Ali Torabi

We use curve controller in PARA 3D to visualize the curvature of a spline object.

In first video you learn how to find the intersection of two coplanar lines. Notice that if two lines are not intersecting program will generates some error. in the second video we find the closest point on one line to a series of lines from another parametric array. Program automatically sets the controllers for point A and B. if two lines are actually intersection the closest point is equal to the intersection point. also you can find the apparent intersection of two lines on a plane. For example the apparent intersection on XY plane is the intersection of projected lines on this plane(intersection from top view) .

In this video you learn how to use the Material modifier to control the material of the objects inside the array.

Here is a short video explaining what type of objects you can use in surface controller.

we can summaries all as following:

1. NURBS objects with at least one surface inside. If surface is trimmed the based surface (surface before trimming) will be considered as target surface. if more than one surface exist in the object you can choose the surface from the drop down menu.
2. UVW mapping of any kind of object can also be the source of data in surface controller. for this the target object must have at least one UVW map channel. This option is not preferred  option but can be used for NURBS surfaces to obtain uniform divisions on the surface.
3. Objects with edit poly modifier on top. This type of surfaces must have quad polygons. If the surface contains singularity point(s) (A point which more than four polygons intersect) then UV directions cannot be computed along the surface. In this case you can use the surface controller in 1D mode and the array counts must be set to one dimensional array.

Also as a general rule, surface controller in 2d Arrays cannot be used on objects which have more than one smooth manifold (surface), for example a cylinder with top and bottom caps does not represent one surface while a cylinder (tube) without caps can be described as one single manifold.

In PARA 2.6 you can replace the items of the array with a new object with same modifier stack.
This video shows the procedure.

This video is first tutorial in preparing materials for fabrication of simple surface using triangle panels. first you learn how to use PARA to panelize a surface with a triangle panel and then you will find out how to transfer each individual panel from the current location to ground plane and sort them in order to create planar faces. the result can be exported to CAD software to use for laser cutting for example.

PARA can be used as an analysis tool . With paint utility you can visualize any scalar value with painting the items inside the array based on a given color chart. the color sample also can be customized via material editor.

I’ll be posting a couple days from now some parts of our webinar about new features of PARA 2.5.

Please feel free to comment and post your questions.

New features :

Main interface:

1. PARA works now on single object. you can use parametric controllers of PARA not only on arrays but also on single 3ds MAX entities .

2. Property list has been improved to show the structure of Parametric controllers and their relation with each other. click on filter key to see all controllers working on your objects and their hierarchy.   You can

3. An option is available to keep a copy of original object which you’re going to array.

4.Right click on select array node button will select all the array members.

Revised controllers :

1. curve controller supports array on multiple spines in one curve.

2.curve controller supports array on multiple curve from another parametric array

3. You can measure the curvature of shapes using curve controller.

4. Array variable controller provides sub-object index number

5. More options for convert controller

6. Parametric Array link look up function has been improved . You can choose what to do when array reaches the first and last item.

7. Test value controller can perform variable validity check.

8. Vector controller has now more functions.

new controllers:

1. Intersection Controller: solves intersections for two lines, a line and a plane and two plane. for single objects as well as objects from two different arrays.

2.Mesh Controller : provides access to topologic information of Mesh and Poly objects in 3ds Max. also extract geometric properties such as face center , vertex position, normal vectors, Gaussian and mean curvature.

Bugs Fixed:

start up problem with loading Microsoft excel connection has been resolved. We decided to change this type of connection to CSV format (comma separated values) in case of user doesn’t have excel application.

New Features:

Main interface:

1. Select Array node button in main interface allows you to pick the array object when the controller settings dialog is open

2. right click function has been added to update buttons to update only selected objects in the scene.

3. controller library refreshes the list of compatible controllers as you switch between properties and controllers in main dialog

4. show/hide incompatible controllers has been added to controller library.

5. Automatic update checks for new version every time you start the application.

Utilities:

1. You can now easily export the parametric array to excel. select the desired properties from the list, design the table structure and export! this utility shows a preview of how the excel file will look like before you export it.

Controllers:

1. Offset controller: this controller has been replaced with offsets setting in some other controllers such as linear and random pattern. you use other controllers as sub-controllers inside this controller to offset the array along its dimensions.

2. Range controller: Maps input values from a given input range to a new domain. you can estimate the input range automatically by pressing the “calculate input range” button.

3. Pattern Controller: now you can connect an excel table to pattern controller. (import excel file)

4. convert controller : Interface of this controller has been improved. for example creating a vector from three scalar value is possible by selecting the related option.

Bugs fixed:

1. setting multiple graph and magnet controller problem fixed.

2. custom pattern tool in sub-object controller has been revised.

3. problem with set value function in linear controller has been fixed.

UPGRADE NOW!