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132 Chapter 11: Space Warps and Particle Systems
operators and tests, although you cannot turn
the operators and tests back on individually.
Theevent’sitemsdonotaffecttheparticle
system, and appear as gray in the event list.
All particles entering a turned-off event are
immediately passed on to the next event, if any.
•
To m a ke a t est result
always True or False, click its icon’s left or right
side, respectively. The mouse cursor changes to
the first image at the left (with the left-pointing
arrow) when you can click for always True, and
to the second image at the left (without the
left-pointing arrow) when you can click for
always False.
The test icon changes to a green or
red light bulb to indicate current functionality:
green for always True, and red for alwa ys False.
To return to the original functionality,
click the icon again. The mouse cursor changes
to the depicted image when this action is
possible.
Selecting, Moving, and Copying
•Tocopyanactionorevent,firstpressandhold
the
Shif t key and position the mouse cursor
overtheitemtocopy.Whentheplussign(+)
appears next to the mouse c ursor ar row, drag
the item to a new location. When you release
the mouse button, the Clone Options dialog
appears; choose Copy or Instance and click
OK. In the Clone Options dialog, the Event
And Particle System group is unavailable, as
a reminder that you cannot instance these
elements. Reference is not an option when
cloningParticleSystemelements.Cloningan
event or particle system simply creates a new
event or particle system containing clones of
the ori ginal’s actions.
Any instanced actions have identical properties.
Changing one instance’s values changes them
all. On the other hand, copied actions can have
different values.
Toclonemultipleitems,highlightthemall
before
Shi f t +dragging. If you attempt to
clone a combination of actions and events,
or actions from different events, the result
depends on where you start dragging f rom. If
you drag a highlighted action, you’ll clone only
actions from that event. If you drag an event,
only highlighted events are cloned.
Note: When you highlig ht an instanced action,
ParticleViewindicatesallofitsotherinstances
by changing their background color to a lighter
shade of gray.
• To move an event, drag its title bar, or the icon
of any of its actions. If you drag the event to an
edge of the display, and scrolling is possible, t he
display window will automatic ally scroll in that
direction.
• To resize an event, drag its right edge.
• To high lig ht multiple items, drag a rectangle
around them, or
Ct rl +click them individually.
• To delete an event, action, or wire, highlight it
and then press
Delete .BesuretheParticle
Dialog is active, or you might inadvertently
delete a selection in the scene instead.
•Tomoveanaction,dragitsname (not its icon)
to the new location. If you drag the event to an
edge of the display, and scrolling is possible, t he
display window will automatic ally scroll in that
direction.
Ifyoudraganactiontoanevent,youcan
insert the action or replace an existing action,
depending on where you pos ition the mouse
cursor before releasing the button. A blue
line (before releasing) indicates that it will be
inserted at that location, and a red line indicates
that it will replace the underlying action. If you