2009

This topic describes only the general properties of particle systems. Other
plug-in particle systems might be available in your configuration.
The built-in particle systems share these controls:
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 emitter and fall (or drift, drop, flurry, spray) from the emitter
in a particular 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 so on.
Particle-specific parameters These parameters are specific to the kind of
particle system. Examples are particle size and speed.
Rendering properties These parameters are also 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 modify and animate particle system parameters. You can also affect
particle system behavior with
space warps on page 2685. In addition, you can
deform particle systems with the
Mesher compound object on page 837.
NOTE Particles can participate in dynamics simulations.
Particle System Usage
You create particle systems when you want to model an object or effect that
can best be described as a large collection of similar objects behaving in a
similar fashion. Obvious examples of such effects include rain and snow, but
other equally valid examples include water, smoke, ants, and even crowds of
people.
On the Create panel, click Spray, Snow, Super Spray, Blizzard, PArray, or PCloud
to create a particle system. Spray and Snow exist primarily for compatibility
with earlier releases of 3ds Max, and are superseded by Super Spray and
Blizzard.
To create a particle system, first choose Create menu > Particles > Spray or
Snow.
3004 | Chapter 14 Space Warps and Particle Systems