Creating Realistic Cigarette Smoke in 3D Studio Max

By Aziz Khan | 3D Studio Max | Intermediate | Edited by Oman3D

This tutorial shall teach you how to create a realistic looking cigarette smoke that gradually

fades out. This tutorial shall teach you one of the many possible that can be used to achieve this

result, ours will use the Super Spray particle emitter. This tutorial will not cover the process of

modeling and texturing the cigarette object, you can refer to our other tutorials that cover

modeling and texturing if you need help. You will have to download the starting

scene (compatible with 3DS version 8) to be able to follow this tutorial. This is an intermediate

level tutorial, you are expected to know all the basics of 3DS max before attempting this one.

Creating the Smoke

Once you have the scene provided opened, you should have the following objects laid on the

scene: an Ashtray, a Cigarette, a Floor, and one Free Spotlight. You can render

the perspective viewport to acquire an image similar to the one below.

Our smoke is going to be generated through a Super Spray. We will start off by creating one of

these, so go through Create>Geometry and select Particle System from the dropdown menu

and then click on Super Spray and place it at the tip of the cigarette on the scene as illustrated

below.

Once our particle emitter, the Super Spray, is placed at the proper position we will have to

modify its settings. Access the Modify Panel by clicking on the Modify tab and then access

the Basic Parameters rollout to input the changes detailed in the image below.

Scroll down the Modify Panel to find the Particle Generation parameters and apply the changes

illustrated in the image below. Look then for the Particle Size settings under the same rollout

and set it in accordance with the second image below.

Back to the main Modify Panel, look for the Particle Type rollout and set the Standard

Particles to Facing option. This is basically the shape and geometry of the particle, we selected

to the Facing option because it supports soft edges material (we are going to talk about this

later in the tutorial) and because the facing shape will always 'face' the camera.

Look for the Rotation and Collision rollout set the Spin Time to Zero, the Spin Axis

Controls to Direction of Travel/Mblur, and the Stretch value to 100, all as illustrated in the image

below.

The final thing to look for in the Modify Panel is the Object Motion Inheritance rollout, once you

find it, set the Multiplier to 0.2. You can try playing the animation at this instance to see what

you have done so far.

To make the smoke more realistic we will randomize its movement by creating a Drag force. To

do so go through Create>Space Wrap>Drag and then position it near the Ashtray.

Drag is a force object type that drags particles into its direction. It is the perfect to simulate wind

resistance as it reduces the particles moving speed within a specified range.

Access the Drag Modify Panel and apply the settings illustrated in the image below.

We will have to bind the Drag force to the Super Spray. In order to do this you will have to

access the Status Bar and click on the button highlighted below.

We will now impose the effect of the Drag force onto the Super Spray by binding them together.

To do this, you will have to click and hold the Drag force and then move it over the Super

Spray and release it on it to bind them together.

Adding Wind to the Scene

The wind that we will create shall make our scene look more realistic through its effect on the

smoke. To create the wind go through Create>Space Wraps>Wind and place one on the scene.

The arrow that appears on the wind object represents its direction, you might need to rotate the

wind object to make it blow towards the smoke.

 

Access the Wind Modify Panel and apply the settings illustrated in the first image below in

the Parameters rollout. Once done with that, you will have to bind the wind to the Super

Spray using the same method we described earlier. You can then click on Play to see

something similar to the second image below.

 

To check if the two objects are bound together, click on the Super Spray and you should see

the Drag, wind, and Super Spray bound together in the Modify panel, as illustrated by the image

below.

Assigning the Smoke Material

Open the Material Editor (Keyboard shortcut M) to find the following materials, assuming that

you have used the file supplemented with this tutorial. Click on an empty slot and apply the

settings illustrated in the second image below.

 

Expand the Maps rollout, change the value for the opacity to 5 and click on

the None button. Double click on Gradient in the new window that pops up.

 

Look for the Gradient Parameters and set the Gradient Type to Radial. Once done, go back to

the parent material.

 

We just created a soft edged texture where the Opacity works as a mask so that the white color

is not transparent and the black colour is a 100% transparent.

You can now assign the material to the Super Spray and render the scene to have the end

result of this tutorial.

This concludes our tutorial. I hope that you have learnt how to create a realistic looking smoke.

You should experiment with different settings and configurations to make effective scenes for

your projects. Please feel free to email me any comments and questions. You can alternatively

post at the Oman3D Forum.

- End of Tutorial.