User Manual

Table Of Contents
Controls Tab
Step
Defines how many positions are skipped. For example, a step of 3 means that only every third
vertice of the destination mesh is used, while a step of 1 means that all positions are used.
The Step setting helps to keep reasonable performance for big destination meshes. On
parametric geometry like a torus, it can be used to isolate certain parts of the mesh.
Point clouds are internally represented by six points once the Make Renderable option has
been set. To get a single point, use a step of 6 and set an X offset of –0.5 to get to the center of
the point cloud. Use –0.125 for Locator 3Ds. Once these have been scaled, the offset
may differ.
Input Mode
This menu defines in which order multiple input scenes are replicated at the destination. No
matter which setting you choose, if only one input scene is supplied this setting has no effect.
When set to Loop, the inputs are used successively. The first input is at the first
position, the second input at the second position, and so on. If there are more positions
in the destination present than inputs, the sequence is looped.
When set to Random, a definite but random input for each position is used based on
the seed in the Jitter tab. This input mode can be used to simulate variety with few
input scenes.
The Death of Particles setting causes the input geometries’ IDs to change; therefore,
their copy order may change.
Time Offset
Use the Time Offset slider to offset any animations that are applied to the input geometry by a
set amount per copy. For example, set the value to –1.0 and use a cube set to rotate on the
Y-axis as the source. The first copy shows the animation from a frame earlier; the second copy
shows animation from a frame before that, etc.
This can be used with great effect on textured planes—for example, where successive frames
of a video clip can be shown.
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