by Didik Wijaya
This tutorial needs you to understand basic use of 3dsmax.

Do you want to be invisible? Being invisible maybe is every man's dream because you can go everywhere without people notice. But be careful, people still can see your footprints, especially when you walk on snow, sand or other soft ground. In this tutorial we will create Invisible Man's Footprints effect using 3dsmax.

1. First, download 3dsmax exercise file here (71kb, zipped, 3dsmax 8 format). In this file you will find 2 objects, one is 'Feet' and the other is simple plane. Feet object consist of several foot sub-object and already has simple animation. Scrub slider at the bottom of your screen to watch its animation.

2. Select plane, right click and choose Convert To>Convert to Editable Poly. In Selection rollout, activate Polygon selection. Then select 4 polygons in the middle. In Edit Geometry rollout, click Tesselate button several times. 5 click would be enough. Now polygons in middle of plane consist of small polygons. When finished, de-activate all sub-object selection. Alternatively you don't need to change plane to Editable Poly. Just increase its Length and Width segs. But because we only need details in walking area, why bother add polygons in other area.

3. Make sure plane is selected. In Command Panel, click Modify tab. Choose Vol. Select modifer from drop down list. In Parameters rollout, check Vertex in Stack Selection Level. In Select By part, activate Mesh Object. Click button below it and left click again Feet object in viewport. We use Vol. Select modifier to make plane's vertices selected based on other object volume. That's why, when foot collide with plane, vertices with the shape of foot selected.

4. Next step, in Soft Selection rollout, activate Soft Selection. Set Falloff value to 40. Scrub slider, and you'll notice selected vertices is expanding. Soft selection effect can be seen with different color. The reason we use Soft Selection is to make footprints edges not too jaggedy.

5. After we can select vertices with the shape of foot. Now add more modifier to plane. This time add Push modifier. Use Push Value=-30. Scrub slider. With negative Push Value, vertices selected will be moved downward like being punched.

6. Last step, select Feet object. Right click and choose Properties. In Rendering Control, uncheck Renderable. Now, this object will be invisible when rendered.

7. Invisible Man's footprints effect is finished. Render your animation. This image below shows rendered result with material applied.

Any question or comments regarding this tutorial should be sent to:
Didik Wijaya, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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