how to fill volume with cubes

[guenther Malek]

How can i fill a complex volume with a regular array of cubes?

it´s like a volume scatter of cubes i a sphere

but the cubes should be in a regular array inside the sphere like this....

is there a tool or a script that does that?

thanks for any hint.

[Peter M. Gruhn]

I think there's a way to do it with the newer particle tools... yup, the mParticles Flow does that. There's also this script http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/voxelizer and probably more.

[heni30]

There's a tutorial on YouTube on how to create a gumball machine where he shows how to fill it with small spheres.

[guenther Malek]

@ george: Please post a link!

 

Thanks, Peter!

Voxelizer is Okay-ish, Particles sounds much better for my purpose but I`ve got NO idea of mParticles;

i tried to figure it out without success.

I would be grateful for a hint how to achieve my desired effect.....!

[Nic H]

an easy way to do it would be to use the rayfire voxel modifier on it!

you would need to buy the plugin

[heni30]

It looks like it's not a regular array and it's with Cinema 4D - sorry.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6CHXDLGIMY

[guenther Malek]

rayfire voxel modifier is an extremely handy tool!

but it only voxelizes the surface. the volume is hollow inside...

 

the only solution i found is realflow. i filled the volume and replaced the particles with cubes.

this is quite a hassle inside realflow but the only way i know..

 

Thanks everyone!

[Nic H]

Hmm nope you can do volume voxels with Rayfire - you need to pick 'ALL' rather than 'SHELL ONLY' in the viewport / render dialogue

 

Another way with more control (if you have access to Krakatoa and Frost) is to get your mesh then create a PRT volume out of it with Krakatoa (very simple) then mesh that PRT with Frost choosing to use box as the voxel type. Then you can fiddle around with the scaling, rotation and size.

 

imo realflow is not the best way to do it!

[guenther Malek]

i never said it´s the best way to do it. it´s the only way i know... ;-)

 

Thanks for the rayfire hint! i tried it, but funnily enough,

the realflow result looks more consistent, cleaner....

[Nic H]

interdarsting

[Peter M. Gruhn]

Open Particle View (keyboard 6)

Drag mParticles Flow onto canvas

Select Birth Grid

Turn on Restrict By Mesh Volume

Click Reference Geometry button

Select your geometry.

repeat until good:

- move icon position

- Adjust Icon Size

Calculate Mesh Volume Limits

 

Change the boxes with combination of Grid Size and (under Shape) Size. Right now I always have to go back and hit Calculate Mesh Volume Limits (CMVL). I don't know if there's a way to get this to be a little more dynamic.

 

If only need the appearance of a solid mess of boxes, you can save some memory/time by turning on the Delete Internal Particles.