Simple play icon Course
Skills Expanded

Tornado Particle Effects in 3ds Max and FumeFX

by Matt Radford

In this tutorial, we will learn to create dynamic, flexible tornado systems and render them using a variety of techniques. Software required: 3ds Max 2011, FumeFX 2.0, Krakatoa 1.6.

What you'll learn

In this tutorial, we will learn to create dynamic, flexible tornado systems and render them using a variety of techniques. This tutorial will show how to set up a complex Particle Flow system to make a tornado inside of 3ds Max. Going beyond a traditional vortex field, the tornado that we'll create in this tutorial will employ recursive logic to keep the system alive while still being lightweight enough to be animatable inside the viewport. We will then look at getting much more natural movement by simulating FumeFX based off of the particle simulation. We'll also touch on Krakatoa and using that to render a large number of particles. Partitioning will be covered along with some of the rendering options available. Finally, we'll look at some techniques to fix artifacts in NUKE. Software required: 3ds Max 2011, FumeFX 2.0, Krakatoa 1.6.

About the author

Matt Radford works in Computer Graphics for film, animation, and commercials. He started learning 3d Graphics with the release of the "XSI Mod Tool" that came out with Half Life 2. He would model these characters, which by today's standards look atrocious, but for some reason he kept with it. His passion for 3D modeling has paid off. Matt graduated from SCAD in 2010 and has worked for Method Studios, Hydraulx, and currently works at Blur Studio.The idea of creating something beautiful from nothi... more

Ready to upskill? Get started