By: Visit my website at: http://www.alessandrocangelosi.com/

Step 01

Welcome back to everyone, this time we’ll work searching a fast and simple way to create realistic lava flow with a good shader to simulate hot zone and rock zone on the flow. This is one method, but as you can understand there’s so many ways to do it, using standard tools, fluid dynamic simulator and custom scripts. Let’s start to create the scene. Create a Pflow emitter and moves it trying to obtain a position like in the figure, set the animation lenght in 3ds
max to 300 frames at 25fps.

Step 02

Now we need to define the path that must be followed by the magma. Create a spline, and if you want try to make it similar to the figure.

Step 03

Select the Pflow source and click on “Particle View” button to open the Pflow interface. You have to setup it like in the figure, so you’ll have only an “Event” with “Birth”, “Position Icon”, “Spin”, “Shape” and “Display” inside it. Select the “Birth” node, and set Emit Start = -8, Emit Stop = 300, Rate = 35.

Step 04

Select the Position Icon node and leave it set to “Volume”.

Step 05

Select the Spin node and set Spin Rate = 45, Variation = 10, Spin Axis = “Speed Space Follow”, X=0, Y=-1, Z=0 so we have the right spin setup for the magma flowing down,

Step 06

Select the Shape node and set it with Shape = Tetra and Size = 0.45m,

Step 07

Try to go at the end of the animation, you’ll see that all the particles will stay on the emitter.

Step 08

In the Pflow Event, add a “Speed by Icon” node, so with it we can change the speed moving a dummy icon, then select the Speed by Icon dummy and assign a “Path follow” controller to the movement,

Step 09

Select the spline created before as path for the Speed by Icon object,

Step 10

Now try to move forwad the time slider, you’ll see that the particles follow the path given,

Step 11

Create a BlobMesh compound object, pick the particle flow source as “Blob Objects”, and set Size = 0.5m, Tension = 1.0, Render = 6.0, Viewport = 2.0, Relative Coarseness = active, Large Data Optimization = active, move forward the time slider and you’ll notice that the magma flow mesh is coming in the right way,

Step 12

Add a UVW Mapping modifier set to Box and with Lenght = 1.5, Width = 1.5, Height = 1.5,

Step 13

Add a Noise modifier set with Seed = 32, Scale = 25.0, Fractal = active, Strenght X = 0.28, Strenght Y = 0.26, Strenght Z = 0.15, so the flow is more turbulent,

Step 14

Add a Turbosmooth modifier to the blobmesh, we use it to add more polygons instead to increase the coarseness to make it faster,

Step 15

Add an other Noise modifier with Seed = 35, Scale = 61, Fractal = active, Roughness = 0.43, Strenght X = 0.11, Strenght Y = 0.11, Strenght Z = 0.04,

Step 16

Set a point of view like in the figure and create a camera from it,

Step 17

Create a Direct light and change its position as proposed in the figure, set it with Shadows = on, Shadows Type = Ray Traced Shadows, Multiplier = 1.7, Color = 254,248,225 , we’ll use this like to simulate the sun,

Step 18

Create an Omni light to simulate a fill light in the scene, set Multiplier = 1.2, Color = 112,158,251 ,

Step 19

Set Mental Ray as rendering engine, and try to render a test image, you’ll obtain something similar to the figure,

Step 20

Let’s start to create the shader to simulate the lava look, in the material editor create a Standard Material, in the diffuse channel add a Noise procedual map, set Noise Type = Turbulence, Size = 55.0, High = 0.25, Low = 0.18, Levels = 6.0, Invert = active, try to render a test and you’ll obtain something similar to the figure, the white zone will be the hot magma and the black zone will became the rocked lava,

Step 21

In the noise map, add a Noise map in the Color #2 slot, set it with Noise Type = Turbulence, Size = 3.3, High = 0.545, Low = 0.45, Levels = 3.1, Invert = active, and add in the Color #1 slot the map supplied with the tutorial scene or any kind of texture similar to a natural ground or concrete material, try to render it,

Step 22

Now in the Color #1 slot of the 1^st noise we put in the diffuse slot, add a Noise map, set it with Noise Type = Fractal, Size = 0.5, High = 0.645, Low = 0.235, Levels = 3.0, Color #1 = 154,0,0 , Color #2 = 255, 168, 0, Invert = active, try to render it and you’ll notice that we have the rock zone and the fluid map colored zone,

Step 23

Add a Mix map in the Bump slot and set the bump amount = 61,

Step 24

Set the Mix Amount = 40.0, add a Noise map in the Color #1 slot and an other Noise map in the Color #2 slot,

Step 25

In the Color #1 Noise map set it as Noise Type = Turbulence, Size = 30.0, High = 0.895, Low = 0.07, Levels = 8.0, Bump amount = 0.49,

Step 26

Set the Color #2 Noise map with Noise Type = Turbulence, Size = 3.0, High = 0.45, Low = 0.36, Levels = 6.0, Invert = active, you’ll obtain something similar at the figure if you’ll try to render it,

Step 27

Now we have to add the incandescence effect to the hot magma zone, so add a Noise map in the Self illumination slot, and set it with Noise Type = Turbulence, Size = 55.0, High = 0.25, Low = 0.18, Levels = 6.0, Invert = active, Output amount = 10.0, RGB Level = 5.0, try to render it and the magma zone are now illuminated,

Step 28

Now let’s go in the Effect tab in the Environment and Effect panel, add n.2 Glow effect, set the main Size = 3.0, in the 1^st glow parameters set Size = 8.0, Intensity = 73.0, Use Source Color = 56.0, go in the Options Tab and set Image Source to “Whole”, Bright = active, Bright = 101,

Step 29

Go in the 2^nd glow effetc, change the Size = 3.0, Intensity = 33.0, Use Source Color = 50.0,

Step 30

Go in the Options tab and set Image Source = Whole, Bright = active, Bright = 60,

Step 31

If you try to make a render test you’ll obtain something similar to the figure, as you can see now the hot zone are self illuminated and has the flow effect,

Step 32

In the Material Editor, choose the magma material and add a Noise map in the Displacement slot, and set the displacement amount at -20,

Step 33

Enter in the noise map just applied and set it with Noise type = Turbulence, Size = 55.0, High = 0.3, Low = 0.18, Levels = 4.0, Invert = active,

Step 34

Try to make a render test, you are ready to render the animation, we used the AA set to min = 1, max = 64, AA type = Gauss,

Step 35

Here you can see a frame at the begining of the animation,

Step 36

And this one iin the middle of the animation,

Step 37

And now at the end of the animation, try to make different shader setup to simulate different kind of magma, and change all the path parameters trying to obtain different scenes and to adapt it to some shot you like to do.

By: Visit my website at: http://www.alessandrocangelosi.com/

(Source files are Max 2008)

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