X-Particles Experiment: First Particle Render

If you’re into Cinema 4D, you’ll know that X-Particles is really catching a lot of attention right now, especially with the recent release of Krakatoa for Cinema 4D. X-Particles is an extremely powerful particle system for C4D that allows you to simulate complex particle simulations to create various things, such as fluids, using physics, collisions, modifiers, etc. From there, what you do with the particles is endless! After watching a lot of recent tutorials and NAB presentations, I finally caved in and bought a license of X-Particles Pro. What’s even cooler is that X-Particles is 30% off until the end of April 2014, so pick up your copy now while it’s on sale! (Interestingly enough, the sale makes the normal Pro version even cheaper than the academic license itself!)

After a few hours of playing around, this is my first particle render using 10 million particles. It’s a simple simulation where particles are being emitted from a hidden sphere, being modified by a Curl Turbulence and some wind. Render time was 2hrs 50min on a Intel Core i7 3770K 4.0GHz, 32GB of RAM. X-Particles renders extremely fast for what it is. Even when simulating millions of particles, working in the viewport is very do-able and the amount of control you have is amazing. Each frame took around 1-2 minutes on average at 1080p resolution. I did a quick motion blur experiment using C4D’s Sub-surface motion blur, but it made rendering a frame take millenniums (15 minutes per frame!) In the video above, things were rendered without motion blur, and motion blur was added in After Effects later using ReelSmart Motion Blur. Do this!

So far, I’m loving every minute of using X-Particles. There’s so much you can do very easily, and the integration with Cinema 4D is perfect (a lot like using Mograph). I may go as far as to say that X-Particles is my favorite plugin of all time, including all the plugins in After Effects. It’s extremely fun, it’s powerful, and it’s easy to use. I highly recommend picking this plugin up, as it’s easily worth it’s full price. I also want to mention that I was able to purchase this plugin thanks to all your donations I’ve gotten for my scripts. Your support and donations allow me to continue exploring new techniques and tools that will allow me to keep sharing my knowledge and produce content for the community. It’s greatly appreciated!

I can’t wait to keep experimenting and playing around with X-Particles. Definitely expect a lot of tutorials over this plugin as soon as I master this plugin. I’m also interested in trying out X-Particles with Krakatoa now that that’s released for C4D. I’ll also be doing some liquid simulations to see how this all integrates with RealFlow. Remember, experimenting and publishing your renders online is a great way to learn. I talk a lot about that in this post, which is why I’m really aiming to experiment more this year in Cinema 4D. I encourage you to do the same! If you have X-Particles, what do you think about it? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments.