Basic PI Functionality Questions

[Ed Hecht]

As much as I like Particle Illusion for adding finishing touches, I am now seeing how hamstrung it appears to be, for example, not being able to zoom in and out of the timeline…
But I thought I would ask here in case I am missing something (again, all vis a vis the PI GUI):
1) In a keyframed sequence, is there no way to swap out the emitter, something akin to After Effects’ Alt+Shift drag technique? It seems unfathomable that one would have to manually recreate a keyframe series…
2) Alternately, is there no way to copy/paste keyframes and/or properties from one emitter to another?
Still a great program. Glad it’s still alive and kicking. TIA

[Ed Hecht]

I am using PI inside BCC 2020, btw.

[Alan Lorence]

You are feeling the same pain points as I am. To me the graph window is almost unusable — if I need exact values I just jump to the key frame then adjust the value as needed. That being said, graph window improvements is on the list.

pI3 had a “Replace Emitter” function, and we’re planning on adding it in PI, but it’s not there yet. I know your thought process because you looked for the next best thing: copy and paste of keyframes or something similar. Sadly that’s not possible yet either.

Be patient, we’re getting to all of this. There are so many details to implement, while adding new things too. If you want to get on the beta test for PI and the rest of BCC, send me an email.

Alan.

………………..
Alan Lorence
Product Manager
BorisFX

[Ed Hecht]

I figured as much. Thanks, Alan. Looks like I’ll need to resort to some sort of combo of PI and Particular for now, despite the emitters of the former being vastly superior to the latter.
I’ve been a PI user since about 2005. Thanks for all your years of work and dedication (and support!!!) for this great application. You are a true standout in the VFX world.