Particle Emitter

General

In the flag "Emitter" the settings for the emitter ("source of particle") are choosen, which concern the formation of the particles: The primary color, speed, direction, etc.

Number of particles

(The change of this setting will restart the system!)

This is the maximum number of particles which can "live" at the same time but it is not necessarily the number of existent particles at any time. This is dependend on to the created particles BY TIME and their endurance. The setting number of particle is a upper limit, the ressouces are only "reserved".

If the upper limit is reached, the emitter stops the creation of new particles until particles "die" and resources run clear. So an emitter can be configured, that it creates particles batch-wise.

New per time

New particles per time-unit. A time-unit takes 15ms, so there are 66 of them per second. If you fill in a 1 in this field, 66 particles per second will be created. If an endurance of 66 time-units is configured, you get a particle-system with 66 particles at any time.

Type of emitter

There are two types of emitters: Point- and space-emitter.

Left figure: Point-emitter, Right figure: Space-emitter

• Point-emitter: All particles will be created inside this point. From there they will be sent into the opening-volume of the set direction.
• Space-emitter: The particle is created at a random point inside the space. The opening-volume and the direction start at this point.

Enlargement

(only for type of emitter space)

Defines the enlargement of the area where the particles are created. The three axes are set as you see it on the picture right hand. X- and Y-axis are in the screen-layer and Z shows to the monitor.

If the enlargement of one of the axis is set to 0, a surface is created as an emitter. If two enlargements are set to 0 a straight line will be created inside the area. If all enlargements are set to 0 a point-emitter is created. It's easier to do with the type of emitter point-emitter.

Handling of the input field for numbers with decimal places The enlargement of an emitter and many other variables will be set by this special input field. These input fields are handled with the mouse because handling with the keyboard would be too complicated. Left mouseclick inside an area of the input field increases the number. Left mouseclick on the tens column would increase the numerical value by 10. Right mouseclick decreases the value of the number Mouse wheel up and down increases/decreases the value of the number at this position.

Position

(of the emitter)

Sets the position of the emitter inside the area. Adjustment of the coordinate axis like TODO

Opening Angle

see Basics: Opening Angle

Direction angle

see Direction angle