Choose Layer > Add Layer > Add Particle Layer... to create a new Particle layer.
Choose Layer > Attach Layer > Attach Particle to active Layer... to attach a new Particle layer to the active layer.
The new Particle layer can be selected from the Layers listbox to make it the active layer.
With the particle layer you can create effects like fire, smoke, rain and snow.
Particles are rendered as 2D rectangular billboards.
Particles are rendered as 2D circle shaped billboards. This mode is very effective when using the Masked.fx effect.
Particles are rendered as cubes.
Particles are rendered as 3D spheres.
The path of the particles is rendered as a bended pipe. Use the Trail Length property to set the pipe length.
Particles are rendered as blocks.
The particles are rendered as 3D intermingling, blending blobs (metaballs). The blobs technique has problems rendering small particles that are scattered over a wide area, so for the best result use slow moving, big particles with a short lifetime.
Every particle is a 3D model. You can select the 3D model with the menu item Media > Change Model....
In this mode, the particle is not rotated.
In this mode, the particle rotation depends on its flight direction.
This is the position where the particles are being emitted.
The shape and size of the launch platform. Examples:
(0,0,0) | All particles are emitted from the same point |
(100,0,0) | The particles are emitted from a random point on a horizontal line. |
(0,100,0) | The particles are emitted from a random point on a vertical line. |
(100,100,0) | The particles are emitted from a random point on a plane. |
(100,100,100) | They are emitted from a random point in a box. |
The launch direction in angles (heading, pitch, roll). Examples:
(90,0,0) | To the right |
(90,90,0) | Upwards |
(90,180,0) | To the left |
(90,270,0) | Downwards |
(0,0,0) | Away from the camera |
(180,0,0) | Towards the camera |
The initial speed. Note that you can reverse the launch direction by using a negative speed.
This is the maximum deviation from the launch direction (heading, pitch, roll). Examples:
(0,0,0) | The launch direction is always the same. |
(10,0,0) | The heading of the launch direction has a maximum deviation of 10 degrees. |
(0,180,0) | The pitch of the launch direction has a maximum deviation of 180 degrees. |
(180,180,180) | The launch direction is completely random. |
The number of particles emitted per second.
The direction and size of the gravity field (horizontal, vertical, depth). Examples:
(0,0,0) | There is no gravity, the particles maintain their launch speed and direction. |
(0,-30,0) | The particles fall to the ground. |
(10,0,0) | There's a soft wind to the right. |
(60,0,0) | There's a strong wind to the right. |
The maximum age of the particles in seconds.
Just like humans, particles grow and shrink during their life. With the first slider you can set the size of the particles in the middle of their life. The second slider controls the size at the start and the third at the end of the particle's life.
This property scales the whole effect.
All particles have a random colour inbetween these two colours. Press <F3> for a standard colour dialog.
This determines the transparency level of the particles. 0 is completely opaque, 1 is completely transparent. If the particle layer is attached to another layer, the transparency of this layer is added to the transparency of the particle layer.
This determines the size of the glancing highlights.
This property allows you mix the particle colour with the colour of the parent layer. The particles takes over the colour of the parent layer when you use a value of 1.
If the Launch Colour Tolerance property is less than 1, particles are only emitted from pixels that match the launch colour, as set with the Launch Colour property. If the tolerance is less than zero, particles are only emitted from pixels that do not match the launch colour.
The rotation of the particle (heading, pitch, roll). When using a 3D model to render the particles, this is an offset because the particle models are always pointing towards their fly direction.
The rotation speed of the particles (heading, pitch, roll). For the 2D particles you might only want to use the roll (the third slider).
The length of the trail in particles. Note that a big trail slows down the framerate considerably.
This value determines the distance between the particles in the trail. A high density means a smaller distance.
When this property is not zero, the particles are placed on a grid.
With the Z-Bias property you can move the particles a bit closer to or further away from the camera. For example when attaching sparkles to a text layer, you want all the particles to be rendered in front of the text. You can do this with a negative Z-Bias value. But when attaching a glow effect you want all the particles to be rendered behind the text. You can achieve this by using a positve Z-bias value.
If this property is bigger than 0, the particles are attracted by this layer. Take a look at the Layers listbox to find the index of the target layer.
You can set the attraction power with the Gravity property. In this case only the size of the Gravity property is used. Its direction is ignored.