Monday, July 8th, 2019 Posted by Jim Thacker

Insydium ships X-Particles 2019 public release


Originally posted on 4 July 2019. Scroll down for news of the official release.

Insydium has unveiled the 2019 public release of X-Particles, the next major update to its particle and physics simulation tool for Cinema 4D.

The release, which is due to ship on 8 July 2019, adds a new object-shattering system, a new particle-based dynamics system, and new tools for generating crown splashes in liquid simulations.

New object shattering and particle-based dynamics systems for VFX
New features in the X-Particles 2019 public release include xpShatter, a new object-shattering system.

xpShatter, shown in the video above, enables users to fracture geometry for demolition simulations, in a way that will be familar to users of non-C4D tools like Fracture FX and RayFire.

The toolset supports recursive shattering, dividing geometry into progressively smaller fragments; and has immediate, time and collision-based modes to control when shattering takes place.

There is also a new particle-based dynamics system, xpDynamics, shown at 02:25 in the video above.

Adding the xpDynamics tag to an object generates a particle on every vertex. The particles respect forces like gravity within the Cinema 4D scene, forcing the geometry to follow.

The system can be used to create both rigid and soft body dynamics, and can be used with other X-Particles dynamic objects, including Constraints, Explosia FX and Fluid FX.



New fluids tools generate crown splashes and sheets of liquid
New fluid simulation tools within the software include xpSplash and xpSheeter.

The former is designed to generate crown splash effects, in a similar way to RealFlow’s Crown daemon, with the option to adjust the shape, power and timing of the splash.

The latter works with any Fluid FX simulation to fill in holes in a body of liquid, making it possible to generate thin sheets or streams of liquid.



New motion graphics tools and workflow improvements
While the new shattering and liquid simulation tools will probably appeal most to visual effects artists, the update also introduces new motion graphics tools.

They include xpSplineGrowth, which enables users to animate X-Particles trails or any Cinema 4D spline object, and can be used from anything from growth animations to wireframe reveal effects for HUD elements.

It has three different animation modes, and supports random variation.

There is also a new generator object, xpDisplayRender, shown at 14:00 in the video above, which enables users to render the particle display types used in the viewport.

It also renders the in-viewport arrows used to display Flow Fields and Modifier fields, which can lead to some quite interesting effects.

xpDisplayRender works with Cinema 4D’s Standard and Physical Renderer, plus Insydium’s own Cycles 4D.

Other changes include probability and weighting functions for the Inheritance modifier, and xpQuickTools, a set of “workflow enhancers” designed to reduced the number of clicks required to carry out common tasks.

You can see them in action at 29:40 in the video above.


Updated 8 July 2019: The update is now shipping. On Insydium’s website, it’s also referred to as Build 724.

As well as the features covered above, the 2019 public release adds a new Object Trails mode to the Trail object, and adds new features to the emitter system and existing Modifiers.

You can find a full feature list in the online changelog.


Pricing and availability
The X-Particles 2019 public release is available for any 64-bit edition of Cinema 4D R14+ on Windows 7+ and Mac OS X 10.9+. A new floating licence of the software costs £540 (around $610).


Read more about the X-Particles 2019 public release on Insydium’s website

See more X-Particles feature demo videos on Insydium’s YouTube channel