This sets the options when you create an emitter.
Sets the average rate at which particles are emitted per second. The rate is absolute, unless you turn on Scale Rate by Object Size, see below.
Note that emission occurs only if your animation plays two or more consecutive frames with the emitter rate set to a positive value.
If you want to see how many particles have been emitted, select the emitted particle object and examine the Count in the General Control section of the Attribute Editor.
Only available when the current Emitter Type is Surface, Curve, or Volume.
If you turn on this attribute, the size of the object emitting the particles affects the rate of particles emitted per frame. The larger the object, the greater the rate of emission. The attribute is off by default.
For surface emission, the rate is particles per centimeter of area per second. For example, a 2 cm by 2 cm plane has an area of 4 square cm. If the emission rate is 3, the plane emits roughly 12 particles each second. If you use inches or other units, Maya converts the units to centimeters to make the rate calculation.
For curve emission, the rate is particles per cm length per time unit. For example, a 4 cm curve with a rate of 3 emits roughly 12 particles per second.
If this attribute is turned off (the default), the emission rate is absolute, instead of relative to object size, which is how previous versions of Maya behave.
(NURBS Surface emitters only.) If you turn this on in the Emitter Options window (before you create the emitter), Maya adds parentU and parentV attributes to the particle shape and sets the needparentUV attribute to on. You can use parent UVs to drive the value of some other parameter such as color or opacity.
If you turn this on in the Attribute Editor or Channel Box (after you create the emitter). Maya sets the needParentUV attribute to on, it does not add the attributes.
Cycle Emission lets you restart the random number sequence of the emission. You can use it to create simple cycles for games work.
If you set it to Frame, the sequence is restarted after the number of frames you specify in Cycle Interval.
If you set it to None, the random number generator is not restarted.
Sets the emission direction relative to the emitter’s position and orientation. Available only for directional, curve, and volume emitters.
The original speed of particles emitted by a Directional emitter is equal to the Speed attribute of the emitter, which, by default, is 1 unit (cm) per second. The Direction X, Y and Z attributes do not affect the speed.
The original speed of particles emitted by an Omni emitter is 1 unit per second in whatever direction the particles are emitted, unless it’s been modified by the Speed Random attribute.
Sets a speed multiplier for the original emission speed of the emitted particles. You can enter a value of 0 or more. A value of 1 leaves the speed as is. A value of 0.5 reduces the speed by half. A value of 2 doubles the speed.
Speed doesn’t affect velocity resulting from expressions, fields, or other dynamics.
The Speed Random attribute lets you add randomness to your emission speeds without using expressions. If you set Speed Random to a positive value, the emitter generates random speeds for each particle. The Speed value is the mean speed; Speed Random defines the range of the speed variation.
In the Attribute Editor and the Create Emitter option window, attributes not applicable to a volume emitter are dimmed. However, the Channel Box does not support dimming. We recommend you use the Attribute Editor instead of the Channel Box to edit volume field attributes until you become familiar with the attributes that apply to each volume shape.
If you turn this attribute on, the emitted particles die when they exit the volume. Although this is a particle shape attribute, you can initially set it using the Emitter options window.
If you want to edit this attribute after you create the emitter, display the particle shape attributes in the Attribute Editor Volume Exit (under Emission Attributes).
The Volume Speed Attributes apply only to the initial velocity of the particles. To affect particles as they move through the volume, use the Volume Axis field (see Work with volume axis fields).
See Use a texture to color emission or scale the rate.
You can cause emitted particles to inherit the velocity of a moving emitter. Select the emitted particles and display the Attribute Editor. Set Inherit Factor greater than 0 to have the emitted particles inherit a decimal fraction of the emitter’s velocity. For example, 0.5 makes the emitted particles inherit half the emitter’s velocity.
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