Introducing 3ds Max® 9

Chapter 12. Particles and Dynamics

Animating large numbers of similar objects frequently can be a time-consuming and arduous task. With hundreds, if not thousands, of individual objects and their animated parameters and transforms to consider, this is a task that, one object at a time, could quickly become overwhelming. 3ds Max has several tools for animating large numbers of objects in a scene including instanced objects, externally referencing objects, instanced modifiers, the Crowd utility for characters, and particle systems for controlling any number of particles. Particles are usually small objects, often in large numbers, that can represent rain, snow, a swarm of insects, a barrage of bullets, or anything else that requires a large quantity ...