How to buy
Privacy | Do not sell or share my personal information | Cookie preferences | Report noncompliance | Terms of use | Legal | © 2025 Autodesk Inc. All rights reserved
The Autodesk Community Forums has a new look. Read more about what's changed on the Community Announcements board.
I'm having issues with mParticles that start out fine and then break out of PFlow Collision Shapes.
Imagine pouring marbles into a funnel into a bucket. The particles break out of the funnel about 1/2 way through the emission of them and then just leak out of the bottom of the bucket also at some point.
I have the 'Integration Step' up to 1/4 and the mP World 'Subframe Factor' at 25. I've even set that to '100' without any difference. I don't know if it matters but I tesselated the funnels to give more faces to calculate to and that hasn't helped.
Am I missing some setting that might be causing this solve failure? Each funnel has about 15K particles in it. I have the 'interpenetration' set at 10% of the Shape size. I had 'Keep Apart' set at 10% also but changed that to '0%' to see if it helped. No go.
What can I try to keep these particles in the colliders?
Rob Holmes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Solved! Go to Solution.
Hi @RobH2
I have encountered something similar using Max fluids. Maybe this thread can help out with your particles escaping. I want to make sure I understand the workflow you are using currently with the mparticles before I offer any advice. Does this article reflect the workflow you are using to generate these particles? Can i see a screenshot of your PF source nodes?
A killplane wouldn't work because you don't want the particles to disappear correct? What kind of material or object are you simulating using mparticles?
I think tessellating the collision is on the right path, is there a way you can also add thickness to the collision? At least in fluid simulation, it's suggested that thicker walls help contain a simulation.
I look forward to chatting more about this project, it looks really neat 😄
Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.
Hagen Deloss
Community Manager | Media & Entertainment
Installation & Licensing forums | Contact product support | Autodesk AREA
Rob Holmes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I'm adding more info about the pFlow problem. I guess as much as I want to solve my immediate need, I'm looking for any of you who know what causes this problem so I can prevent it in other projects.
It looks like everything is going fine and then it appears as if something just breaks and it all begins to leak out.
What could cause this? What can I try?
I've attached a few screenshots, a view of Particle View and my Max file if anyone wants to look at it.
Rob Holmes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I'm going to solve my own post. After about 30 hours of tweaking, changing, trying, modifying, and a ridiculous number of cups of tea, I think I've figured out what to do. I wish I'd hit on this earlier.
I have 18K particles in this system. They all have to be separate, like BB's. The particle size is 0.6" in reality. I've been trying to solve this a that 100% scale. After watching a bunch of destruction tutorials (buildings size) to see how people blow buildings apart I thought that maybe my scale was too small. One-half an inch isn't tiny, but maybe it's too small. So I scaled everything up 10X. Now my particles are 6" in diameter.
All of a sudden, the breakouts and solve failures began to cease. I tessellated my deflectors and I raised the 'Subframe Factor' of the mP World from 15 to 22. Now everything is behaving.
So I think I've solved it. And in case it helps someone else, if you get breakouts and particles penetrating your deflectors, just scale the scene up by at least a factor of 10X. I think that's the most important thing to do if I were picking just one thing to try.
Rob Holmes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a great tip, the scale solution is invaluable information 😄
Hagen Deloss
Community Manager | Media & Entertainment
Installation & Licensing forums | Contact product support | Autodesk AREA
How to buy
Privacy | Do not sell or share my personal information | Cookie preferences | Report noncompliance | Terms of use | Legal | © 2025 Autodesk Inc. All rights reserved
Type a product name