Particle animation import?

[Evil Abed]

Hi guys, sorry if this question seems too newbie-ish for experienced users. I'm new to the animation and dynamics world.

Case example: Champagne flute
I model the glass and Champagne bottle in Alias and do mechanical details with Solidworks. Before rendering i would like to simulate the liquid being poured in the glass, probably with something like Maya or Houdini (whichever is easier to learn). As rendering is IMO far easier in something like Keyshot, i would like to learn if such a simulation can be imported and rendered.

Thanks

[TpwUK]

You can choose from two formats with  KS6, both require scripting - Alembic Cache (Max, C4D, Maya Houdini etc etc) or sequential OBJ.  Both formats need to have the particles converted to mesh objects during the export cycle.

Martin

[Evil Abed]

Thank you

Am I right to assume that once converted there's no modifying particle parameters, as it exports as shapes?
Also, is conversion accuracy an issue? I mean, if they are converted to objects, wouldn't that mean thousands of little parts?

[TpwUK]

Correct on both of your questions - LM6 here does some funky X-Particles with C4D animations here and has reported no conversion issues with the full version of KS6 that i am aware of. But yes you will get thousands possibly millions of shapes depending on your emitter values life span etc

Martin

[Artur]

A simple walkthrough tutorial on this process would be very welcome.

Can someone redirect me to one.

Thanks in advance.

[Nicklas Holmgren]

Old thread but I used this Maya script: http://www.sigillarium.com/blog/lang/en/726/

The script converts instanced particle objects into separate meshes and keyframes them. You can then export the animated geometry and bring it into Keyshot.

It works in Maya 2016 too. Probably not usable for liquids but everything that is isolated particle based, I used it successfully with about 8000 particles animated over like 700 frames. The instanced geometry came in at around 10 million polygons... Initial import to Keyshot took about 3 hours, but it worked. I am running Keyshot 4 so had to import it as FBX.

So if you need to render particles in Keyshot this works an not-ideal-but-functional solution IF you are doing your simulations in Maya.