HardFX to Break Objects: Tips Anyone???

[THREEL]

Now, that I have my football helmet created pretty much the way I want it (See WIP section), I'm trying to smash 2 of them together to break them apart. Also, I have a Partigon Emitter set-up in-between the helmets with a hypervoxel preset to form an explosion on impact. I think I have everything set to work, but when I calculate, nothing happens. I have either Start by Event or Start by Collision, I don't remember which, checked, but still, nothing happens.

Any clues to what I might be missing? Are there nominal settings for something like this?

If this isn't enough info, I'll post some parameters to clarify.

tHANX!

tHREEL

[Surrealist.]

No luck yet?

Do you have Dan Ablan's LW 8 Book? This is not my area but remember he had a tut on breaking something up in that book.

Also do you have the LW 8 content? There is a scene in there I think in the dynamics folder. You could take a look at it.

[THREEL]

No luck yet?

Do you have Dan Ablan's LW 8 Book? This is not my area but remember he had a tut on breaking something up in that book.

Also do you have the LW 8 content? There is a scene in there I think in the dynamics folder. You could take a look at it.

tHANX Richard!

I have a LW 7 book, but not 8. Also, I've looked at a couple of the HardFX Samples in the content, but they just seem to have loaded motion files in there. So, I really couldn't find any parameters to go by. I'll look some more and see if I'm missing anything.

[Silkrooster]

Are you using a plug in like crack it?. Or trying on your own.
The hard fx works by moving peices away from each other giving the illusion that the object broke apart. If your object is a single peice hardfx can not break it.
But if you unweld your object first, then each poly is seperate from the rest. Now hard fx can move them apart. In the hard fx settings make sure you set peice mode to parts.
Silk

[THREEL]

Are you using a plug in like crack it?. Or trying on your own.
The hard fx works by moving peices away from each other giving the illusion that the object broke apart. If your object is a single peice hardfx can not break it.
But if you unweld your object first, then each poly is seperate from the rest. Now hard fx can move them apart. In the hard fx settings make sure you set peice mode to parts.
Silk


Nope! Don't have CrackIt. Yet... Do you know where I can get it, and does it work in :lwicon: 8.5?

Right now, each helmet has several parts, but they're all in one layer for each helmet. Should I separate each part to a different layer? Also, each helmet is parented to a null. Would that make things not work right?

All of the helmet parts are subpatched. Wouldn't that drastically change the look of the helmet to unweld the points?

Also, Dodgy has a plug-in called BreakUp. The version I saw on his site said that it is for v9.2. I wonder if he, also, has a version the will work with 8.5.

tHANX, Silk!

AL

[meshpig]

SR is right, you unweld either by selecting a bunch of polys and cutting and pasting on the spot or unweld by surface, part selection.

Put some nulls as colliders in there to affect the collision so you don't have competeing FX in the helmets.

M

[meshpig]

All of the helmet parts are subpatched. Wouldn't that drastically change the look of the helmet to unweld the points?

No, not if there is enough geometry to begin with. Otherwise, a small edge for the outline will keep them crsip. A complete unweld won't be very useful.

M

[Surrealist.]

That's right. Used to be you had to put them in separate layers but now the parts can be in the same layer. I think what you will want to do is use different objects at the point of impact. These objects could be frozen versions of the original that you then break apart how you want it by cutting and pasting. The frozen (save trans object) versions will have tris all over so you'll have plenty of jaggies to cut from. What I would do is just select polys and cut chunks bit by bit and paste them into another layer. When I finally have the helmet all transfered into the new layer as bits (unmerged) then that would be done.

(And to insure an exact resemblance I would freeze from Layout at the exact Subd level I am using for the Subpatch versions.)

A work flow to consider:

I would set up the animation with the Subpatch versions because it would be faster and easier to animate. Once I had things just right with the render and so on I would save trans object and to the breaking. Then I would test the dynamics - which will probably take a while to calculate - and once done render with the subpatch versions and replace with the broken versions at the point of impact.

or...

I would also consider two animations 1) the subpatch version and 2) the cracked version with the dynamics applied. Both scenes would be identical save for the different objects and the dynamics version of the scene would only have to be rendered for that part of the scene. Then in post I would edit them together and have the ability to make a short fade between if needed.

Just some thoughts. :)

[Scrambler]

Hi!
tHREEL, check out the attached scene.
It's made according to Dan Ablan advice in breaking something.

I suppose, it'll explain a lot.

[THREEL]

Richard & MP: Could I just make parts of the helmet by cutting and pasting, and then, making back edges to each helmet piece with 100% straightness to those edges, so they will fit back together properly?

BTW--I thought at least the different parts of the helmet (helmet, facemask, clasps, screws, snaps, front & back lips) should already fly apart, since they are not physically connected to each other.

Hi!
tHREEL, check out the attached scene.
It's made according to Dan Ablan advice in breaking something.

I suppose, it'll explain a lot.

tHANX Scrambler! But I have :lwicon: 8.5, and I couldn't open what you sent me.

[THREEL]

Well, I found C-4, and I didn't even realize that I already had CrackIt. I have tried both of them and haven't got the results that I've wanted, yet. Maybe I need to Freeze or Metaform the objects first, before I run either of these plug-ins.

If anyone has any in-sight on either of them, please share it with us.

tHANX a bunch!!!

AL

[Scrambler]

tHANX Scrambler! But I have :lwicon: 8.5, and I couldn't open what you sent me.
Sorry. I didn't know.
Unfortunately, I can't export object and scene to 8.5 version properly (maybe you'll try 9.3 trial version?:) ).

Here is the concept of breaking something:
1)The breaking object should consist of separate parts which will fly away after collision. No matter what they are - polygons with unwelded vertices or objects (like bricks in the wall).
2) In Layout go to the breakin object properties Dynamics tab and add Hard (HardFX) dynamics.
3) In HardFX properties set Piece mode to "Parts" (Basic tab). Check "Start by Collision" checkbox (Collision tab)

4) Add an object for collision which has FX Collision dynamics assigned.
5) On Mode tab set Mode to "Bounce", set object Radius/Level for interaction.

6) Go to one of the following frames. Move the collision object to the position that will make the path for it that will cross the breaking object (meaning - between first and currently selected frames your objects should collide).
Create a key frame.

7) SAVE YOUR SCENE!!!

8) Go back to the first frame. Open collision object properties and click on "Calculate" button at Dynamics tab.

The collision calculation should start. Depending on your objects complexity, collision type and amount of frames in your animation the calculation may be sloooow.

PS: If you're working in Windows OS - DO NOT SWITCH OR MAKE ACTIVE ANY OTHER WINDOW OR APPLICATIONS except object properties window (where you're now) during calculation - it causes Layout to hang-up (at least in LW 9.3). Stop the calculation or wait until it finishes and continue working freely.

[THREEL]

tHANX for the great breakdown on how to break an object, Scrambler. I was already doing most of what you siad. The reason that I wasn't able to get my helmet to break was that it was all one piece. I did have separate parts for the helmet (base, facemask, inner pads, etc...), but HardFX must have been seeing them as one part each.

I didn't want to manually break the helmet into pieces, because I figured it would take forever to close each piece in such a way that they would all fit back together like a jig-saw puzzle, when I was finished.

I googled CrackIt, but the results I got just led to Forum Threads. Come to find out, I already had it as a :lwicon: plug-in. I don't remember where I got it from, but it was already there. I tried it a few times, but I wasn't liking the results that I was getting. I probably needed to Freeze it first.

So, I hunted down C-4 and downloaded the (Destruct & Detonate) plug-ins. After I realized that I needed to Freeze (tHANX to Surrealist & meshpig) the objects, before I used Destruct, I was starting to break up the objects in an acceptable manner. I haven't figured out how to use Detonate, yet. I loaded the plug-in into Layout, but now I cannot find where Layout put it. I parented a collision object to one helmet null & ran both helmets straight at each other as a test. It worked pretty well. Now, I just need to understand all of the parameters better, so I can tweak them for more desirable results.

The other thing I need to do is figure out how to apply this to other helmets, so I don't have to use C-4 Destruct on every single helmet that I make. All the other parts are no big deal to change their surfaces. It's just the helmet base that scares me, because of the different UV maps that I have to apply to each base.

If anyone else has more insight into this, please, chime in.

tHANX again!

AL

[THREEL]

Well, I'm getting a pretty good shatter effect on my helmets. tHANX to everyone that helped! :thumbsup: There are only 2 things to deal with, now.

1. The pieces don't fly all the way off the screen, after the helmets shatter.

I suppose I could probably just dissolve them at a certain frame, unless there's a more realistic way to get the pieces to leave the camera view.

2. When the helmets hit, I would like that to cause a Death Star-like explosion, ring and all. Like when the Death Star exploded in Episode 6: The Enhanced version.

I added a HV Emitter to the scene with hypervoxels and used one of the fire presets, but I'm really not getting the results that I would like to see. Plus the particles fly in every direction, which pretty much obstructs the view of the helmets' demise.

I'll try to post a low res animation, once I get this all figured out.

As always, tHANX to everyone for all your help.

AL

[Surrealist.]

Cool. Look forward to seeing it. How about doing the explosion separate and compositing?

[THREEL]

Cool. Look forward to seeing it. How about doing the explosion separate and compositing?

Sounds like an idea, but I still have to figure out how to do the explosion.

Back to the LABORATORY!!!

[Surrealist.]

Check out this thread (http://www.newtek.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70370&highlight=Mushroom+cloud).