“Object” is a volume emitter. Emitters define the point of particle creation in 3D space, while the particles are part of the "Fluid" container. Emitters can be scaled, rotated, and translated like objects.
RealFlow Scene
In RealFlow | Maya it is possible to use multiple "Scene" trees in the same project. To link the emitter to a "Scene" node right click on the field, click on "Set Scene" and choose an entry from the appearing list.
Fluid
To link the emitter to a "Fluid" right click on the field, click on "Set Fluid" and choose a fluid container from the appearing list. An emitter can be connected to one fluid container only.
To learn more about how to link RealFlow scene elements and make them interact take a look at the → "Manual Linking" page with examples.
Emitter Type
Toggle the emitter's type with this drop-down menu. The following parameters and the viewport representation will be updated according to your selection. Bear in mind that type changes will change the emitter's and fluid's behaviour completely.
Body
You can drag any closed object to this field to emit particles from its polygons or vertices, but only one node per emitter is allowed
:.
When the body's polygons are very small it might happen that you will not get any particle emission. To fix this, increase the "Fluid" container's "Resolution" to create more particles. You may need very high settings (
>100 or more).
Speed
Here the particles' initial speed is defined in metres per second. Higher values will generate more particles per frame. The number of emitted particles also depends on the fluid's “Resolution” settings. A value of 0.0 stops the emission of particles.
Randomness
Use this option to avoid patterns and regular structures by displacing the particles randomly at creation time. The value ranges from 0 to 50.
Distance Threshold
Here you determine how far away the particles should be from the object’s surface during birth.
Jittering
By default, the emitter creates a regular particle distribution and this leads to patterns. “Jittering” adds random displacement to the particles. The allowed values range between 0.0 and 1.0 for maximum randomness.
Parent Velocity
The emission object can be animated, and RealFlow | Maya takes a certain amount of the object's velocity and transfers it to the particles during the state of creation.
Smooth Normals
This function should be used when the emission appears to random or fuzzy.
TextureFaces
Choose this option if you want to emit from the object's polygons.
Vertices
Choose this option if you want to emit from the object's vertices.
Map
With a texture it is possible to create particles in certain areas on the object's surface:
- Particles are only created in areas with texture values greater than 0.
- Objects require emitter uses UVWs only.
- 3ds Max's built-in procedural shaders (e.g. noise) are supported
EmissionType
Choose, if you want to emit from the object's vertices or polygons.