User Manual

Table Of Contents
Direction
Determines the direction in X/Y space.
Direction Z
Determines the direction in Z space.
Common Controls
Conditions, Style, Region, and Settings Tabs
The Conditions, Style, Region, and Settings tabs are common to all Particle nodes, so their
descriptions can be found in “The Common Controls” section at the end of this chapter.
pEmitter [pEm]
The pEmitter node
pEmitter Node Introduction
The pEmitter node is the main source of particles (pImage Emitter is another) and will usually be
the first node used in any new particle system. This node contains controls for setting the initial
position, orientation, and motion of the particles, as well as controls for the visual style of
each particle.
Like all other Particle nodes (with the exception of the pRender node), the pEmitter produces a
particle set, not a visible image, and therefore cannot be displayed directly in a viewer. To view
the output of a particle system, add a pRender node after the pEmitter.
Inputs
By default, the pEmitter node has no inputs at all. You can enable an image input by selecting
Bitmap from the Style menu in the Style tab. Also, two region inputs, one for bitmap and one for
mesh, appear on the node when you set the Region menu in the Region tab to either Bitmap or
Mesh. The colors of these inputs change depending on the order in which they are enabled.
Style Bitmap Input: This image input accepts a 2D image to use as the particles’
image. Since this image duplicates into potentially thousands of particles, it is best to
keep these images small and square—for instance, 256 x 256 pixels.
Region: The region inputs takes a 2D image or a 3D mesh depending on whether
you set the Region menu to Bitmap or Mesh. The color of the input is determined by
whichever is selected first in the menu. The 3D mesh or a selectable channel from
the bitmap defines the area where the particles are emitted.
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