3D Compositing with Action > Action: The Particle System >
Using Particle Presets

A number of particle presets are included in Action, such as a fog effect to add to your scene. These presets can also help you learn how the particle system works. The presets are divided into a number of categories and are easily added to your scene from the Action node bin.

To add a particle preset:

1. Do one of the following:
   - Drag the Presets node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
   - Double-click the Presets node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in this manner.

     The file browser opens.

2. From the Preset Type box, select Particles.

   The Particle Preset file browser appears, pointing to the default location of the presets: usr/discreet/<product home>/particle_presets.

3. Optional: Enable Scale to Action Resolution to load the preset in the current Action resolution.
4. Optional: Select which rendering settings to enable or disable in the preset (Z-Buffer, Shading, Polygon Resolution, and Colour Clamping).
   NoteThese settings are enabled by default, and by disabling any of them, you may not see the intended results in the preset.
5. Navigate through the subfolders to select the particle preset you want to load. Hold Ctrl and click to select multiple presets.
   TipSwitch to Proxies view to see a visual representation of the presets.
6. Click Load.

   The particle preset is then appended to your Action scene.

   Some presets have .psd textures associated with them, and are added to the Media list and Desktop when the preset is loaded into Action. You should save these textures from the Desktop into an appropriate library.

For a listing and description of all available particle presets, see Particle Presets.