Weird Juice Software - Tutorials - MetaForm

IMMOLATION 101 [MetaForm 1.1]

This tutorial will show MetaForm users how to set a Poser figure on fire. The figure is augmented to generate particles, just like a standard MetaForm emitter. This process can also be applied to props.

The tutorial uses MetaForm Presets to load the settings of both the figure and the Surface prop, allowing effects to be created quickly.

Start Poser and load a figure into a fresh scene. We shall be using a Poser 4 Lo figure, as the geometry is low, and will speed the process up. Load and pose your figure.
Create new Surface prop by clicking the Create Surface button in the Surfaces panel. In the pop-up dialog, name it "Flame Surface". Click OK.
Click on any body part of the figure and click the Object Properties button. Regardless of which body part you have selected, MetaForm will load the properties dialog for the Figure itself. Changes made here apply to the entire figure, and cannot be applied to individual body parts, as they all belong to the same mesh. In the Props/Figures pop-up dialog, enable particle emissions by ticking the relevant box. Click OK.
MetaForm will now add particle generation functionality and parameters to the figure.
We now need to alter the emissions settings for the figure and the Surface properties and materials so that the particles look like fire. This can be done in a few clicks by applying a mesh preset to the figure and a Surface preset to the Surface prop. The Combustion preset shall be used in this tutorial. We'll load the Surface preset first. In the Surfaces panel, click the Load Surface Preset button and using the standard Windows 'Open' dialog, load the Combustion surface preset.
Next, load a mesh preset for the figure. Do this by clicking the Load Object Preset button whilst the figure is selected. In a similar dialog to the one above, navigate to and load the Large Fire mesh emitter preset.
Enable Surfacing by clicking either of the large Surfacing buttons. We recommend using a few seconds of pre-frames when using fire effects to allow the flames and smoke time to develop. This helps to give a better idea of what the emissions look like. 60 pre-frames were used in all our images. Once simulation is complete, render a frame.
We can further enhance the scene by coating the figure in fire (cos we're nice like that). This is done by enabling field generation for the figure which makes the figure generate a layer of fire-textured Surface geometry. To enable field generation, select the figure (or a part of it) and click the Object Properties button and check the Enable Field Generation box.
Here's our figure Surfaced and rendered. Again, 60 pre-frames were used to generate plenty flames by frame 1.
We can further tweak this scene by adding some wind to blow the fire. It'll also give the effect that the figure is running in this setup. We create wind by adding and configuring the Environment Prop. Open the MetaFlow Props panel and at the bottom, click the Environment Prop button. Rotate the Environment rooster to face a particular direction, and set the Wind Speed to around 2.

top