-
Moving Particular Box Emitter to Layer Emitter…goes haywire?
Hi CC,
The more I use Particular the more I begin to realize it’s a very composition specific piece of software. The scale of a composition can easily determine the contents and the cause and effects of items within.
I have a box emitter comp that is really close to what I want. I then try to attach it to a layer for emitting. I pre-compose the layer and attach it and the whole effect changes. So much that I feel like I might as well do it over.
What the best approach or steps for trying to transfer a desired affect from one stage element to another? I’m guessing it has to do with size but I’m a bit in a daze as to what the best process is.
Thanks for reading. 🙂
-
4 Replies
-
changes to the emitter will effect any particle system, right? i mean if you change the emitter from box to point or directional, it will look very different. so by changing the emitter to a layer emitter you should expect the same.
layer emitters only emit particles from opaque areas of the layer (transparent areas don’t emit particles), so that may be something that you weren’t expecting.
generally you’d be choosing an emitter type that would serve the purpose you need, and that would be one of the earlier decisions made.
if you were adapting a preset or something, for the most part changes to the emitter type would mostly involve only needing to change other settings for the emitter (like birth rate, and such), but not so much for the particle or physics settings.
say you were adapting a box emitter that was 1280x720x100 to a layer emitter that only had a quarter of the frame as opaque, since the particles are only emitted from the solid areas, you would get one quarter of the number of particles. so, multiplying the birthrate by 4 may get you close to what you were expecting.
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
I see, so it’s just something that needs serious consideration early on in the development of the overall effect, right?
Like similar in figuring out how many people are going to be on stage, you need to figure out how big the stage is going to be. If you change the shape or size of the stage not only does this affect blocking, the art department is going to be really upset. That’s the theory, correct?
-
yeah, that’s basically it…
the kind of particle effect that you were looking for would start to define the kind of emitter that you would want… a point might be fine for a basic explosion, where directional would be well suited for a fountain, a layer emitter would be good for particles flying out of a logo, etc…
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
Cool, it helps knowing what you don’t know.
Sounds like I need to understand the scale of my project, composition and THEN get my objects set-up and just get more familiar with control ratios and how they directly or inversely affect each other in the emission.
I wish I could draw out a diagram of some kind to remind myself the relationships of Emitter, Particle, and Physics controls. I’ve already printed out the manual. Now I need to figure out how these controls pair up.
Starting out it’s a little difficult understanding the difference between emitter velocity, physics, and wind velocity, but it’s in the manual. Now I just need to cross reference.
Thanks Kevin!
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up