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126 Chapter 11: Space Warps and Particle Systems
Options menu
This menu contains a number of options useful in
analyzing and debugging particle systems.
Defa ult Display —Determines whether the Display
operator is applied locally or globally to new
particle systems and events. Default=Local.
•
Global—When you create a new particle system,
Particle Flow adds a single Display operator
to the global event. It does not add a Display
operator to each new event.
•
Local —Particle Flow adds a Display operator to
each new event. This lets you easily distinguish
particles in different events in the viewports.
Action Order —For predictable results, don’t use
similar actions in the global and local events.
However, if comparable actions do exist in both
the global event and other events, Particle Flow
applies them to the system in the order specified
here. Typic ally, the effect that’s applied
last
is the one that’s visible in the particle system.
Default=Loca ls First.
For example, consider a situation in which the
global event contains a Shape operator set to
Cube, and the other events in the same system
contain Shape operators set to Tetra or Sphere.
By default, Particle Flow applies the global Shape
operator last at each integration step, overwriting
any local shapes, so all particles would be cubes.
ButifyousetActionOrdertoGlobalsFirst,the
local shapes are applied last, and particles appear
as tetrahedrons or spheres, depending on which
event they’re in.
•
Global s First—At each integration step, Particle
Flow first applies actions in the globa l event,
and then actions in the other (local) events.
Typically, the result is that actions in the local
even ts override comparable actions in the
global event.
•
Local s Fir st —At each integration step, Particle
Flow first applies actions in the local events, and
then actions in the global event. Typical ly, the
result is that actions in the global event override
comparable actions in the local events.
Update Type—This setting determines how Particle
Flow updates the system when you change a
parameter during playback. Because the state of
theparticlesystematanygivenframecandepend
on events in previous frames, using the Complete
option can provide a more accurate depiction of
the result of the change, at a cost in speed; it ta kes
more time to recalculate the entire system starting
at the first frame. Default=Complete.
•
Co mplete —When you change a setting during
playback, Particle Flow updates the entire
system, starting at the first frame.
•
Forward —When you change a setting during
playback, Particle Flow updates the system
starting at the current frame.
Track Update—Provides options for visualizing the
particle system status in Particle View.
•
Par ticle Count—Adds a tab above each event
thatshowsthenumberofparticlesinthe
event. The global event’s count shows the total
number of particles in the particle system.
Usethis,inadditiontotheabilitytodisplay
particles differently in each event, to trace
particle progress through the system.
•
Update Progr ess—Highlights each action in
colorwheneverParticleFlowevaluatesit.
The high lighting is very fast, but this option
can add significant computational overhead
to the particle system, with the result that