In the following tutorial we want to show you how to use the particle skinner modifier in combination with pflow. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us here.

What we are going to create:

Let`s get started:

Step 1:
First we have to setup the World Scale. Go to „Customize“ – „Units Setup“ and set the „Display Unit Scale“ to Metric. Open the System Unit Setup dialogue and set „1 Unit = 1,0 Centimeters“.

Step 2:
Create a ground box with the following settings: Length: 3,0m, Width: 3,0m, Heigth: -0,03m. Set it´s coordinates to 0,0,0.

Step 3:
Create a GeoSphere with 6 segments and a radius of 0,1 m. Position it in the center of the scene. Call the GeoSphere „GeoSphere PFlow“.

Step 4:
Right-Click the Geosphere and clone it as a copy. Rename it to „GeoSphere Particle Skinner“.

Step 5:
Create a standard Deflector in the center of the scene and set it´s Width and Lenght to 4,0m. Set it´s Bounce to 0,0, the Variation to 30,0%, the Chaos to 30,0% and the Friction to 50,0%.

Step 6:
In the Space Warps Panel go to Forces and create a Drag Force somewhere in the scene. Set it´s Time Off to 10.000 and the Linear Damping for the X,Y and Z Axis to 99,9%.

Step 7:
In the Time Configuration set the Length to 400 Frames.

Step 8:
Create a PF Source somewhere in your scene. Set the Quantity Multiplier for the Viewport to 100% to see all of the particles in your viewport. Open up the Particle View. Replace the Position Icon Operator with a Position Object operator and delete the Speed, Rotation and Shape Operators.

Step 9:
Now you need a second Deflector to send the particles to another Event later. Create a deflector in the Front view as shown on the screenshot. Set it´s Bounce to 0,0. Rename the deflector „Deflector Send“.

Step 10:
Position the Deflector to the right of the GeoSpheres and Enable AutoKey. Go to frame 180 and move the Deflector to the left of the Spheres. Disable Auto Key Mode.

Step 11:
Create a Wind Force somewhere in the viewport and rotate it 70 degrees in the x axis so it will point to the opposite direction of the deflector´s movement as shown on the screenshot. Set the Strength to 0,2, the Turbulence to 1,0, the Frequency to 0,01 and the Scale to 0,06.

Step 12:
Go to the Modify Tab  of the PF Source or press 6 on your keyboard to open Particle View. In the Position Object Operator add the „GeoSphere PFlow“ object to it´s Emitter Objects list.

Step 13:
In the Birth Operator set the Emit Start and Stop to 0. Set the Amount to 500.

Step 14:
Drag a Collision Operator to the first Event and add the „Deflector Send“ to it´s list. Set the Speed to „Continue“ to send the colliding particles to the next Event.

Step 15:
Drag a Force Operator to the Particle View to create a new Event. Add one more Force Operator and a Collision Operator to the Event. Connect the Output of the first Collision Operator to the Input of the new Event.

Step 16:
Add the Wind Force to the first Force Operator and set the Influence to 100,0%. Add the Drag Force to the second Force Operator and set it´s Influence also to 100,0%.

Step 17:
In the Collision Operator add the Ground Deflector to the list.

Step 18:
In the Render Operator set the Type to None. We don´t want to render the particles – we just need them later for the Particle Skinner modifier. For now you can close Particle View.

Step 19:
In the viewport right-click the „GeoSphere PFlow“ object and hide it. Select the „GeoSphere Particle Skinner“ object and apply a Particle Skinner Modifier. Add the PF Source to it´s Particle Flow Systems list and click on „Activate Skinning“

Step 20:
In the Particle Skinner Modifier set the Type to „Binding Break“ and the Controllers Limit to 10.

Step 21:
Add a Shell Modifier to the Geosphere Particle Skinner Object and set the Inner Amount to 0,005m.

Step 22:
Open up Particle View and select all Events from the first PF Source. Shift drag all of them to the right to create a new PF Source.

Step 23:
Set the Type in the Render and Display Operators to „Geometry“.

Step 24:
Add a Shape Operator to the PF Source and change the Shape to „Dodecahedron“. Change the Size to 0,002m with a Variation of 80%. In the Birth Operator set the Amount to about 20.000.

Step 25:
Right-click the second Event in your second Particle System and go to Properties. In the Rendering Control uncheck the Renderable button to make this Event invisible. Click OK and close Particle View.

Optimize:
For Rendering add a Material Static Operator to your second Particle System and setup a Material. Also assign this material to the „GeoSphere Particle Skinner“ object. We used a basic V-Ray Studio Lighting Setup and some V-Ray Physical Cameras to render the scene. Also we set up some Motion Blur and DOF (depth of field) for a more realistic rendering. You can also replace the Shape Operator from the second Event with a Shape Instance Operator to give the small particles more variation.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us here.