MPM Fibers tutorial available

[PhilRadford]

Hi all, if anyone is interested in mpm fibers check out my tutorial here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu-M2vFuTrg

Also please read the pinned comment from Maxime regarding strands orientation .

All the best

[Christoph_Schaedl]

Really cool!

Thanks for making all this great videos!

[morten.bojsen-hansen]

Absolutely amazing tutorial as usual, Phil!

[Anonymous]

Thank you Phil - your videos are literally the best resource I've found for insight into Bifrost.  It's strangely relieving to know that you're discovering stuff yourself (thank you for THAT too).  Your patience is beyond mine, I can say that for sure.   Why autodesk has invested almost nothing into tutorials is beyond me. 

Bifrost is ludicrously difficult to figure out still.  I've never been a Max user (apart from a spell in the early 2000's) but the ease of Tyflow makes Bifrost a bit of a joke, and makes me wish I'd taken that path instead.  I understand that Bifrost is very clever behind the scenes, but that means nothing if the user base is, I'd guess, around 3 people right now.

     Your curiosity and determination to figure it out and share is pure gold, and super appreciated.  Thank you.

[Christoph_Schaedl]

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@Anonymous wrote:

   Why autodesk has invested almost nothing into tutorials is beyond me. 

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Totally agree. We need much more help from Autodesk.

[Anonymous]

It feels (to me at least) like Bifrost missed the boat by a couple of years, and at this point without major investment in actually supplying comprehensive documentation it will never catch up.
    Even Houdini with its infamously steep learning curve was (relatively) easy in comparison to Bifrost because of the documentation for it.     
   Houdini's output is phenominal as we all know.  Have you seen anything from Bifrost that doesn't look like it was done by a Lightwave amateur enthusiast ?    I know I harp on about Houdini, but C4D and Max/Tyflow  for even relative beginners are stunning (and fun !) to use.  All of which is incredible incentive to invest in every package but Maya/Bifrost.

  I admire Phil and his uphill struggle to decipher the mess. I think it's spectacular that he's managed to do so well. I've seen his other work across the board of FX tools from old Aero to MASH etc and I can absolutely see his passion to get Maya to behave. Phils output is superb.

    I just find it hard to justify investing that much time into it myself.   I was a Lightwave user in the late 90's   I don't want to go there again.

   Oh and thanks Autodesk for naming it Bifrost. Again. That helps absolutely nobody looking for tutorials without getting referred to the obsolete stuff.

[PhilRadford]

Firstly thank you all for the kind comments it makes the headway I make worthwhile and helps to know that people are interested .

First and foremost I have an inquisitive mind that is kind of uncontrollable at the moment and that is coupled with how I have always worked in vfx and that is to never ever give up, keep pushing forward to make it work no matter what, you kind of have to and I think we all have that ethos but it just depends on how much time one can put into it .

Personally I don't ask why AD isn't doing tutorials on bifrost graph , I don't have the time, I don't want to wait and there is this big box of mysterious toys in front of me and I want to play ! So I am doing my thing, probably wrong allot of the time, probably not the best way to do what I am doing but the visuals do come together, the simluations work and that's how I have always used Maya, if it looks good on screen and it works then great !

I agree that AD help in certain areas would be beneficial but those guys are (I imagine) are working full speed to implement changes, requests and many new incredible features . Those guys (and I use the term guys in a unisex way like "hey guys" when I am talking to both men and women, ((just thought I would cover that)) are incredible, what they are achieving will change the face of Maya in many areas .It is them that deserve the appreciation .

With Bifrost Graph, for me anyway, none of the knowledge comes easy at first but once I break through to a new area that's it, conquered, and on to the next idea in my head . After a while the nodes do kind of start to talk to you and lead you further on but for me, once I get there I'm like - ok that's cool but can I take it 2 steps further and then another 2 and another and all the time I am thinking, "wow ! nobody has done this yet, nobody has seen this yet I have to get this out " and when its out its a massive 'buzz' because I know there's a bunch of artists going "ahhhh. now I get it " and hopefully those dudes and dudetts are taking it forward .

I'm in the lucky position that my business was rammed with work all over the pandemic crisis and has now quietened down allot, actually it's pretty dead now, but it's given me some time and a little financial back up to try and crack this for everyone, even if it's just a little bit .. .for the time being anyway.

What I am hoping to do is to get into this whole pushing Maya forward thing, full time, breaking boundaries, experimenting with new fx etc and getting that information out to other artists and animators so we can all benefit, that would be amazing - no clients and exciting work - that's the dream for me.

AD doesn't pay me in any way but their support and enthusiasm is very much appreciated as is yours .

Appreciated
Phil aka MayaGuy 😉

[Anonymous]

Oh I absolutely agree with you, and the burning need to play with the box of toys is what we all crave, I hope !
(Who among us ever actually looked at the instructions for building lego kits when they were young ? )
    In all frankness I'm jealous because you have the facility (and willpower) to do the experimentation. To jump on that grenade for us and take it for a bucking bronco ride.   And, god only knows, YES we appreciate it more than you might realise.

  The problem in my studio is that (while we're usually snowed under), I rarely ever have the time to do that degree of R&D on an unknown tool.  As it stands I genuinely don't know if I'd be any more capable of producing reliably better work with it after three months of exercise.    I can, however, point at XParticles and say to the money, "look what I could to with that".


   I understand that AD had a lightbulb moment and released it early so that we could experiment, push and share our results but that simply hasn't happened.  You (god bless you) and very few others are the exception.