Align on Velocity

 
 
 

This compound orients particles in the direction of their movement (velocity). This is useful for setting up anything that needs a specific orientation relative to its movement, such as birds, arrows, or objects following along a curve.

Plug this compound's Execute output into a Port on the ICETree node.

For more information, see Aligning Particles along a Velocity Vector [ICE Particle Simulations].

Tasks: Particles/Orientation

Output Ports: Execute

Local Vector

The vector that is used to align the particles. The Y axis is typically the vector that points along the length of the particle, depending on the shape of the particle. If you change your particle shape to a cone, you can see that the Y axis is the direction of the cone point. The X and Y axes are the sideways axes.

Weight

Defines how much the particle is rotated each frame. The value is a ratio, so if you set it to 1.0, the particle is immediately aligned. If you set this value to 0.1, the particle rotates by 10% each frame.

Limit Rotational Velocity

Toggles the limiting of the rotational velocity to the value you specify for the Max Rotational Velocity.

Turn this option off so that there are no restrictions to the particle's rotational velocity.

Max Rotational Velocity

This is the maximum rotational velocity value that the particles can reach. This helps prevent particles from spinning too much when they are going very fast.