Wednesday, December 17th, 2014 Posted by Jim Thacker

Watch Allan McKay’s videos on building custom FX tools


The opening sequence for Destiny. FX supervisor Allan McKay has just posted a free two-hour 3ds Max training video explaining how to recreate the procedural rain tool used on the cinematics for the game.

VFX supervisor and educator Allan McKay is posting a series of free training videos in the run up to Christmas offering a “three-part mini crash course” on writing FX tools for production.

The first video, which runs for two hours, and covers creating a custom 3ds Max tool for generating rain, complete with procedural drips and splashes, is already available on McKay’s site.

The tool itself was used on the cinematics for Destiny, Bungie’s online first-person shooter.

Two more videos will follow over the next week, including one on creating a one-click tool to dynamically fracture any object and rig it ready to explode into pieces, using thinkingParticles and FumeFX.

Anyone registering their email address will get a download link for the accompanying scripts and 3D files. The videos and supporting files are only available until Christmas 2014.

Watch the first video on writing your own production FX tools in 3ds Max
(Includes link to register for the downloadable content and future videos)