What's New in Director 8.5 > Working with Models and Model Resources > Primitives > Particle system properties

 

Particle system properties

Particle systems are unique among model resources in that they include animation by default. Particle systems, whose type is #particle, can have an almost infinite variety of appearances, simulating fire, smoke, running water, and other streaming or bursting effects.

Use these properties to work with particle systems:

Property

Access

Description

Value Range

lifetime

Get and set

Lifetime of all particles emitted, in milliseconds.

Positive integer. The default is 10.000 ms.

colorRange.end

Get and set

Color value of a particle at the end of its life.

Any color value. The default is rgb(255, 255, 255).

colorRange.start

Get and set

Color value of a particle at the start of its life.

Any color value. The default is rgb(255, 255, 255).

tweenMode

Get and set

The variation of a particle's color throughout its life. The change can be based on either velocity or age.

#velocity:Alter particle color between colorRange.start and colorRange.end based on velocity.

#age:

Alter particle color between colorRange.start and colorRange.end based on the particle's lifetime.

sizeRange.start

Get and set

The size of a particle at the start of its life.

Positive integer. The default is 1.

sizeRange.end

Get and set

Size of a particle at the end of its life. The size is linearly interpolated between startSize and endSize.

Positive integer. The default is 1.

blendRange.start

Get and set

Opacity of a particle at the start of its life.

Any value between 0.0 and 100.0.

blendRange.end

Get and set

Opacity of a particle at the end of its life.

Any value between 0.0 and 100.0.

texture

Get and set

Texture to use when drawing each particle. The default is void.

Texture object.

emitter.numParticles

Get and set

Number of particles in a burst or stream.

Positive integer. The default is 1000.

emitter.mode

Get and set

Mode in which particles are emitted.

#burst:

All particles emitted at once.

#stream:

X particles emitted per frame with X equalling

emitter.numParticles/(lifetime*milliseconds PerFrame).

Note:

milliseconds PerFrame is the time elapsed between rendered frames.

emitter.loop

Get and set

TRUE (1) or FALSE (0) value indicating whether particles die (FALSE) or are recycled (TRUE).

0 or 1.

emitter.direction

Get and set

Vector of original emission. At 1,0,0, the default, particles are emitted randomly over a sphere.

Any vector.

emitter.region

Get and set

Point, line, or region from which particles are emitted.

Possible values:

single vector for point source

two vectors for line segment

four vectors for quadrilateral

emitter.

distribution

Get and set

Half the angle over which particles are distributed, measured from the top of the screen.

0 to 180.

emitter.path

Get and set

Vector positions that define the path the particles follow.

Vector list.

emitter.pathStrength

Get and set

Degree to which particles remain on a path.

Percentage between 0.0 and 100.0.

emitter.minSpeed

Get and set

Minimum emission speed. (Particles are emitted at random speeds between a minimum and a maximum.)

Settable value. The default is 1.0.

emitter.maxSpeed

Get and set

Maximum emission speed. (Particles are emitted at random speeds between a minimum and a maximum.)

Settable value. The default is 1.0.

emitter.drag

Get and set

A drag value affecting simulation at each animation step.

Percentage between 0.0 and 100.0.

emitter.gravity

Get and set

Vector representing simulated gravity. The vector's length indicates its strength.

Any vector.

emitter.wind

Get and set

A vector representing simulated wind pushing particles in a given direction. The vector's length indicates its strength.

Any vector.