Thinking particles...

For the central explosion i began working with 3ds max's primitive Pflow particle generator, this is a basic particle generation system that provides particles with positions, velocities, alignments and other properties and is a good system for creating simple events such as an explosion but thats just about it. For my scene i had implemented a more complex 3rd party system called thinking particles, this system not only provides the basic particle functions but using a flow graph systems it creates groupes and events as well as providing complete feedback for each individual particle. This particle system integrates an entirely new piece of software into the existing 3ds max which is a new learning curve but with the understanding of thinking particles particles can be manipulated in almost every way possible.

For my explosion i had analysed mt references and broke it down onto separate pieces which would be rendered separately for the uppermost realism. The explosion begins with an intense flash of light as the explosives react and the blast wave shoots from the origin across the ground, the flash then bubbles outwards and creates a dense fog as the fire dies. As the explosion bubbles a secondary blast fires away from the ground high into the dragging along anything in its path shooting rocks and other debris into the air. The debris itself leaves a trail of smoke and finally the entire thing dissipates into the air. For my system i broke it down into 3 parts being the wave the bubble and the blast each where simulated and rendered separately since the bubbly flames produced a bright glow and a dense smoke unlike the wave which seem fluffy with a low opacity.

For the wave i generated particles along the surface in a circular motion by limiting their direction to a random XY spread and as they spread they create particles along their path in a circular motion. For the bubbling explosion i sent a small number of particles away from the center in a circular motion but these rise as if they had temperature buoyancy and from these particles where created in a spherical shape leaving some behind. Finally the blast shoots a small number of particles through the bubbles and puches some upwards, also leaving a trail from the primer. All of the particles generated using TP where finally influenced by a physics setup which included friction turbulence and gravity all made with a flow-graphing system.