[Bf-committers] (Peach) Softbody for particles needed...

[Matt Ebb]

On 15/01/2008, at 9:35 PM, Ton Roosendaal wrote:

> -> once you make hair particles editable, you cannot use forcefields  
> on
> them anymore (or use softbody)
>
> I do understand why (animation vs physics conflict), but simulation
> accuracy is not an issue here. What we need is just artistic control,
> as if you have an animatable 'comb' to force hairs in certain
> directions.

I'd really like this as well, it's quite a huge limitation - it's  
quite rare that you'll have a hair particle system and *not* use the  
excellent styling tools on it.

Anyway if this doesn't end up working out, may I offer up another  
suggestion (or additional request :) ?

It would be really useful for me right now to have 'Particle Shapes',  
similar to mesh shapes, i.e. stored 'snapshots' of the edited particle  
system - basically just storing the current (or difference in)  
position, length, etc of all the particle key points.

Right now I'm working on a furry character for a series of  
illustrations. The character's rigged, and posed in different poses  
for the different illustrations. Inevitably, I have to end up doing  
additional brushing on the fur for each pose, to make it look good,  
and match the reference/sketches from the client. It's sometimes the  
case that certain poses move the underlying mesh surface in was that  
cause fur that was previously smooth, to stick up in strange angles.

Right now, I've got a base pose, and I'm starting to save the entire  
character out to separate files in the various poses, and doing the  
additional brushing on top of that. This is a nasty situation, and  
it's going to be very tricky when the client wants the inevitable  
model changes, the different files will diverge and diverge and make  
it very difficult to ripple changes through.

It would be great if I could just define a number of 'particle shapes'  
for the various poses that are just stored alongside the main particle  
system. Then changing pose would just be a matter of loading up the  
new action, and switching to the correct particle shape. Such a system  
could also be conceivably animated too, interpolating between them  
like mesh shapes. You could then use that to hand-animate at least the  
more obvious particle motions, such as the sideburns on the Peach  
character. Might even be a bit easier to tame than softbody sims! Or  
at least it would be useful for fixing up weird looking fur at certain  
frames in animations.

Anyway, just an idea, it would be extremely useful to me!

cheers,

Matt