XMesh History-Dependent Selection Caching Video

The video uploaded to the Thinkbox' YouTube Channel demonstrates some new features of XMesh MX v1.1. In particular, the ability to save selection channels with the cache, and the option to disable inter-frame optimizations. The latter feature allows an XMesh Loader to be saved over the existing XMesh sequence with one frame offset, accumulating channel data over time for history-dependent effects. In this particular case, a selection trail is created from a moving object.

In a further step, using Thinkbox' Genome procedural geometry modifier, the selection can be faded off over time. Arbitrary deformation modifiers can be applied to the selection on the stack to produce history-dependent displacement effects. This has possible applications like the creation of wakes on water, painting with moving objects on other objects, creating footsteps in the snow or on semi-elastic materials that regain their shape over time and many more. Note that the same approach of re-saving an XMesh sequence over itself can be used to store any channel modifications, including the direct caching of history-dependent deformations (vertex Position channel) instead of vertex Selection.

To download the current public beta builds of XMesh v1.1 Loader and Saver plugins for 3ds Max, please go here.

Krakatoa MX Webinar Part 2 Videos Now Available

80 minutes of video footage recorded live during the second Krakatoa MX Webinar on June 13th 2012 are now available for viewing in the "Learning Krakatoa MX" area of the website.

The Webinar entitled "Krakatoa MX Fundamentals - Part 2 - Go With The Magma Flow" is an introduction to the features and  workflows of the Magma channel editing subsystem of Krakatoa MX 2.

The second half of the Magma Webinar is planned for June 26th and 27th 2012 and will cover the practical usage of Magma in real-world cases. 

Krakatoa MX Webinar Part 1 Videos Now Available

70 minutes of video footage recorded live during the first Krakatoa MX Webinar on May 22nd and May 23rd 2012 are now available for viewing in the "Learning Krakatoa MX" area of the website.

The Webinar entitled "Krakatoa MX Fundamentals - Part 1 - Choosing The Right Path" was intended mainly for existing Krakatoa MX users, but could be useful as introduction for new customers, too. It goes back to the basic approaches of User Interface interaction and highlights the Best Practices as well as some common mistakes when working with the complex volumetric particle rendering, manipulation and management toolkit that is Krakatoa MX.

The ultimate goal of this first Webinar is to make the user more productive by reducing the number of mouse clicks while increasing the effective time for productive rendering.

Genome Videos

A new Genome Videos page has been added to the Genome online documentation. The videos cover some of the topics presented during the Genome Webinars on April 12th, 2012 and are mostly based on and expand upon the written Genome tutorials.

Note that all videos have been recorded at 1920x1200 resolution, so watching them in HQ and Full Screen on YouTube is recommended.

All videos contain an English Closed Captioning track.

Using Genome To Conform Frost Meshes To The Underlying Particles

A new Genome Advanced Topic regarding the benefits of combining Genome with Frost meshes to conform to the surface or the underlying particle cloud was added to the online documentation!