In this tutorial, I start by creating a 'default ' Particle Flow system.

After clicking and dragging out the Particle Flow system, the Max scene now has this;

Except yours might be upside down, I have flipped mine so it's pointing up.
If you click on the Modify Panel while the PFlow is selected, you will be given the option to click a 'Particle View' button, this dia. box will pop-up:

BUT - the top (Global) PF Source 01 dia. box will not have, 'Shape Facing' & 'Material Static'
You will need to drag and drop those two elements from the bottom window into the PF Source 01 dia. box .

I now add a Camera to the scene, select 'Shape Facing' & select the camera as the object for 'Shape Facing.'

Next, you will need to put a material in the Material Static box.

I do this by using/creating a standard material in the Material Editor, then dragging and dropping that material on the Material Static 'Assign Material' box ( I use it as an instance ). Some maps, like Vertex Color, will require a Mapping element for UV's ( and actually the Vertex Color will require you to use the Vertex Color Channel). But, standard materials used at the Global level with PFlow's Material Static do not.

From a Perspective view, when the scene is now played, I will get the scene to look like this;

TIP: You may see ticks, or Tetra's, -check your PFlow's Display Element settings, if geometery is selected then you will see what the mesh actually looks like.

TIP: Be sure to check the Shape Facing Element and adjust the size- many times the particles will be very, very small ( I used a size of 50 );

Now I will begin to make the material for the Material Static slot.
In PhotoShop, I'll make this;

A .tga file with an Alpha Channel ( 32 bit ).
In the Max material, I'll assign a Mask map to the Opacity Channel, and then use that Targa file for the Mask Slot.
(this is handy, since you can invert the mask if needed) -as follows:

After clicking the Opacity slot, select a Mask map;

Now in the Mask map, use the Targa 'black circle' file;

(Ignore the file name I used, "red dot a.tga"- thats' my black alpha circle file)
Now I drag and drop the material into the PFlow Material Static Slot. I use it as an Instance.
If you are using red as the Diffuse color for the material, then a render will look like this;

To better show what's going on here, if the mask is inverted, a render will look like this;

So, I'm hiding the edges with the Mask ( lots of other very cool shapes could be used ).
I undo the inverted Mask, and now if I drag the Opacity map to the Reflection map;

The render will look like this;

If I adjust the materials Specular color to Blue;

And then adjust the material maps Reflection value up ( 100%);

All of these values can be animated, a nice control to have.
Now, when I put a noise map;

Into the Opacity > Mask > Map Slot- as follows;

Then;

With basic settings for the noise map, BUT- I selected the 'Turbulence' Parameter;

Speaking of basic settings for maps, be sure to check your map tiling values-
these can have a powerful influence on the Material.

(The check mark above shows the Alpha Targa file being used.)

Now with the Noise map in, the Render looks like this;

Now when I drag that Opacity Map onto the other map slots;

The Render will look like this;

I will now 'play' with the other map values, doing a render > tweak > render. And, modify some of the PFlow settings (like speed).
A lot of tweaking can be done ( since many very cool effects can be achieved ), BUT- it is not required. Lots of 'play' room.

Here's a short animation of that;

PFlowNoiseBumpSpecFun.avi (84 KB)

The DivX compression kills a lot of that excellent detail, so here are some more frames in sequence;

And, here's the nice part- FAST renders!

Examples:

The animation below I did by animating the colors of the Self llumination Map;

PFlowOpacityMaskNoiseExample.avi ( 67 KB )

Here I used a Celluar Map in; Opacity > Mask > Map -Celluar:

PFlowExampleCellularMap.avi ( 430 KB )

For a cool lighting effect, here I used the 'Additive' Filter in the Material;

PFlowAdditiveFilterMaterial.avi ( 160 KB )

Here I used that ugly 'Planet' map, and some color changes to red;

FlameLike.avi ( 63 KB )

Below is a very large image of the scene settings for that:

LargeExample.png ( 93 KB )

TIP: Don't forget that noise has a nice animate function;

For Reference, here is the Max file;

MaxPFlow.zip ( 33 KB )

Last couple of tips;

Make sure to check out the tutorials on Particle Flow in Max- there is an amazing amount of control available.
PFlow with Combustion 3... Wow! Combustion uses a Material Map in Max named, 'Combustion.' So, you can create a Combustion
Workspace, using one of the very cool Combustion Particle effects - then in Max, drag & drop that Combustion map on your PFlow
Material Static- Bingo, amazing Combustion Particle effects used as the material in Max for PFlow.

WARNING! TIP! If you do work with Max and Combustion, with an Nvidia Card, be sure "Use unified back/depth buffer" is turned off;

THANK YOU Joe Gunn & Digital Pictures - for your time, resources, for the tips, and for the direction in checking out PFlow ( & Combustion )!

MAX ROCKS!!

Josh Purple
Dudes by Josh, llc.
JPURPLE@mn.rr.com