How make ANIMATED photon torpedo?

Enterprais

Hellow, at first, execuse me of my bad english - i only study it. I'm doing a small film and i want to have a realistic animate torpedoes(like in st-ent).Before i did it using plug-in trail, but it isn't that i want. I saw this topic - http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/3d-questions-answers/19610-pulse-weaponry-3.html but there is without animation. How can i make something like in Enterprise?

Guerrilla

Try this one:

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/tutorials/photontutorial.htm

[edit] It's for a bit older MAX version, but all the buttons should still be there.

Enterprais

Big thanks!!! But...animation is very bed - example in the attach. Does lens flare has some prefences, that can animate "star" as a procedural cards or randomn? That is my prefences in lens effect.

Zardoz

To avoid it, the Photon Torp "bars" or spikes, i did manually. I will explain....

Instead of using the Lens FX to doing 100% of the Torp, i only use glow and animated textures of spikes over some planes ( a bit similar to doing the pulse weapon FX). I manage to simulated very well the TMP Klingon Torpedo.... A variation a bit more realistic, is doing the spikes by a simple mesh ( a bit polys) and animated it.

But it have a small problem ... It can be a bit hard to animate it and control easy the glows, etc..(well when i did it, i don't knew that i can assign a function to control the rotation of the spikes...). So i did finally, is make a animation of the torpedo, not moving, but which the animation of the spikes and which the glow added. Before , i used the animation like a animated texture over plane that always is faced to the camera and follow the desire trajectory of the torp. It's looks good, and the better thing is that you can generate a 4 or 5 animation's of torps not totally equal, to avoid that your torps looks too equal.

See this ... not are very good quality (YouTube :S ), but you can see that have a similar aspect to ENT or TMP torps.

YouTube - Sc00 1Ao Final render test
YouTube - Trailer Hisaptrek II "No oficial"

Other good thing of this method, is that is more easy to control how looks when the torp changes the distance of the camera a lot.

Enterprais

Zardoz, thanks, a very intresting way to make real torped, i will certainly use it! And this method gave me some ideas...:)

Zardoz

Here ... a more big image.