Growing Tree

by Didik Wijaya
This tutorial needs you to understand basic use of 3dsmax.

In children bedtime story, there's a story about magic seed. Someone plant this magic seed and in seconds it will grow into giant tree. In this tutorial you will also create this growing tree effect using Particle Flow, amazing particle feature in 3dsmax.

1. First, you need to download 3dsmax exercise file here (34kb, zipped, 3dsmax 8 format). At first, you might think this file is empty. But actually it isn't. Scrub slider to watch the animation. You will notice there are 2 objects that growing bigger. One is 'maintree' dan the other is 'branch'. We will use these 2 objects to create a big tree. First object ('maintree') created using cylinder and then its vertices animated frame by frame to create growing effect. Second object ('branch') object will be used the same as its name, as branches. This second object created using extruded box and then animated by scaling down as small as possible in frame 0.

2. Before we begin, select 'branch' object. Notice where Pivot Point is located. If you want to create your own branch, just make sure its Pivot Point is located at the bottom. Actually you can use this effect to create many things, like growing tree or growing tentacles for example.

3. In Command Panel, click Create button. Change drop down list to Particle Systems and click PF Source button. Then, click and drag anywhere on viewport. Any size and location is okay. In image below, I created Particle Flow (PF) Source icon in Top viewport.

4. Next step, open Particle View window by pressing '6' in keyboard. We will change couple of Particle Flow parameters. First, select Birth 01 row in Event 01. On the right pane, change Emit Start=20, Emit Stop=60 and Amount=50. By changing these number, we are telling 3dsmax to create 50 particle from frame 20 to 60. You may use any amount you like, but 20-50 is more than enough. This amount represents how many branches will be created.

5. Now, we need to tell 3dsmax where to put branches (particles). Select and drag Position Object operator into Event 01. Place it exactly on top of Position Icon row to replace it. In Position Object rollout, click Add button and click 'maintree' object in viewport. Don't forget to activate Animated Shape so that branches will be created while tree is growing.

6. Still in Position Object 01 rollout, move rollout until you find Location. This is where exactly particles will be created. Change Location to Selected Vertices.

7. Minimize Particle View window for a moment. Select 'maintree' object. Click Modify tab in Command Panel. Activate Vertex selection. Then, in Front of Left viewport select vertices in upper part of object. You need to move slider before you can select vertices.

8. Back to Particle View window. Now, select Speed 01 row inside Event 01. We don't want any branches to move, right? Just delete this row or change Speed to 0.

9. Next step, we need to change particle's shape. From bottom pane, click and drag Shape Instance operator inside Event 01. Place it on top of Shape 01 row to replace it. In Shape Instance 01 rollout, click button under Particle Geometry Object, then click 'branch' object in viewport. After that, change few parameters like Scale Variation=30%, activate Animated Shape, and in Animation Offset Keying use Sync By: Particle Age. Scale Variation is used to make different size branches. Animated Shape, is used to make branches growing from small to big. Animation Offset Keying useful to make each branch have its own animation.

10. We can't see particles as branches yet. Select Display 01 row in Event 01. Change Display Type to Geometry and finally you can see branches. Scrub slider to watch animation.

11. Just before this step, we used Random 3D as branches rotation. As you can see, some branches growing approaching to the ground. In physics, we knew that branch is always look for the sun (go up). We will fix that. Select Rotation 01 row inside Event 01. Change Orientation Matrix to Random Horizontal and use Divergence=90. Now, branches rotation will be much better. If you don't like branches rotation, click New button in Uniqueness. Click until you find desired branches rotation.

12. Finally this tutorial is finished. Scrub slider or press Play to watch your growing tree animation. Image below shows an example of this animation.