Q1: ...A Blend/Composite Material were the blend was based on the position of an object. Basically as the object approached the material it would reveal the other material.

Q2: ...Something to make the particles change colors as it hits a deflector.

THESE WERE SENT TO PETER WATJE'S PLUG-IN LIST AS IDEAS FOR PLUG-INS.

A1: There is a Plug-in called Chameleon, I still have to find out who made it - there is absolutely no copyright text... (!?)
It lets you define Gizmos (actually Helpers like the Combustion Atmospheric Apparatus, but with two ranges) and assign multiple Sub-Materials to a Chameleon Material. When the object that Chameleon has been assigned to enters the first range of a Helper, it starts changing its Basic Material to the Sub-Material defined. Whithin the second range it shows the whole Sub-Material.

A2: Although there is no plug-in to do EXACTLY this, there is a way to simulate the effect - using the same Chameleon Plug-in described above.

This is how to do it:

  • Create a Spray Particle System about [100,100,10,10,0....Start:0, Life:60, Emiter:20,20]
  • Create a Deflector Space Warp. [1,200,200]
  • Create a Gravity Space Warp.
  • Create a Box. [200,200,-10]
  • Align the Deflector to the surface of the Box.
  • Link the Deflector to the Box.
  • Bind the Particle System to the Deflector and Gravity.
  • Create a Chameleon Atmospheric Apparatus Helper. [200,225,100]
  • Align to the Deflector.
  • Scale the Helper along Z to get an almost flat Helper.
  • Link the Helper to the Box.
  • Rotate the Box and all linked objects at about 30 degrees.

    Let's create a Chameleon Material:

  • Open the Material Editor.
  • Click on the Material Type and select Chameleon.
  • Set the Basic Material as you want.
  • Create a Sub-Material that differs from the Basic one.
  • Change the Material Channel of the Sub-Material to 1.
  • Click the Gizmo button and select the Helper object.
  • Assign the new material to the Particle System.

    If you start the animation now, you will see no effect. You should RENDER the scene to see the drops changing their Basic Material to the Sub-Material when they hit the deflector.

    Now you can go further and use some Video Post effects like Glow. Because we have set the Material Channel of the Sub-Object to 1, if you set the same value in the Glow Filter, the particles will be affected only when hitting the deflector!
    You can even use the same Material for Basic and Sub Material, and just let the raindrops glow without visibly changing their material when hitting the Deflector - only the Material Channel will change...

    Download the sample .MAX Scene here

    PART 2

    Now let's go even further. We want to change the material not WHEN hitting the deflector, but AFTER that.

    The only things to do are:

  • Create a second Chameleon Helper - set the radius values to be almost identical -> no transition zone!
  • Scale and Rotate it a bit to include the deflected particles only.
  • Put the old Sub-Material as a second Sub-Material in the Chameleon Material - click on the empry slot, click on the Material Type, select the "Scene" radio button, find the old Sub-Material and get it for the second Sub-Material. The Material Channel will be set to 0 for the new copy. This is what we want - in Video Post, the particles will glow only when hitting the deflector, but not after that.
  • Select the new Helper as the Gizmo for the new Sub-Material.

    Download the second .MAX scene here.