Helicopter Crash within 3DS Max

[InfiniteDigital]

Hello,

My production group is making a short war film for a producer in hollywood who is wanting to see our work. I am planning on having a helicopter crash... being a low budget film maker, I can not afford a helicopter to drop from a crane or something like that. I have 3ds max, And I know well on animation, Texturing, converting into real time footage, and a Good amount on Rayfire tool. I have searched google and I cant seem to find anything... good? The only thing I heard of a good plugin in, which is reactor for 3ds, but I cant seem to figure out how to make displacement for a helicopter or vehicle. I'm completely clueless on how to use it. It there is any good tutorials or if anyone knows how to make a proper looking helicopter crash, Please notify me or comment below.

Thanks, Ryan

P.S: I got flying and animation/movements of the helicopter down. Only need info on collisions

[coldsidedigital]

Reactor used to be included in 3ds Max but was removed removed from 3ds Max 2012 and up, and was replaced with MassFX (which received a small update in 2013 and is still a work in progress).

My approach for a shot like this would be:

-Hand animate the helicopter to give it some general motion.
-Separate parts of the mesh and use Cloth (either built in Cloth, Particle Flow Box #2 or Thinking Particles) to simulate crunching metal.
-Use Rayfire or VolumeBreaker and Physx to simulate breaking glass.
-Break certain pieces apart by hand (rotors, tail section) and simulate with Physx (massFX or Rayfire).
-Add additional debris using particles (Particle Flow or Thinking Particles).
-Simulate explosions/smoke/dust with FumeFX, Afterburn, Krakatoa.

Of course, this is only one approach. It is a pretty complex effect and I highly doubt you will find any free tutorials showing you how to do all of this.

For a tutorial on using cloth for crushing metal in 3ds Max, I would check out Joe Gunn's "Cloth Beyond the Character" dvd:

http://www.joegunn3d.com/WPblogoo7/stor ... -character

For FumeFX explosions, I recommend Allan Mckay's "FumeFX Advanced" dvd, which includes a helicopter crash sequence in full detail (in regards to the explosions only):

http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/I ... /ID/474892

Just be prepared for a lot of work, frustration and RnD.

Otherwise, here is some stock footage of a helicopter exploding that you can buy (though it only explodes, doesn't crash):

http://www.detfilmshd.com/Collections_APACHE01.html

Hope that helps,

Daniel.

[InfiniteDigital]

Thanks, this was really helpful.