial Fields to attract and repel particles from one another
Fine-tune Field attributes such as Max Distance and Attenuation

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