The Twist Strands compound rotates the strand starting from its base at the particle. This creates a twist around either the particle’s local axis or the strand’s axis, like a spiral.
You can use the Bend Strand/Vector and Twist Strand compounds together to create cool shapes, but remember that the order in which they’re plugged into the ICETree node matters in terms of how they’re applied: the top compound always gets evaluated first.
To twist strands
1. Create a particle emission—see Creating ICE Particle Emissions for information.
2. In the ICE tree’s preset manager, click the Task tab and select Particles.
3. Create strands using either the Create Strands or Generate Strand Trails compound from the Strands group.
4. Drag the Twist Strand compound from the Strands group into the ICE view.
5. Plug its Execute output into a Port on the ICETree node.
6. In the Twist Strand property editor, you can set along which axis the twist occurs (particle or strand), the twist amount, and modify the twist distribution profile curve that defines how the twist is applied along the strand from base to tip. By default, not much twist is applied to the strand base, but then the full amount is applied by the tip of the strand.
For more information on the parameters, click the ? icon in the property editor or see Twist Strand.
Autodesk Softimage v.7.5