CMIVFX - Spiral Galaxy Video Tutorial

[bandini]

Hi there,

Just a quick post to promote my new tutorial for cmivfx. It shows how to create a 3D spiral galaxy from scratch. The images used to promote the video are the actual images made from the tutorial. It covers creating a vortex star simulation in POPS, DOPS smoke simulation for the gas, and a SOPS system for the background star field. I go through material creation, rendering, and compositing. I also provide a finished hip file that has all the networks in it. I should note that this is more of a creative approach, rather than a scientific approach, so if you are looking for something like an n-body approach, you won't find that here.

I hope people find this tutorial easy to understand, well thought out, and presented clearly. I believe CMIVFX is offering a discount code at the moment, so if you are looking to purchase it, now would be a good time.

[rafaelfs]

I saw the promo yesterday, it looks sweet!

One question though, is the spiral animated? Mass at the center of the galaxy is supposed to spiral slower than the edges... it would be cool to simulate that although at such scale would probably be invisible.

Cheers

[bandini]

Hi Rafael,

This spiral is made through simulation, so yes, it is animated. For the final output I froze a simulation frame and used that for rendering, but you could simulate slower or play back the cache slower if you wanted to. In my simulation the closer you get toward the center, the faster the rotation, which is what causes the spiral arms. Some of what you mention above may be more of a scientifically correct simulation, but like I said, this is a creative art-directed simulation. I was hoping to do a N-body version of this, but that will have to wait for another time.

Best,

Adam

Edited November 17, 2012 by bandini

[Neil78]

Hi Bandini - just completed your tutorial - was really nice and effective - many thanks - learnt a ton

[moondeer]

dont forget about adam's other lesson. 'connections' is a brilliant course.

[Node]

I just started following along in H13 and when I'm scattering my particles on my circle, I'm not getting the dense clustering towards the center. I've changed the circle to a polygon primitive and just can't seem to figure out what I might have done differently. Did something change between the video release and H13?

[jkunz07]

You can turn off "Divide Non-Convex Polygons" on the scatter sop

[Node]

You can turn off "Divide Non-Convex Polygons" on the scatter sop

Thank you.

[plazadelmar]

On 11/20/2013 at 7:26 AM, Node said:

I just started following along in H13 and when I'm scattering my particles on my circle, I'm not getting the dense clustering towards the center. I've changed the circle to a polygon primitive and just can't seem to figure out what I might have done differently. Did something change between the video release and H13?

I did run into the same problem on H19.5 and I cant find solutions mentions in this thread

[plazadelmar]

Also the Pop Orbit is not exisiting in H19.5 so Im using Pop Axis  Force instead. Adding distance prompt to radius is not working so I'm trying to use it in VEX but I cant figure out why its not reading P.

[ritabikkerman]

Thank you for sharing your new tutorial on creating a 3D spiral galaxy with cmivfx. It sounds fascinating! I appreciate the detailed overview of the content, covering the creation of a vortex star simulation in POPS, DOPS smoke simulation for the gas, and a SOPS system for the background star field. The inclusion of material creation, rendering, and compositing, along with a provided finished hip file, is a great addition.

[RoseCliver]

On 11/15/2012 at 10:24 PM, bandini said:

Hi there,

Just a quick post to promote my new tutorial for cmivfx. It shows how to create a 3D spiral galaxy from scratch. The images used to promote the video are the actual images made from the tutorial. It covers creating a vortex star simulation in POPS, DOPS smoke simulation for the gas, and a SOPS system for the background star field. I go through material creation, rendering, and compositing. I also provide a finished hip file that has all the networks in it. I should note that this is more of a creative approach, rather than a scientific approach, so if you are looking for something like an n-body approach, you won't find that here.

I hope people find this tutorial easy to understand, DGME Paystub well thought out, and presented clearly. I believe CMIVFX is offering a discount code at the moment, so if you are looking to purchase it, now would be a good time.

The combination of POPS, DOPS, and SOPS for creating a 3D spiral galaxy is really intriguing. I appreciate the creative approach and the fact that you’re including a finished hip file.

Edited August 17 by RoseCliver