Particle Set Settings

Particle Set Settings and Animation

This section describes particle set settings and animation.

Size of working memory at runtime

Working memory at runtime is a feature that allocates the amount of memory that can be used by the particle set in question and applies limitations so that unneeded memory is not used based on the number of particles to be emitted.

This can be set for each particle set.

The Calculate automatically option on the Particle Set panel of CreativeStudio can be used to calculate this value.

Caution:
Currently, accurate display can be confirmed only on PARTNER_CTR Debugger.

Specify the same value as the maximum number of displayed particles for the memory size.

This example is for when the number of displayed particles is 4 and the size of working memory at runtime is also set to 4.

Because the allocated memory size is 4, any particles beyond that cannot be emitted.

As a result, the number of displayed particles may be 4 or 2.

Sample Configuration
  • Emitter Settings
    • Emission volume: 2
    • Emission Interval: 50
  • Particle Set Settings
    • Size of working memory at runtime: 4
    • Lifetime: 100
When the size of working memory at runtime is 4

Specify a value for the memory size where the number of particles that overflow memory is added to the maximum number of displayed particles

This example is for when the number of displayed particles is 4 and the size of working memory at runtime is set to 6.

The amount of memory allocated is given by adding the number of particles that overflow memory (2) to the number of displayed particles (4).

As a result, the number of displayed particles will be maintained at 4.

Sample Configuration
  • Emitter Settings
    • Emission volume: 2
    • Emission Interval: 50
  • Particle Set Settings
    • Size of working memory at runtime: 6
    • Lifetime: 100
When the size of working memory at runtime is 6

Caution:
Particle emission can be made to appear intermittent by setting a value lower than the actual emission volume.
Note, however, that this cannot be used as an expression because values change depending on memory usage.

Particle Lifetime

This specifies the particle lifetime as a number of frames.

Random Particle Lifetime

You can specify a random particle lifetime. Specify a maximum and minimum value for the particle lifetime.

Formula

Minimum + Random Value (Maximum - Minimum)

Example

For a minimum value of 100 and a maximum value of 200, this equation would be 100 + Random Value (200 - 100), producing particle lifetimes between 100 and 200.

Transformation Animation

Animations that scale and rotate a particle are represented by moving the location of the four vertices of a rectangle.

The figure below shows an example changing the horizontal (X-axis) scale of a particle by 2x.

Transformation Animation

Center Offset

The center can be changed when performing scale or rotation by applying an offest from the center of a particle.

The following figure shows operations when making four locations other than the model's center (left, right, up and down) as the center using an example in which the scale and rotation values are varied in the positive direction.

Transform Center

Scale (Extended)

Use Scale (extended) when an Amplitude value is set in the scale's standard values and Overwrite Previous Value is set for Animation.

The figure below depicts the flow of processes used to multiply the animation created using Overwrite previous value for the scale (extended) by the result when the amplitude has been set to the standard value for scale.

Scale (Extended)

Directional

The directional can be configured for particle rotation animations. Particle orientation can be controlled. The control method differs depending on the settings.

Speed

Particles are tilted in the direction having speed.
They are effected by animations that change according to speed.
The following figure is a conceptual image for when the directional setting is set to speed.

Directional Speed
Direction of movement from the previous frame

When determining the direction of motion for particles in the current frame, particles are tilted in the direction of motion by looking at their position in the immediately previous frame. They are effected by animations that change according to speed.
The following figure is a conceptual image for when the directional setting is set to Movement direction from the previous frame.

Directional - Movement direction from the previous frame

The figure below shows the effect on particle tilt for a spin animation changing in the direction of movement, where the Directional is set to the direction of movement from the previous frame.

Example of direction of movement from the previous frame

Caution:
The Directional shows no visible effect from the type of particle shape.
We recommend using together with either the polygon plane (XY) or the Y-axis billboard. (There is a proposal for a future release to transmit the rotational value at the time of child particle generation.)

Color and Alpha Animation

Particle effect color and alpha animations are represented by simultaneously changing the color and alpha of all four vertices of a rectangular polygon.

The figure below shows an example changing the particle vertex color from light blue to green, and the alpha from opaque to translucent.

Color and Alpha Animation

Texture Coordinate Animation

Animations changing the texture coordinates of a particle effect are represented by moving the UV coordinates of the four vertices of a rectangle.

The figure below shows an example changing the horizontal (texture coordinate U-axis) scale of a particle by 2x.

Texture Coordinate Animation

Caution:
For particle effects, 3ds Max is the only UV coordinate calculation method for the four vertices of a rectangular polygon.

For details on UV coordinate calculation methods, click here. (Under Construction)


CONFIDENTIAL