Krakatoa PRT Maker Designer Utility

Available in Krakatoa MX 2.0.0 and higher

Introduction

  • The PRT Maker Designer utility provides a high-level interface to the Fractal Design capabilities of the PRT Maker object, as well as low-level access to every parameter defining a particular design.
  • It also implements management features for the creation and application of Presets.

User Interface

PRT Makers list

  • This drop-down list displays all PRT Maker objects in the scene.

Create PRT Maker button

  • Creates a new default PRT Maker with Count of 3 and Random Seed of 12345.
  • A default red-blue color gradient Magma modifier will be added to the PRT Maker.

UPDATE button

  • Pressing this button will update the PRT Makers list and refresh all settings.
  • You can use this as alternative to reopening the Designer UI from the Krakatoa Menu.

Enable/Disable Fractal Design Effect list

  • This option lets you switch the PRT Maker between no Fractal design (creating a given number of particles with zero Positions) and Fractal design (using the underlying controllers to distribute the particles via the Affine Transformations data).
  • When a PRT Maker is created using the Create PRT Maker button in the Designer, this option will be set to “Enable…”, while PRT Makers created via the 3ds Max Create panel will have it set to “Disable…”.

Dynamic Explorer Mode checkbutton

  • Enabling this option and then changing the Affine Transformations Count or Random Seed values (see below) will automatically RESET the current PRT Maker’s Design - this is useful for exploring the effect of the Count and Seed values.
  • Note that using this option will remove any keyframe animation and existing design settings from the PRT Maker!

Affine Transformations Count value

  • This is one of two values used by the “Quick Design” controls.
  • This value defines the number of transformations to be applied to each particle.
  • The min. value in the Designer is 2 - a value of 1 does not produce usable distributions, a value of 0 resets the PRT Maker and would remove all controllers (it is used internally and can be set via MAXScript)
  • Typical designs have 2, 3 or more iterations.

Random Seed value

  • This is the second of two values comprising the “Quick Design” controls.
  • This value sets the Random Seed once before all random values are generated for all Affine Transformations. This ensures that if you generate a Design with a given Count and Random Seed, you are always going to produce exactly the same Design.

RESET TO QUICK DESIGN button

  • Pressing this button will clear any existing Design from the current PRT Maker including any existing animation keyframes, and will then generate a Design using the current Count and Random Seed values.
  • It does NOT matter what frame the 3ds Max Time Slider is at when using this option.

APPLY DESIGN AT CURRENT TIME button

  • Pressing this button will generate a Design using the current Count and Random Seed values and keyframe all transform controllers on the current frame only.
  • If the 3ds Max Time Slider is set to a frame different than the zero frame, this will result in an animation from the existing design and the new design.

OPEN Fractal Design Parameters Editor… button

  • Pressing this button will open the Parameters Editor dialog.
  • This dialog exposes all values used to define the current frame’s fractal design.
  • Moving the 3ds Max Time Slider will update the values if they are animated over time
  • Chanfging any value in the dialog will keyframe the corresponding parameter at the current time.
  • Note that other than the Quick Design parameters which use a limited sub-set of randomly generated values, the values in the Parameters Editor are virtually unlimited and can be tweaked into Designs not possible to create otherwise.

Save Design Preset text field

  • This text field defines the name of the Design preset to be saved.
  • By default, a name is generated from the Count and Random Seed values and the current mode, but you can enter ANY name to save the current frame’s design under.

SAVE Current Design… button

  • Pressing this button will create an INI file on disk containing all parameters describing the current frame’s Design.
  • The INI file will also contain information about the 3ds Max Scene, User, Data and Time, Count and Random Seed settings, as well as user-defined Info which can be edited at any time.
  • A screenshot of the currently active Viewport will be stored as a JPG thumbnail and will be referenced by the INI file for easier browsing.
  • Note that the JPG file does not have to exist for the Preset to function.

E(explore) button

  • Pressing the E button will open the Windows Explorer at the location used to store the PRT Maker Preset files.
  • You can browse, copy, delete, archive etc. the files manually if you wish.

User Notes text field

  • The user notes text field can be used to enter comments regarding the current design look or creation history at any time.
  • The text field will show the notes of the design currently highlighted in the list of Presets.
  • Entering new or editing existing notes will update the highlighted design, regardless of when it was generated.

Info list

  • The Info list shows information about the Preset creation including author, source scene and so on.

Name, Scene, Object search fields

  • The 3 text fields can be used optionally to filter the Presets list by Preset Name, Scene Name or Object name.
  • By default, all lists are empty and the filters are thus set to “any characters” (*)
  • Entering a sub-string into any of the text fields will reduce the Presets list to only the files containing that sub-string. For example, entering “Test” into the “Scene” field will only show Design Presets generated from a 3ds Max scene containing “Test” in its name, like “KRA2_PRTMaker_Test_v001.max” or “TestingPRTMakers_tk100.max”.

Show Only Compatible Designs check button

  • When this option is checked, only Design Presets whose Count value matches the current PRT Maker’s Count value will be listed.
  • While it is possible to mix designs created using a different number of Affine Transformations, doing so will modify the existing setup and could result in less predicatable results.

Presets list and Thumbnail sample

  • The list shows the names of all Design Presets existing on disk after taking into account any Name, Scene or Object filters and the Compatible Designs option state.
  • Selecting a design from the list only updates the Notes text field and the Info list - you must press one of the following buttons to actually apply that design to the current PRT Maker:

LOAD Preset and RESET Design button

  • Pressing this button will load the Design Preset and RESET the current PRT Maker to that design, while removing any existing Design and Design Animation information.
  • This is equivalent to the RESET button from Quick Design settings, but using a file from disk.

MERGE Preset At Current Time button

  • Pressing this button will load the Design Preset on the current frame and keyframe its values while preserving any existing Design and Animation data.
  • This option cannot be applied on frame 0.