cmiVFX Massive Prime Crowd Simulation [2012]

cmiVFX has released a QuickStart to Massive Prime Crowd Simulations. Massive is a proven production tool to simulate lifelike actions of crowds. Likely when you have seen a stadium full of cheering fans, it was Massive Prime that animated all those thousands of people. The daunting task of learning is simplified by Domingos Silva. Domingos will walk the viewer through the entire process of completing a crowd simulation. Until now, making MotionBuilder and Massive play nice was tough. Domingos will show the viewer the solution to this difficult pipeline. After the simulation is complete, Domingos continues by taking the mesh and simulation back into Maya and 3DSMax for final render. This lesson covers the process of crowd simulation from concept to render.

Contents Include:

Brain Nodes
Let start with a basic introduction to Massive Brains Nodes and show you different functions and connections to define agent rules.

Motion Planning
Motion planning is a very Important task. We will define a motion tree which contains all the actions and transitions required for the simulation.

Maya MotionBuilder Pipeline
The pipeline from MotionBuilder to Massive is a mystery for many Massive TDs. This pipeline until now is one of the most difficult subjects for Massive users. You will learn how to prepare and export correctly skinned models from Maya. Also we will cover animation retargeting and importing skeleton TPose / bind poses into MotionBuilder. This will allow you export motion data as ASF/AMC that works perfectly with your agent in Massive.

FBX ASF GEO Texture
I will show you how to correctly import the assets from Maya and MotionBuilder (skinned Model as FBX, ASF/AMC mocap, textures) and setup the agent in Massive. When imported via FBX the weight file is automatically generated.

Edit Bones
You will see how to use Massive based ellipsoid bones for smooth bind skin and rigid bind skin by connecting geometry to an joint (attach).

Import Edit Action
Next you will see how to prepare mocap for simulation. Create loop and non-loop action, IK and Timing curves.

Transition Latch Ik Curves Edit
This chapter let you perform the transition between actions by adjust transition, latch and Ik curves.

Placement Generators
Massive provides different generators that you can use to place agents in the scene. I will show you most of them and different useful parameters.

Triggers Modifiers Outputs
Agents status can be set and accessed through the brain by using Triggers, Modifiers and Outputs. "Get agent status" can help you define and perform the simulation more effectively.

Brain Rules Guards
At this point we'll define base rules for guards to stand, format and then run.

Brain Rules Arrow
You will learn how to make flying arrows by creating a combination rules of translation, rotation and dynamics channels.

Arrow Hit Guards and Die Edit Locator
I will change the position of locators to make arrows hitting guards than trigger different die actions.

Guards Leaves Lance When Die Dynamics
When an agent is dying, he should drop his lance. Through applying dynamics, we will achieve this result.

Run Sims And Replay Simulation
At this time we'll record our simulation and switch off. Useful for some heavy rules like dynamics and vision. Can be defined a second rules to change the previous one.

BONUS - Bake Animation From Segment To Lance Agent Spawn Parent
To import the simulation correctly into Maya and 3ds it is required by the plug-in to set the lance as a separate agent. We'll bake the animation from guards lance segments to a new spawned agent.

BONUS - Transform Geo for Auto Skin
We'll transform and freeze our geometries to match the tPose of skeleton from Massive for automatic skinning.

BONUS - MassiveImporter Maya
In video I will show how to import the finished Massive simulation into Maya using the MassiveImporter tool.

BONUS - MassiveImporter 3DSMax
In video I will show how to import the finished Massive simulation into 3DSMax using the MassiveImporter tool.

BONUS - Stadium Placement
Using the ready to use Massive Stadium Agent, i will demonstrate how to properly place agents into a stadium scene.