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Dynamics

Create particles

The Particle Tool lets you create and position particles individually or in grids or spherical regions. By default, the Particle Tool creates particles individually, one particle per mouse click. To change the tool options, see Set the Particle Tool options.

Note Unless otherwise noted, the directions in this book for making menu selections assume you’ve already selected the Dynamics menu set. Also, this book describes how to edit attributes of objects only with the Attribute Editor. You can also set many of the attributes with the Channel Box or Attribute Spreadsheet. See Basics for details.

To create particles

1. Select Particles > Particle Tool or click .
2. Click the positions where you want to place the particles.
3. Press Enter (Windows and Linux) or Return (Mac OS X).

This creates a new particle object consisting of the particles you positioned.

Tips A particle object is not complete until you press Enter (Windows and Linux) or Return (Mac OS X). You cannot use Edit > Undo to undo the entire object until you press Enter or Return. If you want to undo individual particles before you press Enter or Return, use the Backspace (Windows and Linux) or Delete (Mac OS X) key to remove the particles in the reverse order of creation. Alternatively, you can press the Insert (Windows and Linux) or Home (Mac OS X) key to go into editing mode, then click any particle and press Backspace or Delete. Press Insert or Home to leave editing mode. You can also change the position of one or more particles before you press Enter or Return. Press the Insert or Home key then drag the particle. Press Enter or Return to complete the particle object.

Set the Particle Tool options

When you create a particle object, you can set several tool options in the Particle Tool Settings window. When you change these settings, it affects only particle objects you create after the change.

After you create the object, you can change some tool options and set additional attributes (see Edit particle attributes).

To set the Particle Tool options

1. Select Particles > Particle Tool > to display the options window.
2. Set the options as described in the following procedures.

To name the particle object

• Enter a name in the Particle Name box.

The name helps you identify the object in the Outliner. If you don’t enter a name, the particle object receives a default name such as particle1.

To adjust frame-to-frame dynamic velocity of moving particles

• Set the Conserve attribute to influence the motion of particles whose velocity and acceleration attributes are controlled by dynamic effects.

See Adjust frame-to-frame velocity conservation.

Note The terms dynamics and dynamic animation refer to animation motion created by fields, emission, collisions, springs, goals, and particle expressions. Non-dynamic animation is motion created by keys, motion paths, non-particle shape expressions, deformers, and constraints unrelated to rigid bodies.

To set the number of particles per click

1. In the Number of Particles box, enter the number of particles you want to create per mouse click and press Enter (Windows and Linux) or Return (Mac OS X).
2. If you choose a number greater than 1, you can distribute particles randomly in a spherical region where you click. To choose the spherical region, set Maximum Radius to a value greater than 0.

To sketch a continuous curve of particles

You can drag the mouse to sketch a continuous stream of particles.

1. Set the Number of Particles to 1.
2. Turn on Sketch Particles.
3. Set the Sketch Interval value.

This sets the pixel spacing between particles. A value of 0 gives you nearly a solid line of pixels. The higher the value, the more space between the pixels.

4. Drag the mouse in the workspace.
5. Release the mouse button and drag in another location, if desired.
6. Press Enter (Windows and Linux) or Return (Mac OS X).

The sketched particles are a single particle object.

To create a 2D grid of particles by clicking in the workspace

1. Turn on Create Particle Grid.
2. Set the Particle Spacing value.

This sets the spacing (in units) between particles in the grid.

3. Turn on Placement with cursor.
4. Click to place the left corner of the grid; click again to place the upper right corner of the grid.
5. Press Enter (Windows and Linux) or Return (Mac OS X) to create the grid.

To create a 3D grid of particles by clicking in the workspace

1. Turn on Create Particle Grid.
2. Select Placement with cursor, if it is not already selected.
3. Set the Particle Spacing value.

This sets the spacing (in units) between particles in the grid.

4. In the perspective view, click the left mouse button at the lower left and upper right corners to specify the X and Z grid dimensions of the base or top of the 3D grid—don’t press Enter (Windows and Linux) or Return (Mac OS X) yet.
5. Move the cursor into the front view or side view. Press the Insert (Windows and Linux) or Home (Mac OS X) key to enter edit mode.
6. Drag either the left or right point up or down to create the height of the grid. Do not drag both. To constrain placement, hold Shift down as you drag.
7. Press Enter or Return.

To create a 2D or 3D grid by entering values

1. Turn on Create Particle Grid.
2. Set the Particle Spacing value.
3. Turn on Placement with textfields.
4. For the Minimum Corner, enter the coordinates of the lower left corner. For the Maximum, enter the coordinates of the upper right corner.
5. Move the pointer into the workspace and press Enter (Windows and Linux) or Return (Mac OS X) to create the grid.