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emFlock2 (version 2.xx)
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Title / Link

• the new stuff in version 2.1.
• the new compound "Dynamic Particle Count".

Roughly two minutes of particles that flock, fly and morph using emFlock2, emFly and two new compounds called "Equal Distribution" and "Dynamic Particle Count".

• randomizing the positions for the paths.
• using an exclusion volume for the paths.
• using the "Reset SiScCol" compound.
• using data with the "Get Point Data" compound.
• using landing and take off... without flying.

• the two new compounds for creating an even distribution of particles on a surface.
• what those new compounds do.
• how to use them with emFly.

PS: should those new compounds not appear in the ICE Tree then you probably have an older emFlock2 version installed. Simply download and install the newest version from the emFlock2 web page emFlock2 web page .

• how to set up flying paths.
• how to use available data to define the end orientations and colors for the flying.
• how to use the particle state IDs along with the factory state compounds to switch from one flying setup to the next.
• how to trigger flying / landing / take off.
• how to use a volume to trigger take off.

=> the final result: a flock of particles that flies around and that takes the shape of a cached Lagoa point cloud, then the shape of a curve, then the shape of a polygon mesh.

PS: the final result of this tutorial is contained in the demo scenes (note: it requires the full version of emFlock2 as well as SI 2011 SAP to run properly).

• how to create a "flock and fly" setup.
• ultra quick look at the flocking compounds.
• a quick look at a few of the new emFly compounds.
• creating "Fly" paths using nulls, curves and meshes.
• trigger flying, landing and take off.

• a quick walk through the new stuff in emFlock2.

Two and a half minutes showing a bunch of particles that flock and morph using the new emFlock2 release and the newly integrated "emFly".

The simulation and the rendering were made on a single workstation with an Intel i7 processor using Softimage 2011 SAP.
The entire video is a single shot (no cuts) showing a single point cloud with a single simulated ICE Tree. The particles are only driven by emFlock2 and emFly.

Last but not least: some funky music and sound by my brother Karsten.

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emFlock (version 1.xx)
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Title / Link

• demonstrates how to create an even distribution of particles on a geometry's surface.

• demonstrates how to create a predator that scares a flock.

A two minutes long video with a few ICE simulations that were made in order to test version 1.1 of emFlock as well as the new SItoA beta from "SolidAngle" (the guys who made Arnold) together with SI 2011.5. Sorry for the lame bib-bib-bib music, there wasn't enough time to do something nicer.

Note(I): Arnold was used for the main renderings for two reasons. 1) it is fast, uses not much RAM and is really easy to setup (you get good results in no time). All those things are really good when you only have a single render machine and lack self-motivation when it comes to tweak shaders. 2) the current Arnold and SItoA versions were also tested for certain things.

Note(II): The titles were rendered with emRPC v.3.05, because of the small particle size (smaller than a pixel). emRPC is well suited and fast with that kind of particles (the titles render in less than a second per frame in 1280x720) and produces flicker free sequences, no matter how small the particles get.

Note(III): The particles in this video are animated with emFlock v.1.1. Latter has had a severe "heart transplantation": The octree algorithm was entirely re-programmed and the multithreading was improved. The simulation time for the big orange point cloud with 1 million particles was about 4-5 seconds per frame (approx. two and a half hours for the 2000 frames).

• how to create a simple flock with a goal.
• how to make the flock move on an uneven polygon surface.
• how to add an obstacle.

• a walk through all of the compounds contained in the emFlock addon.
• interaction between emFlock and the factory ICE nodes.

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emFluid4 (version 4.xx)
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Title / Link

• Velocity Fields and Grids.
• Direct Velocity.
• Indirect Velocity.
• Combustion.
• Density.

• Using the data "density".
• Advanced behavior settings.

• quick look at the demo scene "BasicFluid".
• how to create a similar setup from scratch.
• using only velocity emitters.
• resetting the fluid particles.

All simulations and renderings were made on a single workstation with an Intel i7 processor using Softimage 2011 SAP, Mental Ray and the factory particle volume shader. The compositing was done with the Fx Tree, the music with Reason 4.0.

The amount of particles varies from 500K to 10M, the render times from 1-6 minutes per frame (one point light + shadows + Final Gathering). Aside from a little post (color correction and some glow) the renderings are "as is".

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emFluid3 (version 3.xx)
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Title / Link

• create a torch, use bunny as obstacle
• tweak parameters
• ignite a torch with another torch
• bring bunny to the vet (not shown here)

• a concrete example on how to use the debug compound to find a problem.

• the compound "emFluid3 __ Debug" and its purpose: it allows to really see the content of the different grids of the fluid solver, i.e. you can look at the velocity field, or the heat field, etc.

• using emFluid3 in a similar manner as its predecessor emFluid2 by having only a data velocity emitter (former name was "Velocity Force from SRT").
• the compound "emFluid3 __ emit Data from SRT".

• using an obstacle to create a sort of fluid box... that is not a box.

• creating the typical emFluid3 setup entirely from scratch.

• creating the typical emFluid3 setup (almost) from scratch with the help of the "explode me" compound.

• a walk through the typical emFluid3 ICE Tree setup in order to know where to find what.

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emNewton2 (version 2.xx)
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Title / Link

• a walk through emNewton2.

This video was made for the release of emNewton2 version 2.0.

It shows four different simulations that were made with the beta version of emNewton2. At the end of the animation is some information about memory usage, simulation and render times and the amount of particles.

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emPolygonizer3 (version 3.xx)
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Title / Link

• the "Level of Detail".
• how to properly mesh a point cloud.

• a quick walk through the new stuff in emPolygonizer3.

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emPolygonizer2 (version 2.xx)
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Title / Link

• how to render 3D motion blur with emPolygonizer2 meshes.
• how to render a 2D motion vector color pass and how to use it with the tool "ReelSmart Motion Blur".
• a few tips and tricks concerning motion blur.

• how to mesh a point cloud with emPolygonizer2.
• the custom properties of connected objects.
• how to create and render vertex colors.
• how to add a null.
• how to add a curve.

This video was made for the release of emPolygonizer2 version 2.0 for Softimage 2011 SP1 (Win32, Win64, Linux64).

It contains about three and a half minutes of animations in which this plugin was used to create the polygon meshes based on ICE point clouds, nulls, Lagoa Topology Data, curves and input polygon meshes.

Three further test renderings by Tim Borgmann.

This time he tested emPolygonizer2's ability to cache and freeze geometry (including the 3D motion blur!) as well as strand colors.
All the geometry is generated by emPolygonizer2 (version 1.982 alpha), rendering was done with Mental Ray.

Here three more test renderings by Tim Borgmann.

His tests use ICE, SPH, Melena and Mental Ray.
All the geometry is generated by emPolygonizer2 (version 1.982 alpha).
The first animation uses 2D motion blur and the second one 3D motion blur.

A few test renderings by Tim Borgmann (he has been doing quite some hardcore testing with the beta version of emPolygonizer2).

A short (and improvised) sneak preview showing a few of the old and new features of emPolygonizer.

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emRPC4 (version 4.xx)
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Title / Link

• setting up emRPC4 for strands.
• how to access the strand parameters.
• DOF (depth of field).

• setting up emRPC4 and the viewer.
• rendering a little emFluid4 flame.
• using two particle settings compounds in order to have different render settings for different particles.

• a quick walk through the new stuff in emRPC4.

All the frames for this video were rendered in 1440x810 and the render times (with ambient occlusion, global illumination and motion blur) never exceeded 42 seconds per frame on an Intel i7, even though the particle count was up to over 16 million.

Aside from a little post using only "standard" effects (color corrections, blurs, etc.) the renderings are "as is".

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emRPC (version 3.xx)
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Title / Link

• how to cache an emFluid3 setup to disk.
• how to read the cache.
• how to loop the cache and how to re-use it.
• a few tips and tricks concerning ICE cache.

• create an emFluid3 setup for a "photonic explosion" using heat and velocity data that is emitted from polygon meshes.
• create an emRPC setup to render 7.300.000 particles.
• a quick Fx Tree for the final touch.

Note: in this tutorial is shown how to create the entire setup (from scratch) to animate and render particles with the "look & feel" of the "Cuddly Photonic Explosions" animation from the emRPC web page.

• little journey through the online stuff (example videos, online doc,..).
• a look at four demo scenes (which are available for download).
• rendering strands.

• OGL Preview and self-shadowing.
• casting shadows on masks.
• rendering images to disk.
• using the Flipbook while tweaking Parameters.

• a little trick to create the typical emRPC Setup in two clicks..

• self-shadowing parameter "Shadow-Factor-Percentage".
• self-shadowing parameter "Maximum-Shadow-Darkness".
• self-shadowing parameter "Octree Blur Strength / Iterations".

• a quick walk through the compounds.
• the OGL preview.
• self-shadowing.
• the compound "emRPC Simple Shadow Caster"

• the location of the emRPC compounds.
• the way in which the emRPC compounds must be connected.

A little sneak preview.

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emTools (version 1.xx)
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Title / Link