3DMAX path trailing light knife effect plug-in GhostTrails is an animation extrusion modifier for 3dsmax. It's perfect for stylized motion blur effects, tire tracks, Tron light loops, and many other uses.
[Applicable version]
3dMax2010 - 2024
【installation method】
1. Copy the corresponding version of the GhostTrails plug-in to the 3dmax plug-in directory (for example: C:\3dsmax2009\plugins.)
2. Restart 3dmax and GhostTrails should now be available. You do this by creating a spline or shape object (remember, GhostTrails only works with splines or shapes), then, switch to the Modify panel and view the GhostTrails modifier from the modifier list.
2. Main panel
About button
This button will pop up a dialog box showing version and license information about GhostTrails. If GhostTrails is not registered, this dialog box will also display a Register... button and allow you to enter a registration code.
Moving track/anchored track:
Anchor paths are not available in unregistered versions
Trajectories can be of one of two types. A movement trajectory is a position from an object's current position along its motion path back a certain number of frames in the past. The length of the trajectory is controlled by the Lag Frames spinner, which controls the number of frames past which the trajectory is drawn.
For example, the movement trajectory of an object on frame 10 (with frame delay set to 4) will extend from the object's position on frame 10 back to its position on frame 6 (through its position on frames 9, 8, and 7 location) along the way).
Another type of trail is the anchor trail. By default, the anchor track is drawn from the object's position at the beginning of the current active time range (usually frame 0) to the object's position on the current frame.
You can change the time range over which the anchor track is drawn by checking the Specify Range box and using the Start Frame and End Frame spinners to fill in the desired time range.
Enable debug logging
This feature is intended to help GhostTrails developers diagnose crashes and other problems. If turned on, it will write the log file to My Documents\GT.log. This logging generates large amounts of data and slows down GhostTrails, so do not open the log file unless we ask you to provide it.
3. Grid parameters
Section/Frame:
Unregistered version is not available
The Segment/Frame spinner controls the level of mesh detail along the length of the path. By default, this value is 1, which means GhostTrails will create a set of faces every frame.
Generating only one segment per frame can make the trajectory look jagged if the trajectory object moves quickly or changes direction suddenly. If this happens, you can have GhostTrails generate segments at subframe intervals by increasing the Segments/Frame value.
Note that generating more segments consumes more memory (especially for long paths), so it is best to set this to the lowest possible value that still provides a smooth mesh.
new! Segment/frame controls allow you to set different values for viewport and rendering. To set a different value when rendering, click the checkbox and change the Render field.
Spline steps:
The spline step spinner controls the level of mesh detail on the path. It works the same as the Segment spinner in the Extrude modifier. If the spline you are using for the trajectory is curved, you can make the trajectory look smoother by increasing this parameter.
new! The spline step control lets you set different values for the viewport and rendering. To set a different value when rendering, click the checkbox and change the Render field.
repeat:
Unregistered version is not available
The U Repeat spinner controls the number of times the U map coordinate is repeated on the track.
Mtl quantity:
This setting is primarily used for particle trajectories. When GhostTrails generates multiple tracks, it will apply a different material ID to each track by looping through the number of IDs specified in the Mtls number spinner. You can then apply multidimensional/sub-object materials to GhostTrails objects, assigning each track a different material.
This option can be overridden by using the PFlow material ID setting (see below)
Flip normals:
This setting flips the normals on the track. Please note that (for historical reasons) the default normal directions for moving and anchored tracks are different. If you switch tracks from Move to Anchor, you may find that you also need to change the Flip Normals setting.
Generate mapping:
This setting controls whether UV coordinates are generated for the track mesh. If you don't need to map your route, you can save some memory by turning this feature off.
GhostTrails maps tracks by assigning V coordinates from 0-1 along the direction of track motion and U coordinates from 0-1 along the track spline shape (possibly modified by the U Repeat setting).
Texture type:
This is a rather subtle effect that changes the way the mapped coordinates are mapped for a path that has just started moving from a rest position but has not yet reached its full length.
String maps map UV coordinates along the entire length of the path - even if the entire path is not yet visible. Imagine if the trajectory was a bunch of string tied to a spline, being pulled out as the spline moves.
The stretch map maps UV coordinates along the currently visible length of the track. This means you can always see the entire map applied to your route. Think of a track as a piece of rubber that starts to stretch when you pull on the spline it's connected to.
This setting only affects movement tracks.
4. Effect panel
For moving tracks, it's common to assign a material that fades to transparency over the length of the track. The Effects panel contains controls that let you create and assign such materials in fewer steps than using the Material Editor.
Apply button
This button creates a new material based on the settings you selected and applies it to the GhostTrails object.
Apply texture
If you check this box and select a bitmap file, the resulting material will include it as a bitmap texture in the diffuse map slot. The VRepeat setting will set the number of times the bitmap repeats along the length of the track.
Apply fade
If this box is checked, the resulting material will have a gradient texture arranged in the opacity map slot so that the track gradually becomes transparent along its length. The midpoint value sets the color 2 position of the gradient texture.
5. Particle trajectories
GhostTrails can draw trails based on the particle motion of a particle system as an alternative to using spline object animation to draw a trail for each particle.
GhostTrails supports all particle system types included in 3dsmax, including particle flow. Generally speaking, third-party particle system plugins do not work with Ghost Trails.
Use particle trajectories
Check this box to turn on particle tracks. GhostTrails will now generate trails based on particle motion rather than the motion of the spline object to which you have the GhostTrails modifier applied. Note that you won't actually see anything until you select the particle system and regenerate the trajectory (see below).
Select particle system (None button)
This button is a standard 3dsmax selector button that allows you to select which particle system in the scene generates the trajectory. If you have not selected a particle system, this button will display "None".
To select a particle system, click the button and then click the particle system in the scene.
traces of regeneration
Unregistered version is limited to 0-50 frames
Because generating trajectories for a particle system is quite computationally intensive, GhostTrails does not attempt to update itself on the fly when you change the particle system's animation parameters. Instead, whenever you press the Regenerate Track button, the track will be generated using the current settings of the particle system.
If you change particle system parameters, you must press the button again for GhostTrails to pick up the changes.
To make this process easier to automate, GhostTrails allows you to script the Regenerate Trails function via MaxScript by exposing the regenerate_article_trails method. For example, the MaxScript line:
$.modifiers[#GhostTrails].regenerate_article_trails()Particle trajectories will be regenerated on the currently selected object.
create path
If you don't want to create a track for each particle, you can reduce the number of tracks created to one for every second, third particle, etc. by increasing the value of the "Every n particles" spinner.
The "Start at particle n" spinner lets you skip some particles at the beginning. Its main use is to allow you to attach multiple GhostTrails objects to the same particle system and have them all generate trajectories for different particles. For example, if you set up three different splines to generate trajectories every 3 particles, and then set each object's "Start from particle n" setting to 1, 2, and 3 respectively, the first object would have Particle trajectories (1, 4, 7, 10...), the second one is (2, 5, 8, 11,...), the third one is (3, 6, 9, 12...), So on and so forth.
(If you make changes to these settings, you will need to press the Regenerate Track button to see the changes.)
Particle flow settings
Particle flow particle systems divide particle generation into one or more events. GhostTrails can optionally generate trails for a subset of events in a particle flow system.
If you check the Use all PFlow events box, traces are generated from all events. If this box is unchecked, only events in the PFlow event list will be used to generate traces. You can add or remove events from the list using the Add and Remove buttons.
These settings only take effect if the particle system you are using is Particle Flow.
(If you make changes to these settings, you will need to press the Regenerate Track button to see the changes.)
Generate age graph
If this box is checked, GhostTrails will generate a second set of UV coordinates for each particle track in UV channel 2. The U coordinate maps from 0 to 1 along the length of the spline used to form the trajectory.
The V coordinate maps from 0 to 1 along the trajectory length, depending on the age of the particle when the trajectory was first visible. This means that part of the particle trajectory will always have the same UV coordinates after generation and will not change over time.
Use PFlow material ID
This setting only applies to particle flow. If checked, each particle track will inherit the material ID of its source particle. Use the material frequency operator in Particle Flow to assign these values.
snapshot path
This button generates spline objects based on the paths taken by all particle trajectories.