How to use SceneKit vortex field to create a tornato effect - swift

Question

In the SceneKit WWDC 2014, they have an example of a vortex field with this effect:
The particle system looks much like a tornato, as it spins inward with a hollow center.
However, the documentation for vortex fields have no information on how to achieve this effect. Right now, I have this:
// create the particle system
let exp = SCNParticleSystem()
exp.loops = true
exp.particleMass = 5
exp.birthRate = 10000
exp.emissionDuration = 10
exp.emitterShape = SCNTorus(ringRadius: 5, pipeRadius: 1)
exp.particleLifeSpan = 15
exp.particleVelocity = 2
exp.particleColor = UIColor.white
exp.isAffectedByPhysicsFields = true
scene.addParticleSystem(exp, transform: SCNMatrix4MakeRotation(0, 0, 0, 0))
// create the field
let field = SCNPhysicsField.vortex()
field.strength = -5
field.direction = SCNVector3(x: 0, y: 1, z: 0)
let fieldNode = SCNNode()
fieldNode.physicsField = field
scene.rootNode.addChildNode(fieldNode)
This creates this effect:
Where I am looking down at the particles rotating clockwise with a really big radius outwards. It looks nothing like a tornato effect. How can I create this effect?

Answer 1

You say tornato, I say tornado, let’s call the whole thing off...
The SceneKit WWDC 2014 demo/slides is a sample code project, so you can see for yourself how they made any of the effects you see therein. In this case, it looks like the “vortex” demo isn’t actually using the vortexField API, but instead the custom field API that lets you supply your own math in an evaluator block. (See the link for the code in that block.)
You might be able to get similar behavior without a custom field by combining a vortex (causes rotation only) with radial gravity (attracts inward) with linear gravity (attracts downward), or some other combination (possibly something involving electric charge). But you’d probably have to experiment with tweaking the parameters quite a bit.

Answer 2

If anyone is still interested in this topic - here is a Swift 5 implementation of that legendary tornado effect.
Here is an example function that will create your tornado.
func addTornadoPhysicsField() {
// Tornado Particles Field Example
guard let tornadoSystem = SCNParticleSystem(named: "tornado.scnp", inDirectory: nil) else { return }
let emitterGeometry = SCNTorus(ringRadius: 1.0, pipeRadius: 0.2)
emitterGeometry.firstMaterial?.transparency = 0.0
let fieldAndParticleNode = SCNNode(geometry: emitterGeometry)
fieldAndParticleNode.position = SCNVector3(0.0, 0.0, -20.0)
tornadoSystem.emitterShape = emitterGeometry
fieldAndParticleNode.addParticleSystem(tornadoSystem)
yourScene.rootNode.addChildNode(fieldAndParticleNode)
// Tornado
let worldOrigin = SCNVector3Make(fieldAndParticleNode.worldTransform.m41,
fieldAndParticleNode.worldTransform.m42,
fieldAndParticleNode.worldTransform.m43)
let worldAxis = simd_float3(0.0, 1.0, 0.0) // i.Ex. the Y axis
// Custom Field (Tornado)
let customVortexField = SCNPhysicsField.customField(evaluationBlock: { position, velocity, mass, charge, time in
let l = simd_float3(worldOrigin.x - position.x, 1.0, worldOrigin.z - position.z)
let t = simd_cross(worldAxis, l)
let d2: Float = l.x * l.x + l.z * l.z
let vs: Float = 27 / sqrt(d2) // diameter, the bigger the value the wider it becomes (Apple Default = 20)
let fy: Float = 1.0 - Float((min(1.0, (position.y / 240.0)))) // rotations, a higher value means more turn arounds (more screwed, Apple Default = 15.0))
return SCNVector3Make(t.x * vs + l.x * 10 * fy, 0, t.z * vs + l.z * 10 * fy)
})
customVortexField.halfExtent = SCNVector3Make(100, 100, 100)
fieldAndParticleNode.physicsField = customVortexField // Attach the Field
}
Additional Configuration Options:
Finally all this can result in something like that:
Note: if you would like to move your static tornado almost like a real tornado, you will have to find a way to re-apply the physics field for each rendererd frame. If you don't, the world origin used in the evaluation block will not move and it will distort your tornado.
Note: You can also split the particle/field node into two different nodes that moves independently from each other. Constrain the field node to the position of the particle node and play around with the influence factor (still need to re-apply the field each frame)
For more information on Custom Fields check out here.