PI - Thinking Particles

Once the particles have been loaded they will be connected to Cinema 4D's Thinking Particles system. This connection allows rendering of the particles as volumetric clouds with Pyro Cluster, their tracking with MoGraph, or processing in XPresso.

Please open

Simulation > Thinking Particles > Thinking Particles Settings...

Here you will find some basic information about the imported sequences and a method to separate them visually. The screenshot below has been taken from a scene with three “RealFlow Particle Loader” plugins named “RF_SplashEmitter”. The “Total” parameter displays the number of particles for all three emitters together. To show the data for a single emitter click on it in the “Particle Groups” area. You will also see the “Particle Group Settings” where you can define a colour or the way the particles should be displayed in the viewport. In the image below, different colours and “View Type” settings have been applied.

Emitters can be grouped: just right-click on “All” and choose “Add” to create a new group. Now drag and drop the appropriate emitters to this group and make your settings for the group or the individual particles.

You will see the number of particles of the group's emitters. Another advantage is that you can connect the group emitters to PyroCluster. Then, the grouped emitters will be rendered with exactly the same PyroCluster settings, while other emitters can be treated separately. Please follow this link to learn how to establish the connection between the “RealFlow Particle Importer” and PyroCluster.

There are other options to visualize the particles in the viewport, but you have to go to the plugin's “Display” panel in Cinema 4D's “Attributes Manager”. The default “Display Mode” is “TP View Type”. As long as this mode is active, all display features (colour, type) are controlled by the “Thinking Particles Settings...” dialogue.