Camera Map Per Pixel

Overview

• The CameraMapPerPixel map can be used to project textures onto particles using a Camera object.
• It is also supported in the viewport by all Krakatoa PRT objects including PRT Loader, PRT Volume, PRT FumeFX etc. for interactive tweaking.

Examples

• Let’s create a Teapot primitive and convert it to particles using a PRT Volume object.
• Let’s also create a Camera from the current view to use for the projection.
• If we would assign a Standard Material with a Camera Map Per Pixel map in the Diffuse Slot using the Camera created in the previous step and a Bitmap texture map loading the standard BRICE.JPG image found in the MapsBackgrounds folder of 3ds Max, we get the following result:
• The left image shows the particles as seen from the projecting camera, the right image shows the setup seen from the side:

• By disabling the “Remove Back Face Pixels” option in the Camera Map Per Pixel map, or by increasing the Angle Threshold, we can get rid from the black particles on the back and let the texture flow through all particles in the volume.
  • Keep in mind that this option uses the Normal channel to determine whether a particle is facing the camera or not.
  • PRT Volume and PRT Surface have a Normal channel acquired from the source mesh.
  • PRT FumeFX can generate a Normal channel from the Density gradient.
  • Other PRT object may or may not have a valid Normal channel, but one can always be acquired or generated using Magma.