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Manual 1.0 Manual 0.9.23
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Particles

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Updated: 15 Jan 2025

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Particle nodes are nodes used in a particles system. This system starts with a Particle Root Node, and is built out with Emitter, Affector and Shader nodes, before finally being rendered to the camera with a Renderer node.

The Particle Root Node contains the particles themselves: their positions, velocities, colours and so on, in a pool waiting to be used. The number of particles in the pool is set by the Max Particle Count attribute on the root node. Particle Emitters take particles from the pool and bring them to life. Particle Affectors make them move; Particle Rendering Nodes control how particles are rendered to screen. When particles die they are returned to the pool until they are emitted again. It is possible that not all the particles in the pool are alive at any time. Even particles that are not currently alive in the pool carry some performance and memory overhead, so it is recommended that the maximum number of particles on the Particle Root node is limited to the amount actually needed by the emitters.

Multiple Particle Emitters may exist under one Particle Root node. Particle Affectors and Rendering nodes may be connected to the Particle Root directly, making them work on every particle under the root node; or they may be connected to individual Emitters, making them only affect the particles emitted by that Emitter.

Particles are generally hooked into the Root node, although they can be applied to any node - they will still appear in the scene as long as there is a path to a Root node.

Aside from the Particle Bounding Box, Particle Event and Particle Root, these nodes are split into 4 groups:

  • Affectors, these affect the movement of the particles once they are emitted.
  • Emitters, these emit particles based on different shapes or models.
  • Rendering, render particles as different shapes or objects.
  • Shading, change the colours of the particles based on various parameters.

Affectors

Particle Affector nodes modify particle motion.

Angled Motion AffectorAngled Motion Affector

Moves particles via a noise field, with directions that are constrained to an angle.

Curl Noise Fluid AffectorCurl Noise Fluid Affector

Applies curl noise velocities to Particles.

Depth Image Collision AffectorDepth Image Collision Affector

Allows particles to collide with depth camera data.

Explode AffectorExplode Affector

Applies an explosive force to particles at birth.

Field AffectorField Affector

Allows particles to be affector by froces from a field.

Flocking AffectorFlocking Affector

Simulates flocking behaviour with particles.

Fluid FLIP AffectorFluid FLIP Affector

Simulates fluid dynamics on Particles with FLIP simulations.

Fluid MPM AffectorFluid MPM Affector

Simulates fluid dynamics on Particles with an MLS-MPM simulation.

Fluid SPH AffectorFluid SPH Affector

Simulates fluid dynamics on Particles with an SPH simulation.

Force AffectorForce Affector

Applies a force to particles.

Image AffectorImage Affector

Attract or repel particles from an image.

Kill Box AffectorKill Box Affector

Remove particles from inside or outside a zone.

Mesh AttractorMesh Attractor

This node is used to attract or repel particles from the surface of a given 3D object, affect them by the velocity of the mesh, or make them flow along the surface of a mesh.

Mesh Collision AffectorMesh Collision Affector

Allows Particles to collide with Meshes.

Mesh Distance Field AffectorMesh Distance Field Affector

Apply forces to particles from mesh surfaces.

Particle-Particle Collision AffectorParticle-Particle Collision Affector

Allows particles to collide with each other.

Points AffectorPoints Affector

Uses points sources to disturb the particles.

Primitive AffectorPrimitive Affector

Apply forces to particles from primitive shapes.

Primitive Collision AffectorPrimitive Collision Affector

Allows particle collisions with simple 3D primitives.

Procedural AffectorProcedural Affector

Allows particles to interact with procedurals.

Rigid Body Collision AffectorRigid Body Collision Affector

Allows particle collisions with active rigid bodies.

Scale AffectorScale Affector

Apply changes to the scale of particles.

Shockwave AffectorShockwave Affector

Apply a shockwave through particles.

Spline AttractorSpline Attractor

Attracts particles towards a spline.

Spring AffectorSpring Affector

Applies a spring simulation on particles.

Turbulence AffectorTurbulence Affector

Applies turbulence to particles.

Velocity AffectorVelocity Affector

Applies a constant velocity to particles.

Vortex AffectorVortex Affector

Applies a rotational velocity to particles.

World Collision AffectorWorld Collision Affector

Allows particle collisions with all 3D object in the scene.

Emitters

Emitter nodes spawn particles that can be manipulated in a particles system.

Field EmitterField Emitter

Emit particles from a Field system.

Image EmitterImage Emitter

Emit particles from an image.

Mesh EmitterMesh Emitter

Emit particles from a mesh.

Particle CacheParticle Cache

Caches a particle system for potentially faster and repeatable results.

Primitive EmitterPrimitive Emitter

Emit particles from a primitive shape.

Procedural EmitterProcedural Emitter

Emit particles from a Procedural system.

Screen EmitterScreen Emitter

Emit particles from objects within the screen space.

Spline EmitterSpline Emitter

Emits particles from a spline.

Trail EmitterTrail Emitter

Emits particles from other particles.

Video Feature EmitterVideo Feature Emitter

Emits particles from feature points of a video.

Volume EmitterVolume Emitter

Emit particles that fill the volume of a mesh.

Rendering

Rendering nodes visualise the particles by spawning images, meshes or trails.

Dot Matrix RendererDot Matrix Renderer

Renders particles as a dot-matrix in screen space.

Geometry Connection RendererGeometry Connection Renderer

Renders particles as connected geometry and lines.

Gradient 2D RendererGradient 2D Renderer

This node generates a 2D Gradient based on the positions and colours of active particles.

Line Connection RendererLine Connection Renderer

Renders lines between nearby particles.

Line RendererLine Renderer

Renders lines between pairs of particles.

Particles To Point GeometryParticles To Point Geometry

Renders particles as raytraced spheres.

Point RendererPoint Renderer

Renders a each particle as a sprite.

Render Particles To SurfacesRender Particles To Surfaces

Renders particles onto nearby Meshes.

Trail RendererTrail Renderer

Renders trails which follow the path of particles.

Volume RendererVolume Renderer

Renders particles as a density volume.

Shading

Shading nodes change the colour or position of the particles in various ways.

Attribute ShadingAttribute Shading

Shades particles based on their current properties.

Density ShadingDensity Shading

Shades particles by their density.

Displace To ShapeDisplace To Shape

Displaces a particle to a primitive shape.

Distance ShadingDistance Shading

Shades particles based on their distance from a point.

Image DisplacementImage Displacement

Displaces particles based on an image.

Image ShadingImage Shading

Shades particles based on an image.

Keyed ColourKeyed Colour

shades particles based on a keyframe animated colour.

Life Colour ShadingLife Colour Shading

Shades particles over their life span.

LightingLighting

Shades particles based on the area of effect from lights.

Noise ShadingNoise Shading

Shades particles using fractal noise.

Volume Shadow ShadingVolume Shadow Shading

Light particles using shadow volumes.

Voxel Cone ShadingVoxel Cone Shading

Light particles using voxel cone shading.

Weights

TODO Section Description

Attribute WeightAttribute Weight

Generates weight values using attributes of the particle, such as its velocity.

Mesh Attribute WeightMesh Attribute Weight

Generates weight values using attributes sampled from a mesh, at the closest point on the mesh to the particle.

Noise WeightNoise Weight

Generates weight values using noise functions.

Nodes

Particle Bounding BoxParticle Bounding Box

Generates a bounding box from the bounds of a particle system.

Particle EventParticle Event

Modify particles using a dynamic per particle event.

Particle RootParticle Root

The root node for a Particle system.