Particles follow Path in VOPs

[nbjsargent]

Hello. I'm trying to make an group of particles roughly follow the path of a curve. I've started by allowing each point normal on the curve to aim at the next point. Probably I can use these normals as acceleration or velocity values in a VOP POP? That's what I had in mind. I've imported the adjusted normal attributes into a vop pop, but i'm not sure about the vector maths to carry each particle to the start of the line and let them follow the full path.

[TheAdmira1]

you can turn your curve into an attractor, when you slow the particle down a bit with a Drag POP, particles usually grab onto the curve pretty well

[TheAdmira1]

heres a file

POPfollow.hipnc

[nbjsargent]

heres a file

Thanks so much for the help and great example file. I actually started using that technique but was kind of hoping to have a more VOPs oriented approach. This approach works great though, and is definitely faster for me. I had just one more question. Is there a way that I can control variations of velocity at certain areas of the curve?

[mightcouldb1]

If you want to modify the edge force, you can load the attribute into VOPs and do anything with it. I modified the file above to give you a simple example of what I mean. You can see the values of the edgef attribute in the details view.

You can also use point normals, a vector field, or a volume gradient to move your particles. Those techniques have been discussed quite often on the forums, so I'm sure you could find some information if you wanted to use one of those methods.

POPfollow_edit.hipnc

[nbjsargent]

If you want to modify the edge force, you can load the attribute into VOPs and do anything with it. I modified the file above to give you a simple example of what I mean. You can see the values of the edgef attribute in the details view.

You can also use point normals, a vector field, or a volume gradient to move your particles. Those techniques have been discussed quite often on the forums, so I'm sure you could find some information if you wanted to use one of those methods.

Oh that's a pretty good idea you implemented in your file. What I had done was to alter the velocity at certain parts of the curve by measuring the distance of the points in vops, and put those values into an attribute. Your technique would give me even more control. Thanks alot guys.