Pulldownit 5.7 for Maya released

NOTE: Users of Puldownit 5.x cloud floating licenses must install this update to can connect to the licenses server.

Pulldownit 5.7 is here! this new version introduces a new Fast Stacking & Deactivation solver which computes up to 4 times faster in massive destruction scenes, in addition instanced shapes are supported for dynamics and shattering so you can compute thousands of hi-poly objects in dynamics seamlessly and with much less memory overhead.

Animated characters now computes faster when colliding and fracturing other objects, and a new Anim Speed Multiplier parameter allows to fine tune the strength of the impact between animated objects and dynamic ones, besides cracker multiplier can be animated allowing to decrease or disable the crack effect at any frame.

Regarding shattering, PDI Jagginess gets a new “Asymmetric tessellation” mode which generates nearly 50% fewer polygons with a similar look of rough faces than when using Uniform Tessellation.

There are also useful improvements to the UI, a new option to create several fractures at once and you can add jagginess to all PDI fragments in scene with one click. Hierarchies of rigid bodies can be auto created just by selecting its parent group, and there is a new option to set all dynamic values to default for selected rigid bodies.

Last but not least we have fixed quite a few annoying issues from previous version,you can review below all performance and usability improvements and you can check the whole list of fixes in the Pulldownit version logs page:

Read the full list of fixes in the Pulldownit web site version logs

Licensed users can already access Pulldownit 5.7 from his account and there is a demo version for Maya 2024 in the Thinkinetic web site.

Shatter it support instanced shapes, instanced shapes are supported and can be shattered and reshattered seamlessly.

New Jagginess mode “Asymmetric tessellation”, this new tessellation mode generates nearly 50% fewer polygons than the Uniform one with a similar appearance of rough faces.

New Fast Stacking & Deactivation solver, scenes involving hundreds or thousands of fragments in dynamics now computes up to 4 times faster, besides this new solver highly reduces drift motion of fragments resting in the ground.

Instanced shapes supported as rigid bodies, PDI solver now supports instanced shapes in dynamics, allowing to compute massive simulation of thousands of objects with less memory overhead.

Improved performance in fracture against animated bodies, animated or deforming objects now computes faster when colliding and breaking other objects, besides user can easily control the strength of the impact with the new anim speed multiplier parameter.

New parameter Anim Speed Multiplier, allowing to easily control the strength of the impact between animated objects and dynamic ones.

New ability to animate cracker multiplier, user can now modify the strength of the crack effect during the simulation or disable it completely at desired frame.

New Fracture setup option “One per Shatter Group”, allowing to create several fracture bodies at once from the current selection of objects.

New option “Add Jagginess to All fragments”, allowing to add jagginess to all PDI fragments in scene with one click.

New “Fast Stacking” simulation option, user can revert to classic, more accurate, but slower stacking solver by disabling this option.

New ability to auto assign unique names to duplicated nodes, when selecting nodes to create rigid bodies from them PDI will rename any duplicated node automatically if authorized by user.

Animatable fracture parameters are auto displayed for current selected object.

New ability to create hierarchies of rigid bodies just selecting its parent group.

New UI option “set all dynamic values to default” for rigid bodies.

Choosing Leaning Direction before Breaking

This post is an extension of the “Cracking an Ancient Statue “ tutorial you can find here:

Some users has asked if it is possible to decide the leaning direction of a model before breaking it completely with Pulldownit; the answer is yes, you can do it  and very easily.

For choosing the leaning direction you have simply to select the fracture object in PDI Basic Fractures tab,  then go to Fractures->Dynamic Properties tab and set initial velocity according to your desired leaning direction, that’s all.

If your initial velocity parameter is greyed out you have to set Basic Fractures->Activation to “at frame” or “At first hit” to enable it. Here a demo video of the effect:

Notice the bigger initial velocity, the leaning will be faster, so better to set it to small values to get a natural motion of the model.

Pulldownit 5 for 3ds Max released

Pulldownit 5 for 3ds Max brings new destruction features and important updates in performance and usability.

Fractures solver computes around 2 times faster and gets more debris in impact areas without the need of further adjustment.

A new ability to shatter along part of a curve lets user refine cracks as many as needed in a visual way, surface cracks can be bounded to create easily nice stress effects and reversing a crack involves just one click, all of this making the creation and adjustment of surface cracks easier than ever.

Jagginess, the ability to add roughness to cut faces, receives also an important update, by default jagginess now only applies to broken areas in simulation, getting lighter meshes for rendering or when exporting it to game engines.

There are several other performance and usability improvements you can review below and you can check the whole list of fixes in the Pulldownit version logs page:

Read the full list of fixes in the Pulldownit web site version logs

Licensed users can access already Pulldownit 5 from his account and there is a demo version for 3ds Max 2022 in the Thinkinetic web site.

Shatter New Features                                                                                                 

New Extent parameter for Shatter it tool, this new parameter allows to shrink the shatter region in a visual way, making very easy to increase the density of fragments in any area of the model.

New ability to exclude part of the curve in Shatter it, simply by dragging the mouse you can select the extent of the curve to be used for shattering, as many times as needed, therefore one single curve is enough for all reshattering operations.

Jagginess applies to broken fragments only, by default Jaggines now only applies to the areas which has been broken in simulation, getting lighter meshes for rendering or exporting it to game engines.

Dynamics New Features                                                                                         

PDI Fracture Solver 2x faster, scenes involving hundreds or thousands of fragments in dynamics now computes around 2 times faster with the same stability than previous version

Improved quality of Fracture solver, cracks are now more realistic, pulling out small fragments in borders of fracturing areas without the need of further adjustment.

New bounded behaviour for crackers, user can now control the distance detached fragments can move, from making them stick on the surface to let them free and falling.

UI Enhancements                                                                                             

New ability to reverse Cracker direction, reverse a dynamic crack is now as easy as click on the panel button.

Create fracture body 2x faster, fracture bodies made of thousands fragments now needs only a few seconds to be created by PDI solver.

Create and modify fracture clusters is an almost instant operation.

Improved visualization in Stresses View, when in Stresses View all fragments are now displayed in solid colour, regardless of its material.

Stresses view “break at frame” clusters are now displayed in green color, in this way user can quickly identify clusters set to break at frame( green) from the rest.

Cracking a Moai statue with Pulldownit 5

Ideaform3d has published a nice tutorial showcasing Pulldownit new bounded cracks feature. The tutorial shows step by step how to create a crack along a Moai statue all inside Maya 2022 using PDI plugin,

Project files can be downloaded by clicking in the link included in the text of the tutorial below,

Ideaform3d is a youtube channel featuring nice and easy to follow tutorials showcasing useful plugins and scripts for Maya, 3dsMax and After Effects, worth to check it!

visit Ideaform3d Channel

Pulldownit 5 for Maya released

Pulldownit 5 for Maya is here! and brings important updates in performance and usability, fractures solver now computes at least 2 times faster and gets more debris in impact areas without the need of further adjustment.

Create long surface cracks is now much easier, a new ability to shatter along part of a curve, lets user refine the crack as many as needed in a visual way. Reversing dynamics cracks involves just one click, besides surface cracks can be bounded, so broken fragments are forced to stick on the surface or fall as desired.

Jagginess, the nice ability to add roughness to cut faces, receives also an important update,  by default roughness now only applies to broken areas in simulation, getting much lighter meshes for rendering or when exporting it to game engines.

There are several other performance and usability improvements you can review below and you can check the whole list of fixes in the Pulldownit version logs page:

Read the full list of fixes in the Pulldownit web site version logs

Licensed users can access already Pulldownit 5 from his account and there is a demo version for Maya 2022 in the Thinkinetic web site.

Shatter New Features                                                                                                   

New Extent parameter for Shatter it tool, this new parameter allows to shrink the shatter region in a visual way, making very easy to increase the density of fragments in any area of the model.

New ability to exclude part of the curve in Shatter it Draft Mode, simply by dragging the mouse you can select the extent of the curve to be used for shattering, as many times as needed, therefore one single curve is enough for all reshattering operations.

Jagginess applies to broken fragments only, by default Jaggines now only applies to the areas which has been broken in simulation, getting much lighter meshes for rendering or exporting it to game engines.

Dynamic New Features                                                                                        

PDI Fracture Solver 2x faster, scenes involving hundreds or thousands of fragments in dynamics now computes at least 2 times faster with the same stability than previous version.           

Improved quality of Fracture solver, cracks are now more realistic pulling out small fragments in borders of impact or detaching areas without the need of further adjustment.

New bounded behaviour for crackers, user can now control the distance detached fragments can move, from making them stick on the surface to let them free and falling.

New Add Particles option “Visible Faces Only”, when combining fragments to emit from, this new option spread nParticles only over the visible faces of the combined node.

UI Enhancements                                                                                                

 Load PDI scenes 2x faster, massive destruction scenes now load at least 2 times faster in Maya.

New ability to reverse Cracker direction, reverse a dynamic crack is now as easy as click on the panel button.

New option to update Cracker Path when user changes reference curve.

Create fracture body 4x faster, fracture bodies made of thousands fragments now needs only a few seconds to be created by PDI solver.

Stresses view “break at frame” clusters are now displayed in green color, when in Stress View  user can differentiate easily clusters set to break at frame( green) from the rest.

Create fracture cluster is now an almost instant operation.

                                                                                                                 

Export PDI dynamics from Maya to UE4

In this excellent tutorial Esteban Cuesta shows us how to destroy a pile of tubes using Pulldownit in Maya and then export it to Unreal Engine 4, but not only this, he also teaches us how to trigger the destruction in UE4 when a bullet hits the model during the game. Exporting broken models and dynamics to UE4 works with either Pro version and free version of Pulldownit, just follow the tutorial to learn how to add quality destruction effects into your game.

 

thank you Esteban for the amazing tutorial