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Non-Event-Driven Particle Systems 237
Non-Event-Dr iv en Pa rti cl e
Systems
Create panel > Geometry > Particle Systems
Create menu > Particles
Fountain spray created as a particle system
Non-event-driven particle systems provide
relatively simple, straightforward methods for
generating particle sub-objects over time for the
purpose of simulating snow, rain, dust, and so on.
You use particle systems primarily in animations.
3ds Max provides six built-in, non-event-driven
particle systems:
Spray Particle System (page 2–244)
Snow Particle System (page 2–246)
Super Spray Particle System (page 2–249)
Blizzard Particle System (page 2–251)
PArray Particle System (page 2–256)
PCloud Particle System (page 2–253)
Note: You can take advantage of the AutoGrid
feature to orient and position new particle systems
w ith respect to existing objects. For details, see
AutoGrid (page 2–7).
Interfa ce
Snowstorm create d as a p article system
This topic describes only the general properties of
particle systems. Other plug-in particle systems
might be available in your configuration.
Thebuilt-inparticlesystemssharethesecontrols:
Emitter—Specifies where in the scene the particles
are generated. The emitter is the particle system’s
main sub-object. It doesn’t render. Particles
appear on the surface of the em itter and fall (or
drif t, drop, flurry, spray) f rom the emitter in a
part icular direction.
Timing—The timing parameters control the
dynamics of particles in the system. They specify
how quickly particles appear, how quickly they
disappear, whether the emission rate is constant,
and s o on.
Particle-specif ic parameters—These p arameters are
specific to the kind of particle system. Examples
areparticlesizeandspeed.
Rendering proper ties—These parameters are a lso
specific to the kind of particle system . There
are options for displaying particles in viewports
and rendering them in scenes and animations.
Particles do not necessarily appear the same in
renderings as they do in viewports.
You can modif y and animate particle system
parameters. You can also affect particle system
behav ior with space warps (page 2–55).In
addition, you can deform particle systems with the
Mesher compound object (page 1–374).