ParticleFX
From LightWiki
Particles can be added in two ways. From Dynamics>Dynamic objects>Particle or by selecting an Object and opening the Object Properties Panel and going to the dynamics tab and adding ParticleFX there. Adding it the first way gives you the option to add the emitter as a Hypervoxel emitter, or a Partigon emitter. Adding it to a mesh or null object means you have to use Hypervoxels.
Contents |
Generator
- Group: Controls which Dynamics Group this effect belongs to.
- Birth Rate: The rate at which particles are emitted. This is affected by the following setting.
- Generate by: This can be one of:
- Frame
- Sec
- Speed - As the emitter moves faster, it will increase particle emission.
- Collision Event - When an emitter's area hits a CollisionFX item set to Event, it will emit particles.
- Wind - if the wind passes the Threshold (in the Motion tab) then the emitter will start emitting.
- Wind Speed - as with wind, but the stronger the wind, the more particles will be emitted.
- Nozzle: This determines where the particles are emitted from. For some of these settings you may need to press Calculate to get accurate results. This can be one of:
- Box
- Sphere
- Object-Vertices
- Object-Normal -
- Cone
- Object-Surface
- Object-Line
- Parent-Collision - Particles are emitted from the Parent emitter's particles when they collide with something (need to calculate).
- Parent-Emitter - Particles will be emitted from the parent's particles (should it be an emitter), like trails.
- Parent-Emitter(end) - Particles will be emitted when parent particles die.
- Child pivots - Particles will be emitted from the pivot points of children of the emitter.
- Size effect: This alters various properties dependent on the size of the emitter. This can be one of:
- Size (no change)
- Size>Density Fix(Mass Change) - As the emitter gets smaller, less particles are emitted. (rate α size)
- Size>Density Fix(Speed Change) - As the emitter gets smaller, the particles emitted have their velocity increased (like a putting your finger over a tap opening makes the water spray faster).(velocity α 1/size)
- Speed - As the emitter gets smaller, the velocity of the particles is decreased. (velocity α size)
- Speed>Density Fix(Mass Change)
- Mass
- Mass>Density Fix(Speed Change)
- Key effect: This allows you to make the emitter emit when there is a Size key:
- None - Keys do not affect emittance.
- Key - A key will cause particles to emit.
- Key-env - Keys will cause particles to emit, but interpolated, so increasing to the key, then decreasing after.
- Parent - As above but using the parent's Size.
- Parent-env
- Generate size: Controls the size of the generator.
- Particle Limit: The maximum possible number of emitted particles.
- Fixed:This allows you to set the frame the particle effect starts.
- Start Frame: This is that frame.
Particle
- Particle Weight - The particles mass.
- Particle Size - This is used to determine collision effects.
- Particle Resistance - This is like air resistance, how much wind slows particles down, and how much they'll slow down by themselves (as if in atmosphere).
- Life Time - How long each particle lives for once born.
- Fixed Random - This causes the random effect to be generated from a constant seed, so the are more predictable.
- Show ID - Displays the particle id next to the particle.
- Show Size - Displays the particles' size.
- Output Size - If this is not checked, the displayed size is always one.
- Show Particles - Allows you to hide the particles in complex scenes.
Motion
- World Coordinates - Use world coordinates for the directions.
- Velocity - Control for scaling the velocity.
- Velocity m/s - The direction of the velocity.
- Target - Move particles towards this object.
- Explosion(m/s) - Particles move away from the centre at this speed.
- Vibration(m/s) - Particles move in random directions at this speed.
- Vibration(min) - Sets a minimum vibration speed.
- Threshold1(m/s)
- Threshold2(m/s) - These set a minimum initial particle speed over which vibration occurs to some particles, and a maximum speed at which all particles above that speed are vibrated. Imagine a hose. As the water comes out slowly it all goes in the same direction. As it goes faster it starts to spray all over.
Etc
- Gravity - The strength and direction of an acceleration effect.
- Center Position - The position from which the particles explode.
- Position Blur - This offsets the initial particle position by its velocity.
- Parent Motion - Adds the parent velocity to the particles.
- Max Speed - Limits the maximum speed of the particles.
- Loop Frame - Sets the frame at which the emitter loops the way it emits particles.
- Record Step Frame - When particles motion are stored, this sets the rate of recording.
Rotation
- Rotation - This allows the particle to give a rotation to other features, like Hypervoxels. It can be one of
- Align to Path
- Random Rotation and Scale - Enables the button below which allows you to set limits for random particle rotation and scale.
- Random Rotation&Scale
Interaction
- Self Interaction - This determines how particles react when colliding with particles from the same emitter. Particle Size needs to be greater than 0 for this to work. It can be one of
- None
- Push - Particles push at each other when their size overlaps, harder as they get closer together.
- Bounce - Particles rebound from each other, like balls.
- Drag - Particles pull at each other, getting closer together.
- Crowd - Particles clump together.
- Interaction - Same as above, but this determines how particles react when hitting other items.
- Force - Controls the strength of the interaction
- Viscosity - Controls the resistance particles exhibit when interacting with each other.
- Detect Interaction - Toggles all interaction on/off.
