Ali Torabi

In this video I’m using PARA to create a light sensitive shading structure in form of dome that responds to the location of sun which it also follows the daylight system in 3ds max. I use surface controller to populate the surface with the custom made panel. Each triangular panel has three blades folding among the outer edge. Panels are designed to block the direct sun light while they allow the indirect light to penetrate the surface of the dome.

This is an example of using Magnet controller to derive the values based on orientation of the objects according to the magnet node. The angle of the panel is set to the angle between the Z axis of the object (the panels have been transformed to the surface using a surface controller on transform property) and the line that connects the sun node to that object. It’s very important that sun node must be far enough from the objects in array so the sun rays become approximately parallel.
A new function of PARA 2.2 has been incorporated in this video to create the resulted animation. This new utility allows user to select the desired controller/property and creates a series of key frame within given time frame. The use of utility is very simple and straight forward and does not require further explanation.
Watch the back scene in 6 min, although this video is not a tutorial, I hope that you can learn something!

Bugs fixed:

1. Select objects in D1/D2/D3 direction function used to select the array object. It’s been fixed and works properly,
2. Surface controller works in MAX 2012
3. Surface controller works on extrude surface with an Edit poly modifier on top
4. PARA can now control LOFT and NURBS properties inside the array. Check out new tutorials for more information.
5. Error in make unique function is fixed.
6. Error in random controller interface is fixed.

New items:

1. Copy / Paste function has been added to the set property tools. This function allows user to copy the property value of one object and paste it on a group of objects inside the array ,(Match properties)
2. A new utility has been added called “Key frame maker” .It’s a great tool for animation.
3. New warp function has been added to surface controller.
4. New pattern option has been added to random controller to generate repetitive random values
5. New mapping method “SCALE” has been added to pattern controller
6. Double click on a controller from library will assign it on previously selected channel in PARA settings dialog box. Previously it was going to the main controller.