9

Introductory T utorial 113
The rendere d particles appear in a window.
The default p article shape is a tetrahedron, a
four-sided triangular solid. Its geometry is
very simple, so the system can handle many
particles quickly and efficiently, but it gives a
good idea of how par t icles are b ehaving. Other
basicshapesarealow-polysphereandacube;
Par ticle Flow also lets you use any scene object
as par ticle geometry.
Modify the par ticle sy stem i n Par ticle V iew:
1.
Press the 6 key to open Particle View . The
part icle source icon need not be selected.
Tip: You can also open Particle View from the
command panel when a Particle Flow source
icon is selected.
1. Event display
2. Particle diagram
3. Global event
4. Birth event
5. Depot
Particle View is where you manage and edit
theparticlesystem.Themainwindow,known
as the event display,containstheparticle
diagram, which describes the particle system.
The default system starts with a global event,
w ith the same name as the Particle Flow icon,
followed by a birth event,containingaBirth
operator and se veral others that define the
system’s initial properties. E ach operator’s
name is followed by its most important setti ng
or settings in parentheses. Above the event
display is a menu bar, and below is the depot,
containing all operators available for use in the
particle system. For more information about
this dialog, see P
article View.