PRT Source Object

Available in Krakatoa v1.6.0 and higher

Significantly enhanced in Krakatoa v2.5.0

Overview

• The PRT Source object is a special object originally designed as a connection to 3rd party particle source objects implementing the Krakatoa Particle Stream Interface IMaxKrakatoaPRTSource.
• The PRT Source object implements all features already available in other PRT objects like the PRT Volume or PRT FumeFX, including displaying particles in the viewport, passing particles to the renderer, transforming particles, deforming particles using modifiers and Space Warps, modifying particle data using Magma Modifiers, selecting and deleting particles.
• To make the testing of the object easier without the need for an external source exposing the IMaxKrakatoaPRTSource interface, the PRT Source allowed from the beginning the picking of a PRT Loader.
• Starting with v2.5.0, the PRT Source will accept any valid particle source that the Krakatoa renderer supports, including
  • Krakatoa PRT Loaders
  • Krakatoa PRT Volume, PRT Surface, PRT Hair, PRT FumeFX, PRT Maker objects
  • Stoke PRT Field objects
  • Stoke Particle Simulator objects
  • Other PRT Source objects
  • 3ds Max Legacy Particles (Snow, Spray, Blizzard, SuperSpray, PCloud, PArray etc.)
  • 3ds Max Particle Flow systems, including specific Events
  • Cebas Thinking Particles systems, including specific Groups
  • Geometry objects’ Mesh Vertices as particles
  • Spline interpolation points as particles, or mesh vertices when set to Renderable
  • Thanks to these added capabilities, the PRT Source can effectively be used for duplicating any particle source in order to apply additional transformations, deformations, channel editing via Magma, etc.

Creation

• The PRT Source can be created from the Create tab of the 3ds Max Command Panel, Geometry icon, Krakatoa category, PRT Source button.
• v2.5.0 and higher: A faster and easier way to create a PRT Source is via the 3ds Max menu > Krakatoa menu > Create PRT Source object(s) - hold SHIFT to create manually.
  • If there is a valid source objects selection in the scene and SHIFT is not pressed, one PRT Source object will be created for every valid particle source selected in the scene.
  • If there is a valid source objects selection but SHIFT is pressed, or if there is no scene selection, picking the menu item will enter creation mode like when using the Create tab in the Command Panel.

User Interface

• The PRT Source User Interface provides the following controls:

Source Object pickbutton

• The pick button is used to select the 3rd party object exposing the IMaxKrakatoaPRTSource interface.
• Right-clicking the button or left-clicking the [>] button next to it will open a context menu providing the following options:
  • SELECT Source Object - selects the source object in the scene.
  • HIDE Source Object - toggles the hidden state of the source object.
  • BOUNDING BOX DISPLAY Of Source Object - toggles the bounding box display option of the source object.
  • DON’T RENDER Source Object - toggles the Renderable option in the Object Properties of the source object.
  • STORE Above Settings As Defaults - remembers the current states of the Hide/Bounding Box/Renderable options to use them for new PRT Source objects created via the Krakatoa menu.
  • Inherit Source Object Settings… > - a submenu with options for acquiring various properties of the source object and assigning them to the PRT Source:
    • Set PRT Source COLOR From Source Object’s Color - copies the wireframe color of the source to the wireframe color of the PRT Source.
    • Set PRT Source MATERIAL From Source Object’s Color - copies the material of the source to the material of the PRT Source. Only available if a valid material is assigned to the source object.
    • Set PRT Source Object NAME From Source Object’s Name - renames the PRT Source object based on the source’s name.
    • ALIGN PRT SOURCE To Source Object - aligns the PRT Source object by matching its transformation matrix to the transformation of the source object.
    • ALIGN SOURCE Object To PRT Source - aligns the source object by matching its transformation matrix to the transformation of the PRT Source object.
    • LINK PRT Source To Source Object - parents the PRT Source object to the source object, following any transformation animation it might have.
  • Remove Source Object - removes the reference to the source object, turning the pick button back to its default “None” state.

Disable In Viewport

• When checked, the PRT Source will not generate any particles in the viewport, but will still render.

Icon Size

• Defines the size of the PRT Source’s icon.
• When created from a scene selection using the Krakatoa menu, the Icon Size will be set automatically based on the source object’s bounding box.
• When created manually, the Icon Size will be defined based on the user’s mouse clicks and moves.

Viewport %

• Defines the percentage of particles to display in the viewport.
• Default is 100.

Limit (x1000)

• When the checkbox is checked, limits the number of particles to be displayed in the viewport.
• Default is 1000.0, allowing 1 million particles when the checkbox is checked.
• The checkbox is unchecked by default.

Demo Videos