8

76 Chapter 11: Space Warps and Particle Systems
Timing group
The two spinners specify the start f rame and end
frame of the deflection effect.
Time On/Off—Time On specifies the frame at which
the deflection beg ins, and Time Off specifies the
frame at which the deflection ends.
Reflection group
These options affect the
reflection of particles
from the space warp. The POmniFlect can reflect
or refract particles, or perform a combination of
the two.
Reflects—Specifies the percentage of particles to
be reflected by the POmniFlect. See also Refracts,
laterinthistopic,formethodsofcombiningthe
two effects.
Bounce—This is a multiplier that specifies how
much of the initial speed of the particle is
maintained after collision with the POmniFlect.
Using the default s etting of 1.0 causes the particle
to rebound with the same speed as it collides. A
real-world effect would usually be less than 1.0.
For a “flubber” effect, set g reater than 1.0.
Variation—Specifies the variation of Bounce
applied to the range of par ticles. For example, a
Variation of 50% applied to a Bounce setting of 1.0
would result in randomly applied B ounce values
ranging f rom 0.5 to 1.5.
Chao s —Applies a random variation to the bounce
angle. When set to 0.0 (no chaos), all particles
bounce off the POmniFlect surface perfectly (like
banking pool ba l ls). A non-zero setting causes the
deflected particles to scatter.
Refraction group
These settings are simi lar to those in the Reflection
group, but these affect the
refraction of particles
as they pass through the POm n iFlect, causing the
direction of the particles to change.
Refracts—Specifies the percentage of particles
not already reflected that will be refracted by the
POmniFlect.
Note: The Refracts value affects only those par ticles
not a lready reflected because the reflected particles
are processed b efore the refracted particles. Thus,
if you set Reflects to 50% and Refracts to 50%, you
would not get a 50/50 split of part icles. Rather,
half the particles would be reflected, and then
half the remainder (25% of the total) would be
refracted. The remaining part icles either pass
through without being refracted or are passed on
to Spawn Effects.
To get a 50/50 split of reflection and refraction, set
Reflects to 50% and Refracts to 100%.
Pas s Ve l —Specifies how much of a particle’s initial
speed is maintained after passing through the
POmniFlect. The default setting of 1 retains the
initial speed is retained, so there’s no change. A
setting of 0.5 reduces the speed by half.
Variation—SpecifiesthevariationofPassVelocity
applied to the range of particles.
Distor tion—Controls the angle of refraction. A
value of 0 means there’s no refraction. A value of
100% sets the ang le of the part icles to be parallel
with the POmniFlect surface. A value of
100%
sets the angle perpendicular to t he surface. The
Distortion effect is rev ersed when particles strike
the POmniFlect from the back side.
Note: Distortion and Refraction do not work
properly when particles strike the POmniFlect
surface at exactly 90 degrees. In this case, any
positive Distort ion sett ings cause a scattering of
particles, while negative values have no effect.
Variation—Specifies a range of variation of the
Distortion effect.
Diffusion—Applies a diffusion effect to the
refraction by randomly modifying each particle’s