Q: How do I create smoke in 3DS MAX?

A: The following Tutorial uses some FREEWARE plug-ins: Particle Combustion and Particles+ by Peter Watje/Spectral Imaging, and Electric Texture by Blur Studios. You can create similar effects using MAX own particles and materials, but Particle Combustion is the only one that is really needed for creating smoke.

Using similar methods you can create many different smoke types. This tutorial deals with cigarette smoke only:

Let's create the smoke first (since you can create a cigarette alone :o)

  • Start a new scene, go to the Create tab and select "Particle Systems" from the drop-down menu.
  • Create a Particles+ particle system.
  • Set the following values for the particle system:

    Particles:
    Viewpoint Count: 50
    Render Count: 50
    Particle Size: 0,5
    Ticks

    Render: Triangle

    Emitter Shape: Rectangular

    Velocity Modifiers:
    Speed: 10,0
    Variation: 3,0
    Tumble: 0,0
    Tumble Rate: 1,0
    Falloff: 0,0
    Secondary: 1,0
    Stream Motion & Stream Velocity ON

    Timing:
    Start: -30
    Life: 30
    Constant ON
    Sample: 5

    Emitter:
    Width: 5,0
    Lenght: 5,0

  • Activate the Angle Snap (press A) and rotate the emitter to point up.
  • Go to Create/Space Warp and create a planar Wind with Strenght of 2,0, Turbulences 2,0/30,0/2,0
  • Bind the Particle System to the Space Warp.

    Now for the Particle Combustion

  • Open the Environment menu.
  • Add the Particle Combustion to the Effects List.
  • Click "Pick Object" for Source Apparatus and add the Particle+ system to the list.
  • Set the 3 colors to [40,55,55], [65,90,90], [25,25,25]
  • Set Flame Type to "Tendril", Stretch to 0,5, Regularity to 0,6.
  • Flame Size 25,0 /Samples 15/ Flame Detail 5,0/ Density 5,0
  • Set both Phase and Drift to 0, activate Animate, go to the last frame and set both to 100.
  • Explosion should be OFF.
  • Set the background to a shade of blue like [0,40,70] and render the scene.

    Now you can create a cigarette

  • Create a Cylinder with 15,0/280,0, set Height Segments to 14, sides to 24.
  • Apply an EditMesh modifier, go to Face level and select 4 segments on the one side.
  • Change the Mat.ID for the selected faces to 2.
  • Select the Faces of the last segment on the other side, set Mat.ID to 3.
  • Open Material Editor, create a Multi/Sub-Object material, and set the 3 sub-materials for the 3 parts of the cigarette. I used the Electric texture by Blur Studios for the glowing end.

    Just switching the Particle Combustion from Tendril to Fireball gives you a nice steam... Note that Environment effects do not cast shadows :o(