SP - Object

Owned by thomas (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 17 Aug, 2016
3 min read

You can use any triangulated object with this emitter. The outside faces of the object will be used to create the particles along the polygons' normals. If the normals point to the inside the object can be filled.

 

 

Object

This function opens a node browser to select any available object from a list. You can only choose one object at a time. 

Parent velocity

The emission object can be animated or dynamic-driven. RealFlow takes a certain amount of the object's velocity and transfers it to the particles during the state of creation.

Distance threshold

Here you can determine how far away the particles should be from the object’s surface during birth. The dimension of this value is measured in metres.

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.

Speed

Here the particles' initial speed is defined in metres per second. Higher values will generate more particles per frame. Faster particles act with stronger forces on other particles or objects. The number of emitted particles also depends on the emitter's “Resolution” settings. A value of 0.0 → stops the emission of particles.

The chessboard indicates that you can use bitmaps with this emitter:

  • Right-click on the value and choose “Load texture” from the context menu.
  • A new window will open with → parameters for loading and adjusting the map.
  • Only the white pixels will emit particles.
  • When you have a texture loaded, the numerical value will be totally ignored.
  • If you want to use the numerical value again, right-click and choose “Unload texture”.
Randomness

You can randomly vary the speed by entering any positive value, but with high values (> 3.0) the particles might explode.

Smooth normals

This function should be used when the emission appears to random or fuzzy.

Select Faces

A click on this button activates RealFlow's edit mode, indicated by a yellow frame around the viewport. Now it is possible to select polygons:

  • Click on the desired face.
  • Multiple selections are supported by pressing the Shift key.
  • You can deselect faces by clicking on them with the pressed Ctrl/Cmd key.
  • Another way is to click and drag the mouse over the desired area.
  • “Select Faces” does not recognize hidden polygons by default. To restrict the selection to visible polygons activate Edit > Back culled selection.

Once you are satisfied with your selection, deactivate “Select Faces” to confirm your choice. When the object's polygons are very small you have to increase the emitter's "Resolution" value to trigger the emission of particles.

Select Vertex

A click on this button activates RealFlow's edit mode, indicated by a yellow frame around the viewport:

  • Click on the desired vertex.
  • Multiple selections are supported by pressing the Shift key.
  • You can deselect points by clicking on them with the pressed Ctrl/Cmd key.
  • Another way is to click and drag the mouse over the desired area.
  • Please note that “Select Vertex” does not recognize hidden points by default. To restrict the selection to visible points, please activate Edit > Back culled selection.

Once you are satisfied with your selection, deactivate “Select Vertex” to confirm your choice.

Clear Selection

You can clear the entire polygon and/or vertex selection with a click on this button.