Particle System Usage

You create particle systems when you want to model an object or effect that can best be described as a large collection of similar objects behaving in a similar fashion. Obvious examples of such effects include rain and snow, but other equally valid examples include water, smoke, ants, and even crowds of people.

On the Create panel, click Spray, Snow, Super Spray, Blizzard, PArray, or PCloud to create a particle system. Spray and Snow exist primarily for compatibility with earlier releases of 3ds Max, and are superseded by Super Spray and Blizzard.

To create a particle system, first choose Create menu Particles Spray or Snow.

These are the basic steps for creating a particle system:

Create a particle emitter. All particle systems require an emitter. Some particle systems use the particle system icon as the emitter while others use an object you select from the scene as the emitter.
Determine the number of particles. You set parameters such as birth rate and life span to control how many particles can exist at any given time.
Set particle shape and size. You can select from many standard particle types (including metaballs) or you can select an object to be emitted as a particle.
Set initial particle motion. You can set the speed, direction, rotation, and randomness of particles as they leave the emitter. Particles can also be affected by animation of the emitter.
Modify particle motion. You can further modify the motion of particles after they leave the emitter by binding the particle system to a space warp in the Forces group, such as Path Follow, or make them bounce off a deflector in the Deflectors space warp group, such as UDeflector.
ImportantWhen you use forces and deflectors together, always bind the forces before the deflectors.

TipIf the particles don't follow the emitter after it's moved, then change any Path Follow parameter. The motion will be applied to the particles.

Rain and Snow

Create rain and snow using Super Spray and Blizzard. These particle systems are optimized for droplet (Super Spray) and tumbling flake (Blizzard) effects. Add space warps such as Wind to create spring rains or winter storms.

Bubbles

Create bubbles by using the Bubble Motion options of Super Spray. If you require good rendering speed, consider using constant or tetra particles. If you require bubble detail, consider using opacity-mapped facing particles, instanced spheres, or metaparticles.

Flowing Water

You generate flowing liquid effects by setting Super Spray to generate closely packed metaparticles. The metaparticles blob together forming a stream. Add a Path Follow space warp to send the stream down a trough.

Explosions

Particle Array (PArray) uses another object as its particle emitter. You can set the particle type to use fragments of the emitter object to simulate the object exploding.

Volume Effects

Particle Cloud (PCloud) constrains its particles within a specified volume. You can use Particle Cloud to generate bubbles in a glass of soda, or bees buzzing inside a jar.

Crowds

Super Spray, Blizzard, Particle Array, and Particle Cloud can use instanced geometry as their particle type. You can create a stream of ants, a flock of birds, or a cloud of dandelion seeds using instanced geometry particles.

Creating a Particle Emitter
After you choose a particle system type to add, you create the particle system icon in the scene. The icon serves different purposes depending on the type of particle system.
Using Materials with Particle Array
There are a few different options for applying a material to a particle system.
Achieving Particle Motion Blur
Particle motion blur is actually the result of varying the opacity and the length of particles based on their speed. To accomplish this requires coordination between material assignment and the settings in the particle systems.
Using Mapped Materials with Particle Systems
Mapped materials affect particles differently, depending on the source of the material.
Using Multi/Sub-Object Materials with Particle Systems
If the assigned material is a Multi/Sub-Object material, the source of the material affects how particles are rendered.
Using Spawned Particles
The examples in this topic demonstrate a very simple spawning using the Super Spray particle system.
Using Interparticle Collision
You can set up particles to detect collisions with each other. This can be useful when the particles are meant to model solid objects such as marbles.

Topics in this section