8

Particle Type Rollout 263
andthefirstparticleisbornatframe30,when
the object is at 45 degrees, then that p article, and
all subsequent particles w ill be born starting at a
bend of 45 degrees.
Random—ThisoptionisthesameasNonewhen
Frame Offset is set to 0. Otherwise, each part icle
is born using the same animation as the source
objectatthetimeofbirth,butwitharandom
offset of fr ames, based on the value in the Frame
Offset spinner.
Frame Offset—Specifies an offset value f rom t he
current timing of the source object.
Mat’l Mapping and Source group
Specifies how a mapped material affects the
particles, and lets you specif y the s ource of the
material assigned to the particles. A detailed
description of how materials affect particles is in
the topic
Using Mapped Materials with Particle
Systems (page 2–236)
.
Time—Specifies the number of f r ames from the
birth of the particle that it takes to complete one
mapping of the part icle.
Distance—Specifies the distance, in u nits, from the
birth of the particle that it takes to complete one
mapping of the part icle.
Note: Tetra particles are an exception. They always
have their own local mapping from head to tail , as
described in the f ollowing section.
Get Material From—Updates the material carried
by the particle system, using the source specified
by the option buttons below this button.
Impor tant: Remember to click G et Material From
whenever you choose a different source option button,
or whenever you assign a new material to the specified
source. Only a single material (or multi/sub-object
material) is carried by the particle-system object at any
time. Thus, when you change sources, you ac tually
overwrite the currently assigned material with an
instance of the source material.
Icon—
Theparticlesusethematerialcurrently
assigned to the particle system icon.
Note: TheTimeandDistanceoptionsareavailable
only when you choose this option.
Pick ed Emitter—Theparticlesusethematerial
assigned to the distribution object.
Instanced Geometr y—Theparticlesusethe
material assigned to the instanced geometry.
This option is available only when you choose
Instanced Geometry in the Particle Types group .
Impor tant: WhenyouturnoneitherPickedEmitter
or Instanced Geometr y, an instance of the material
from the chosen source is copied to the emitter icon,
overwriting th e material originally assign ed to the icon.
Thus, if you’ve assigned a material to the particle emitter,
and then switch to Picked Emitter, the material originally
assigned to the icon is replaced by an instance of the
material carried by the picked object. If you then return
to the Icon option, the particle system does not rever t to
the material that was assigned the icon, but retains the
material taken from the picked object.
Fragment M aterials group
These spinners let you assign different material I D
numbers to outside surfaces, the edges and the
back sides of f ragment particles. You can then
assign different materials to the front, edge and
back of the fragments by using a multi/sub-object
material.
Outs ide ID—Specifies which face ID number is
assigned to the outside faces of the fragments.
This spinner defaults to 0, which is not a valid
ID number, forcing the outside of the particle
fragments to use w hatever material is currently
assigned to the associated faces. Thus, if your
distribution object a lready has several submaterials
assigned to its outer faces, these materials are
retained by using ID 0. If you want a single,