2009
Following are some items to keep in mind when using materials with Particle
Flow:
■ A material is a static property of an event. It does not travel along with
the particles from one event to the next. A particle's material ID does, but
its material does not. If you want particles always to use the same material,
define the material in the
global event on page 7997 with a Material operator
or a
Shape Instance operator on page 2904. Otherwise, you need to define it
in each local event.
■ The primitive particle shapes available with the
Shape operator on page
2900 do not have mapping coordinates. The
Mapping operator on page 2932
applies the same mapping coordinates to each particle's entire surface, so
it's not suitable in this situation. If you want to apply image-based materials
to particles, use
Shape Instance on page 2904 instead.
■ If you use a Material operator with Shape Instance on page 2904, be sure to
apply mapping coordinates to the
reference object(s) on page 8107. You can
do this by making sure the object's Generate Mapping Coords option is
on (if available), or applying a UVW Map modifier on page 1931 or Unwrap
UVW modifier
on page 1841. If you don't apply mapping coordinates, the
system generates a Missing Map Coordinates warning when you render
the scene.
■ If you use an object with a material already applied as a reference object
on page 8107 for instanced particles, you don't need a Material operator in
the same event. However, the material appears only in the event containing
the
Shape Instance operator on page 2904; it does not persist from event to
event.
■ If you use the
Cache operator on page 2935 with Update set to Always,
toggling the Material Editor > Show Map In Viewport switch causes Particle
Flow to recalculate the cache.
■ You can drag a material from the Material Editor to a Particle Flow source
icon, but the material will not have any effect on the system. You must
use a Material operator or Shape Instance to apply materials to particles
in Particle Flow.
■ Once you've assigned a material to a Material operator, the material shows
up in the Material Editor as “hot”; that is, triangles appear in the corners
of its sample slot. However, because of the nature of the Particle Flow data
structure, the Material Editor functions Select By Material and Get Material
> Browse From Selected do not work correctly with Particle Flow systems.
You can, however, use Get Material > Browse From Scene.
Particle Flow | 2919