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Render Count Maximum number of particles that can appear in a single
frame when you render it. Works in combination with the particle system's
timing parameters.
■ When the number of particles reaches the Render Count value, particle
creation is suspended until some particles die.
■ When enough particles die, particle creation resumes until Render Count
is reached again.
Drop Size Size of a particle in the active units.
Speed Initial velocity of each particle as it leaves the emitter. Particles travel
at this speed unless they are affected by a particle system space warp.
Variation Varies the initial speed and direction of particles. The greater the
Variation, the stronger and broader the spray.
Drops, Dots, or Ticks Choose how particles are displayed in viewports. The
display setting does not affect how particles are rendered. Drops are streaks
that appear like raindrops, dots are points, ticks are small plus signs.
Render group
Tetrahedron Particles are rendered as long tetrahedrons, with the length you
specify in the Drop Size parameter. Tetrahedron is the default setting for
rendering. It provides a basic simulation of water drops.
Facing Particles are rendered as square faces whose width and height equals
the Drop Size. Facing particles always face the camera (or the user's perspective).
They are provided especially for use with material maps. Use with an
appropriate opacity map for bubbles or snowflakes.
NOTE Facing works correctly only in a perspective or camera view.
Timing group
Timing parameters control the "birth and death" rates of emitted particles.
At the bottom of the Timing group is a line that displays the maximum
sustainable rate. This value is based on the Render Count and the lifetime of
each particle. To be precise:
maximum sustainable rate=Render Count/Life
Because the number of particles in a frame never exceeds Render Count, if
the Birth Rate exceeds the maximum rate, the system will run out of particles,
Non-Event-Driven Particle Systems | 3019