Create particles

The Particle Tool lets you create and position particles individually or in grids or spherical regions. By default, the Particle Tool creates particles individually, one particle per mouse click. To change the tool options, see Set the Particle Tool options.

NoteUnless otherwise noted, the directions in this book for making menu selections assume you’ve already selected the Dynamics menu set. Also, this book describes how to edit attributes of objects only with the Attribute Editor. You can also set many of the attributes with the Channel Box or Attribute Spreadsheet. See Basics for details.

To create particles

Select Particles > Particle Tool or click .
Click the positions where you want to place the particles.
Press (Windows and Linux) or (Mac OS X).
This creates a new particle object consisting of the particles you positioned.

TipA particle object is not complete until you press (Windows and Linux) or (Mac OS X). You cannot use Edit > Undo to undo the entire object until you press or .
If you want to undo individual particles before you press or , use the (Windows and Linux) or (Mac OS X) key to remove the particles in the reverse order of creation. Alternatively, you can press the (Windows and Linux) or (Mac OS X) key to go into editing mode, then click any particle and press or . Press or to leave editing mode.

You can also change the position of one or more particles before you press or . Press the or key then drag the particle. Press or to complete the particle object.

Set the Particle Tool options

When you create a particle object, you can set several tool options in the Particle Tool Settings window. When you change these settings, it affects only particle objects you create after the change.

After you create the object, you can change some tool options and set additional attributes (see Edit particle attributes).

To set the Particle Tool options

Select Particles > Particle Tool > to display the options window.
Set the options as described in the following procedures.

To name the particle object

Enter a name in the Particle Name box.
The name helps you identify the object in the Outliner. If you don’t enter a name, the particle object receives a default name such as particle1.

Assign nParticles to a new or existing solver

If you are creating nParticles, you can assign the nParticle object to a new solver, or a different existing solver within your scene. Because nParticle objects can only interact with other Nucleus objects (nParticles, nCloth, and passive objects) when sharing the same Maya Nucleus solver, you may want to move objects from one solver to another or separate objects to their own solver.

To assign nParticles to a new or existing solver

From the solver list, select New Solver, or an existing solver.
If you select New Solver, Maya creates a new Maya Nucleus Solver, which appears in the Attribute Editor, and assigns the selected object(s) to it.

If you select an existing solver, Maya assigns the selected object(s) to it.

To adjust frame-to-frame dynamic velocity of moving particles

Set the Conserve attribute to influence the motion of particles whose velocity and acceleration attributes are controlled by dynamic effects.

See Adjust frame-to-frame velocity conservation.

NoteThe terms dynamics and dynamic animation refer to animation motion created by fields, emission, collisions, springs, goals, and particle expressions. Non-dynamic animation is motion created by keys, motion paths, non-particle shape expressions, deformers, and constraints unrelated to rigid bodies.

To set the number of particles per click

In the Number of Particles box, enter the number of particles you want to create per mouse click and press (Windows and Linux) or (Mac OS X).
If you choose a number greater than 1, you can distribute particles randomly in a spherical region where you click. To choose the spherical region, set Maximum Radius to a value greater than 0.

To sketch a continuous curve of particles

Set the Number of Particles to 1.
Turn on Sketch Particles.
Set the Sketch Interval value.
This sets the pixel spacing between particles. A value of 0 gives you nearly a solid line of pixels. The higher the value, the more space between the pixels.
Drag the mouse in the workspace.
Release the mouse button and drag in another location, if desired.
Press (Windows and Linux) or (Mac OS X).
The sketched particles are a single particle object.

To create a 2D grid of particles by clicking in the workspace

Turn on Create Particle Grid.
Set the Particle Spacing value.
This sets the spacing (in units) between particles in the grid.
Turn on Placement with cursor.
Click to place the left corner of the grid; click again to place the upper right corner of the grid.
Press (Windows and Linux) or (Mac OS X) to create the grid.

To create a 3D grid of particles by clicking in the workspace

Turn on Create Particle Grid.
Select Placement with cursor, if it is not already selected.
Set the Particle Spacing value.
This sets the spacing (in units) between particles in the grid.
In the perspective view, click the left mouse button at the lower left and upper right corners to specify the X and Z grid dimensions of the base or top of the 3D grid—don’t press (Windows and Linux) or (Mac OS X) yet.
Move the cursor into the front view or side view. Press the (Windows and Linux) or (Mac OS X) key to enter edit mode.
Drag either the left or right point up or down to create the height of the grid. Do not drag both. To constrain placement, hold Shift down as you drag.
Press or .

To create a 2D or 3D grid by entering values

Turn on Create Particle Grid.
Set the Particle Spacing value.
Turn on Placement with text fields.
For the Minimum Corner, enter the coordinates of the lower left corner. For the Maximum, enter the coordinates of the upper right corner.
Move the pointer into the workspace and press (Windows and Linux) or (Mac OS X) to create the grid.