2009
These are the basic steps for creating a particle system:
1 Create a particle emitter. All particle systems require an emitter. Some
particle systems use the particle system icon as the emitter while others
use an object you select from the scene as the emitter.
2 Determine the number of particles. You set parameters such as birth rate
and life span to control how many particles can exist at any given time.
3 Set particle shape and size. You can select from many standard particle
types (including metaballs) or you can select an object to be emitted as
a particle.
4 Set initial particle motion. You can set the speed, direction, rotation, and
randomness of particles as they leave the emitter. Particles can also be
affected by animation of the emitter.
5 Modify particle motion. You can further modify the motion of particles
after they leave the emitter by binding the particle system to a space warp
in the Forces group, such as Path Follow, or make them bounce off a
deflector in the Deflectors space warp group, such as UDeflector.
IMPORTANT When you use forces and deflectors together, always bind the
forces before the deflectors.
TIP If the particles don't follow the emitter after it's moved, then change any
Path Follow parameter on page 2717. The motion will be applied to the particles.
Rain and Snow
Create rain and snow using
Super Spray on page 3025 and Blizzard on page 3029.
These particle systems are optimized for droplet (Super Spray) and tumbling
flake (Blizzard) effects. Add space warps such as Wind on page 2724 to create
spring rains or winter storms.
Bubbles
Create bubbles by using the Bubble Motion options of
Super Spray on page
3025. If you require good rendering speed, consider using constant or tetra
particles. If you require bubble detail, consider using opacity-mapped facing
particles, instanced spheres, or metaparticles.
Non-Event-Driven Particle Systems | 3005