Turbulence Options

Use these options to control the behavior of your Turbulence field.

Magnitude

Sets the strength of the turbulence field. The larger the number, the stronger the force. You can use positive or negative values to move the influenced objects in random directions.

Attenuation

Sets how much the strength of the field diminishes as distance to the affected object increases. The rate of change is exponential with distance; the Attenuation is the exponent. If you set Attenuation to 0, the force remains constant over distance.

Frequency

Sets the frequency of the turbulence field. Higher values cause more frequent irregularities in the motion.

Phase X, Y, Z

Sets the phase shift of the turbulence field. This determines the direction of the disruption.

Interpolation Type

Linear specifies a linear interpolation between values in the noise table. This can create noticeable breaks along lines of force. Quadratic interpolation creates a smoother look but requires noticeably more execution time.

Noise Level

The greater the value, the more irregular the turbulence. The Noise Level attribute specifies the number of additional lookups you want done in the noise table. A value of 0 does only one lookup and is equivalent to previous versions of Maya. The total turbulence value is a weighted average of the lookups.

Noise Ratio

Specifies the weighting of successive lookups. The weights are cumulative. For example, if you set Noise Ratio to 0.5, then successive lookups are weighted 0.5, 0.25, and so on. Noise ratio has no effect if the Noise Level is set to 0.

Distance

Use Max Distance

If you turn on Use Max Distance, connected objects within the area defined by the Max Distance setting are affected by the turbulence field.

If you turn off Use Max Distance, all connected objects are affected by the turbulence field, no matter how far away they are from the turbulence field.

Max Distance

Sets the maximum distance from the turbulence field that the field is exerted. You must turn on Use Max Distance for Max Distance to take effect.

Falloff Curve

Available when Use Max Distance is checked.

When using a field to exert force, sometimes the object receiving the force may have trouble settling down after the force is exerted. Use this curve to modulate the force. For example, scale the field’s force so that it smoothly drops off to zero at the boundary defined by the Max Distance value.

The curve is defined within the normalized distance; in other words, 0 to 1, where 0 corresponds to the field's center and 1 corresponds to the Max Distance value. The value from the curve is a scaling factor to be applied to the force.

Note: Fallout Curve is only available as an attribute after you create the field. It is not available an a field creation option.

Volume shape

Volume determines the region where the field affects particles/rigid bodies.

Volume

Choose one of None, Cube, Sphere, Cylinder, Cone or Torus.

Volume Exclusion

When Volume Exclusion is turned on, the volume defines the region in space where the field has no effect on particles or rigid bodies.

Volume Offset X, Y, Z

Offsets the volume from the location of the field. If you rotate the field, you also rotate the offset direction because it operates in local space.

Note:

Offsetting the volume changes only the volume’s location (and therefore, which particles the field affects). It does not change the actual field location for purposes of computing field force, attenuation, etc.

Volume Sweep

Defines the extent of rotation for all volumes except cubes. This can be a value from 0 to 360 degrees.

Section Radius

Defines the thickness of the solid portion of the torus, relative to the radius of the torus’s central ring. The radius of the central ring is determined by the field’s scale. If you scale the field, the Section Radius will maintain its proportion relative to the central ring.

Special Effects

Available in the Attribute Editor for object fields only.

Apply Per Vertex

Sets where the field emanates from the object. If you turn on Apply Per Vertex, each individual point (CV, particle, vertex) of the chosen object exerts the field equally at full strength. If you turn off Apply Per Vertex, the field is exerted only from the average position of the specified points.