i3d instancing problem

[nnnnn]

Does anyone know of a way to instance an I3D volume onto a particle system (about 1000 particles)

so that the volumes inherit the particles color,

without using the Copy SOP.

I tried it with the Copy SOP, but it consumes way too much mem and takes a long time to render.

On the other hand, instancing a single i3d volume obj (just a IsoSurface SOP -> Material SOP network), is both time and mem efficient,

but it does not inherit the point color of the template obj.

And here is a "gotcha",

if the i3d volume obj doesn't have a material (ie: wispy smoke)

it is instanced as a shiny plastic surface, not a volume.

Any ideas??????

Thanks in advance.

Edited May 9, 2008 by nnnnn