xpQuickTools

xpQuickTools are a set of quick-access presets and workflow enhancement tools.

The Quick Tools command can be found in the main X-Particles menu.

Clicking it will open the Quick Tools dialog box; this window is non-modal so can easily be docked in the user interface, if desired.

xpQuickTools are divided into five categories, which can each be accessed via their own tab: Particle FX; Fluids & Grains; Smoke, Fire & Advection, Trails and Workflow.

To use a tool, simply click its icon.

You can also hover over each icon to display a tool tip, indicating what the tool does and how to use it.

Some tools require an existing scene object to work with, some are presets that create all required objects from scratch.

Particle FX

These tools are a variety of particle effects and emitter shortcuts.

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xpQuickTools preset Particle FX menu.

Emit From Object

This workflow tool requires that an object is selected in the scene before it is executed.

It will:

create an emitter
set the emitter to emit from the selected object
alter the emission mode, depending on what kind of object it is.

You can then adjust the settings to how you want them.

Emit From Selection

This workflow tool does the same as Emit From Object, but requires that the object has at least one Selection Tag on it.

If there is more than one, it will use the first active (i.e. selected) tag it finds; if none are active, it will use the first Selection Tag.

If there are no Selection Tags, the tool will not proceed.

Emit From Texture

This workflow tool does the same as Emit From Selection but, instead of a Selection Tag, it requires that the object has at least one texture tag on it.

If there is more than one, it will use the first active (i.e. selected) tag it finds; if none are active, it will use the first texture tag.

If there are no texture tags, the tool will not proceed.

Once it finds a texture tag, the emitter will be set to emit from a texture.

The tool will look at each active channel (Color, Diffusion, etc.) of the material in the tag.

‘Active’ means that the channel is enabled in the ‘Basic’ tab of the material.

If the tool finds a bitmap or a shader in the channel, it will use that channel to control particle emission and color.

If there are no active channels, or if none of the active channels contains a bitmap or a shader, the tool will not proceed.

Emit From Vertex Map

This workflow tool does the same as Emit From Selection but, instead of a Selection Tag, it requires that the object has at least one vertex map tag on it.

If there is more than one, it will use the first active (i.e. selected) tag it finds; if none are active, it will use the first Vertex Map Tag.

If there are no Vertex Map Tags, the tool will not proceed.

Assuming a tag is found, the emitter will automatically be set to emit from the object’s vertices.

Curl Noise

This preset tool sets up a simple scene with an emitter and an xpTurbulence modifier set to Curl mode.

Dust

This workflow tool takes a selected object in the scene and adds an emitter set, to emit according to the object’s topology.

It produces an effect like dust settling on the object’s flat surfaces.

If no object is selected when this tool is executed, a primitive Figure will be added to the scene instead.

Fireworks

This preset tool sets up a scene to produce fireworks.

All the required objects will be added to the scene.

Simple Rain, Simple Snow

These preset tools create scenes to produce rain and snow respectively.

All the required objects will be added to the scene.

Fluids & Grains

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xpQuickTools preset Fluids & Grains menu.

Condensation

This workflow tool takes a selected object in the scene and adds the required objects to produce a condensation effect on the object.

If there is no selected object, a primitive Figure object is created instead.

You can add an xpOpenVDBMesher object to mesh the result, if desired.

Fluid Filaments

This preset tool adds all the required objects to demonstrate a filamentous fluid.

You can add an xpOpenVDBMesher object to mesh the result, if desired.

Fluid FX Water Body

This preset tool adds all the required objects to set up a simple Fluid FX scene.

You will need to adjust the various parameters to achieve the result you want, so this is simply a starting point for your own scenes.

Smoke, Fire & Advection

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xpQuickTools preset Smoke, Fire & Advection menu.

EFX Basic Flame

This preset tool sets up a basic fire simulation using xpExplosiaFX and the selected object in the scene as the source.

If there is no selected object, a primitive Sphere is added instead.

EFX Basic Smoke

This preset tool does the same as EFX Basic Flame, but sets up a smoke simulation instead of fire.

EFX Camp Fire

This preset tool takes the selected object in the scene and uses it to create a camp fire effect.

If there is no selected object, a primitive Torus is added instead.

EFX Fire From Particles

This preset tool does the same as EFX Basic Flame, but the source object must be an xpEmitter, so the particles act as the source for the fire.

If there is no selected emitter in the scene, one is added automatically.

EFX Basic Smoke (Cycles)

This preset tool does the same as EFX Basic Smoke, but uses Cycles 4D as the render engine.

Trails

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xpQuickTools preset Trails menu.

Create Branches

This preset tool adds all the required objects to create a branched, tree-like structure.

Nearest By Distance

This preset tool shows the use of the Nearest By Distance mode of the xpTrail object to create a mesh-like effect.

Network Trails

This preset tool demonstrates the use of the Network modifier and System object to produce a network confined to one plane.

Tendrils

This preset tool shows how to set up the xpTendril modifier and mesh the result to produce waving tentacles.

Workflow

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xpQuickTools preset Workflow menu.

Create Cloth

This is the same as the Create Cloth command in the X-Particles menu.

It is included here for convenience.

Quick Cache

This workflow tool provides a quick way to cache a scene.

If you click the icon, the default setting is for external caching and you will be prompted to select a folder for the cache files.

If you click Cancel in the folder browser, no caching will occur.

If you would prefer to use internal caching, hold down the Shift key when clicking the icon and caching will take place immediately.

Finally, if you want to select the objects to cache, hold down the Alt/Opt key when clicking the icon; this will bring up the options dialog box.

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The Quickcache Options box.

Holding down Shift will not work if this box is shown.

Clicking the Cancel button will exit the tool without caching.

Assign Groups to Modifiers

This tool will add all selected particle Group objects into the Groups Affected list of all selected modifiers.

This can be useful if you have multiple groups and multiple modifiers in a scene and you want to ensure that some, or all, modifiers affect some, or all, groups.

Doing this manually can be very tedious, so this is a shortcut to avoid that.

The tool requires that there is at least one Group object selected in the object manager and that at least one modifier is selected.

If there are no selected groups and/or no selected modifiers, the tool will not proceed.

System Sort

This is the same as the xpSystemSort in the X-Particles menu.

It is included here for convenience.