Ali Torabi

In this video we use collection controller to find the position of those points which they are located on white sections of an image. The image is being process by a bitmap controller and if the value is greater than .5 (gray) the test controller returns true. collection controller goes through the entire array of points and collects only the position of the points which meets our condition. to set the position of each box to the corresponding point in collection we use a list controller. list controller takes the index value (location of the box in the array) and return the same item from the collection.

We use curve controller in PARA 3D to visualize the curvature of a spline object.

In first video you learn how to find the intersection of two coplanar lines. Notice that if two lines are not intersecting program will generates some error. in the second video we find the closest point on one line to a series of lines from another parametric array. Program automatically sets the controllers for point A and B. if two lines are actually intersection the closest point is equal to the intersection point. also you can find the apparent intersection of two lines on a plane. For example the apparent intersection on XY plane is the intersection of projected lines on this plane(intersection from top view) .

In this video you learn how to use the Material modifier to control the material of the objects inside the array.

Here is a short video explaining what type of objects you can use in surface controller.

we can summaries all as following:

1. NURBS objects with at least one surface inside. If surface is trimmed the based surface (surface before trimming) will be considered as target surface. if more than one surface exist in the object you can choose the surface from the drop down menu.
2. UVW mapping of any kind of object can also be the source of data in surface controller. for this the target object must have at least one UVW map channel. This option is not preferred  option but can be used for NURBS surfaces to obtain uniform divisions on the surface.
3. Objects with edit poly modifier on top. This type of surfaces must have quad polygons. If the surface contains singularity point(s) (A point which more than four polygons intersect) then UV directions cannot be computed along the surface. In this case you can use the surface controller in 1D mode and the array counts must be set to one dimensional array.

Also as a general rule, surface controller in 2d Arrays cannot be used on objects which have more than one smooth manifold (surface), for example a cylinder with top and bottom caps does not represent one surface while a cylinder (tube) without caps can be described as one single manifold.

In PARA 2.6 you can replace the items of the array with a new object with same modifier stack.
This video shows the procedure.

In this video I’m using PARA to create a light sensitive shading structure in form of dome that responds to the location of sun which it also follows the daylight system in 3ds max. I use surface controller to populate the surface with the custom made panel. Each triangular panel has three blades folding among the outer edge. Panels are designed to block the direct sun light while they allow the indirect light to penetrate the surface of the dome.

This is an example of using Magnet controller to derive the values based on orientation of the objects according to the magnet node. The angle of the panel is set to the angle between the Z axis of the object (the panels have been transformed to the surface using a surface controller on transform property) and the line that connects the sun node to that object. It’s very important that sun node must be far enough from the objects in array so the sun rays become approximately parallel.
A new function of PARA 2.2 has been incorporated in this video to create the resulted animation. This new utility allows user to select the desired controller/property and creates a series of key frame within given time frame. The use of utility is very simple and straight forward and does not require further explanation.
Watch the back scene in 6 min, although this video is not a tutorial, I hope that you can learn something!

In this video I tried to explain how to use the pattern controller to make a wall with staggered tiles. This is a response to a user’s question and here is the comment which was posted by V.T.  :

Hi, I’d like to know if there’s a way to create an array with staggered row (like a ordinary brick wall). Thanks.

I’m using PARA 2.1 and MAX 2011

Parametric array 2.0 in action!