The displacement on the sphere will be created in several steps
-having particles float around the surface of the sphere
-a mesher compound object will create a mesh out of these particles
-a volume select modifer with soft selection will select the vertices that need displacement
-the push modifer then pushes the selected vertices out, creating this effect
The selection and thus also the moved vertices update each frame.
To set this up
-create a geosphere (segments:9) position:[0,0,0] (my radius was 75)
-copy it and make sure it is in the very same position
//we need two geospheres because max might think we're trying to trick it.. which we are, of course
-create a mesher object
-create an Sdeflector, radius should be the same as the geospheres, position as well
-press 6 to enter pfview
Next are the steps to make the particle system
-right click -> new -> particle system -> standard flow
-change viewport % to 100% in main node
-still in main node, set icon type to 'sphere' and make sure the diameter is just a little bit smaller then the geospheres'
-set birth's emit stop at 0, amount to 12
-set position icon's location to volume
-delete speed and rotation operator
-change the shape operator to spheres (size , mine was 15, but you might want to adjust depending on how large you made your geospheres
-add a speed by surface operator: add the geosphere01 object, set it to 'control speed continuously'
and direction to pa
rallel to surface
This give the satellitte-like motion around the sphere
-Now hide geosphere01
-add a collision test, and add the sdeflector to it's list
Next we set up the rest
-go to the mesher, pick PF source01 as it's source node (leave the rest)
-select geosphere02, add a volume select modifier,
stack level: vertex
selection type: crossing
select by 'mesh object' (-> Mesher object)
use soft selection: on
falloff: mine was 11 (but depends on how large you want the bubs)
pinch: -0.45
bubble: -0.33
-add a push modifier, set push value to 8
Tweak these last few values to get the perfect shape
Play (set timeline to non-realtime) and you should see the effect:
Completed scene: Click here
In the completed scene (and in the movie) I added a spawn test(inherited speed:0; spawn by travelled distance) to the main event, spawning a trail after every particle.. this is creating the stretchted-out bubs on the sphere make sure to add a delete operator to the event the spawned particles go to (delete by age: 4 variation :0)
