Properties
Here you will find the various properties that you want to give the new particles. Much of this is identical to the settings on the other Emitter objects. Unique here, however, are options to adopt the properties of the original particles for the new particles.
By default, this option ensures that the particles are not created with a lifetime limit, i.e., they are not automatically deleted again after a certain period of time. However, if you need the particles to disappear automatically, activate this option and use the following Expectation setting to define a lifetime limit. In any case, the lifespan can still be influenced after emission, e.g., via modifiers or a Destructor Force object.
This value, measured in frames, specifies the period of time after which the particles should be automatically deleted. This time period used applies from the moment a particle is created. The lifetime can also use a Variance that gets applied randomly per particle. In addition, the lifetime of the particles can be individually extended or shortened by modifiers even after emission.
This value given in frames can be used to randomly vary the life expectancy of the particles. This can result in an extension or shortening of the original Expectation by a maximum of the entered value for each particle. Like all variation values, this setting is also based on the Seed value of the emitter. A new Seed value therefore also results in a redistribution of the Variance for the length of the life span of the particles.
This percentage value controls the transfer of the Lifetime of the original particle. At 100%, the current lifetime Expectation of the decaying particle is completely adopted and the individual Lifetime settings on the Reproduce Emitter lose their effect.
This is the distance that the particles should travel within one second. This speed can be varied randomly for each particle via the Speed Variance or subsequently influenced via modifiers and forces.
This value represents the maximum change in velocity and can therefore be used to randomly reduce and increase particle velocities during emission. Like all variation values, this setting is also based on the Seed value of the emitter. A new Seed value therefore also results in a redistribution of the Speed Variance on the particles.
Use this setting to define the directions in which the particles start to move. The following options are available:
- Axis: Use separate buttons for the desired axis direction to select the discharge direction of the particles. The Space setting can also be used to select whether it should be the local axes of the original particle or the directions of the world axes, in which case the orientation of the particle in space no longer plays a role.
- Radial: Starting from the position of the original particle, the new particles are released evenly and radially in all directions.
- Random: The direction in which the particles are emitted is purely random.
- Target: You can define an object at whose position the directions of the particles are aimed.
- Custom: You can define any Direction vector that controls the direction in which the particles are emitted. This Vector is automatically normalized and therefore will not affect the speed of the particles. The direction can be interpreted either in the axis system of the original particle or globally.
When selecting Axis Direction, select the axis direction in which the particles are to be emitted. The following Space setting then defines whether axes of the Emitter or world axes are meant.
You can specify your own direction vector here if you select Custom Direction. By using the Space setting, this vector can be evaluated in the axis system of the decaying particle or also relative to the world axes.
The reference system can be selected here for the Axis, Radial and Custom Direction settings. With Local, the evaluation is carried out in the axis system of the Emitter; with Global, the world axes are used.
After selecting Direction Target, any object can be assigned here using drag & drop, to whose position the emission directions of the particles should be aimed.
A maximum deviation from the particle emission direction defined by Direction can be selected here.
This value controls the relationship between the direction varied by Spread and the original emission direction of the particles. The greater the Spread Falloff, the closer the emission angles of the particles return to their original direction. The greatest possible scattering of the particle flight directions is therefore obtained with a value of 0%.
This percentage value controls the transfer of the Speed of the original particle. At 100%, the current Speed of the decaying particle is completely adopted and the individual Speed settings on the Reproduce Emitter lose their effect.
Direction Inheritance[0..100%]
This percentage value controls the transfer of the flight direction of the original particle. At 100%, the current Direction of the decaying particle is completely adopted and the individual Direction settings on the Reproduce Emitter lose their effect.
Each particle contains a complete axis system and can represent not only a position, but also rotations and orientations. This is important so that, for example, a flock of birds can be animated with particles, in which all birds automatically fly head-first and are aligned appropriately. The alignment of the particles can also be automatically adjusted during the flight through space using the Look Modifier, for example, so that a specific particle axis always points in the direction of flight. Here, however, the focus is on the initial orientation of the particles at the moment of their birth at the Emitter.
Various modes are available here for selecting how the axis systems of the particles should be aligned. The Z-axis of the particle systems is generally aligned. The Y-axis direction of the particles can then be affected indirectly via an Up Vector, which ultimately leads to a stable alignment of the particles:
- Axis: Any axis direction of the decaying particle or the world system can be used for alignment.
- Velocity Direction: This is often the desired mode in which the particles are automatically aligned according to the direction of flight.
- Radial: The imaginary connecting line between the center of the decaying Emitter and the position at which a particle is created is used for alignment.
- Random: The alignment is based only on the Initial value of the Emitter and is random for each particle.
- Target: The particles can be aligned to the position of an assigned Target object.
- Custom: You can define a vector yourself that should be used to align the particles.
The following image gives a simple example of the effect of alignment. On the far left you can see an original particle flying from left to right towards a collision object (white line). The Z-axis of the particle points in the direction of flight. In the middle part of the image you can see how new particles were created by the collision via the Reproduce Emitter. These were given the Radial Direction setting and therefore move away from the original particle in a spherical shape in all directions. By using Alignment Inheritance with 100%, the new particles adopt the axis directions of the original particle, although they now move in completely different directions in some cases.
If, on the other hand, we leave the Direction Inheritance at 0% and use the Velocity Direction as the Forward Vector instead, we get the result on the far right in the following image. The Z-axes of the new particles now point correctly in the direction of the respective flight direction.
Examples of different orientations, illustrated by the use of axis systems for the particles. The white lines indicate a level at which a particle breaks up into new particles through collision. The original particle can be seen on the left. In the middle, this breaks down into new particles, which have inherited the original particle orientation. The picture on the right is completely different, as the new particles are aligned according to their direction of flight.
For Forward Vector Axis, the desired axis direction can be selected here. The separate Vector Space setting is used to specify whether the axis system of the emitter or the directions of the world axes are meant.
With Forward Vector Custom, the desired direction can be selected here; the separate Vector Space setting determines whether this direction vector is to be interpreted in the axis system of the emitter or in the world system.
The reference system can be selected here for the Axis, Radial and Custom Forward Vector settings. With Local, the evaluation is carried out in the axis system of the Emitter; with Global, the world axes are used.
Any object can be assigned here using drag & drop, and the Z axes of the particles will then continuously target its position.
A maximum deviation from the particle orientation defined for the Forward Vector can be selected here.
This value controls the relationship between the orientation varied by Spread and the original Forward Vector of the particles. The greater the Spread Falloff, the closer the alignment of the particles approaches their original direction again. The greatest possible spread of particle orientations is therefore obtained with a value of 0%.
The Z-axis of the particle axis systems is determined by the settings for the Forward Vector. However, the directions for the X and Y axes will still remain. Without further specifications, the axis system of the particles could therefore rotate uncontrolled and freely around its Z-axis, which would make a stable alignment of the assigned particle shapes impossible. Therefore, this specification of a further direction is used for the alignment of the Y-axes on the particles. This directional information is not necessarily taken over completely by the Y-axis of the particles, but it helps to calculate a stable position in space. You can imagine this Up Vector direction as a magnet that pulls the Y-axis of the particles in its direction and thus stabilizes the position of the particle axes, while the Z-axis of the particles always follows the Forward Vector specification absolutely. The remaining direction of the X-axis on the particles then results automatically from the specification that all three axes are always perpendicular to each other by default.
Technically speaking, the Z-axis of the particles is defined by the direction of the Forward Vector. To determine the X-axis, a vertical vector is then calculated on the plane that runs through the Forward Vector and the Up Vector. The missing Y-axis results automatically from the condition that all three vectors must be perpendicular to each other.
Alignment Inheritance[0..100%]
This percentage value controls the adoption of the Alignment of the original particle. At 100%, the current Alignment of the decaying particle is completely adopted and the custom Alignment settings on the Reproduce Emitter lose their effect.
These settings can be used to control the intrinsic rotation of the particles. The direction of movement remains unaffected. As already mentioned in the settings for the alignment of the particles, only the initial rotation of the particles is defined at this point, which is applied at the time the particles are created. How the rotation should be changed after the particles have been created must be implemented separately using Modifiers such as Spin.
This controls the speed of the rotations. This is defined as the angle of rotation, which is evaluated per second. A value of 360° therefore leads to a complete rotation of the particles around the separately specified Spin Vector per second of the simulation.
This specification is used to randomly vary the rotation speeds of the particles. The value indicates the maximum deviation from the specified peed. As with all variation values, this is also based on the Seed value of the emitter. A new Seed value also leads to new variations for the particle rotational speeds.
The rotation of the particles takes place around an axial direction, the direction of which can be defined here:
- Axis: You define one of the particle axes, an axis of the decaying particle or one of the global axis directions for the rotations.
- Velocity Direction: The particle rotation takes place around the direction of flight of the particles. This would be, for example, the usual direction of rotation for a projectile that is stabilized by this rotation during flight.
- Radial: The axis of rotation runs through the center of the disintegrating particle and the formation position of each particle.
- Random: The axis of rotation is defined randomly for each particle. As with all randomness, this calculation is also based on the Seed value of the Emitter. A change in the Seed value therefore also leads to a recalculation of the axes of rotation.
- Target: Here you can link any object whose position is evaluated. The direction between each particle and the defined object position is used as the axis of rotation.
- Custom: You can define any Vector to be used as the rotation axis. The length of this vector is irrelevant. The vector can be evaluated either in the system of the new particle, in the system of the decaying particle or in the global world system.
For Spin Vector Axis, the desired axis direction can be defined here. The Vector Space setting is also used to specify whether the axis system of the particle, the emitter or the directions of the world axes are meant.
For Spin Vector Custom, the direction of the desired rotation axis can be entered here. The separate Vector Space setting is used to specify whether this direction vector is to be interpreted in the axis system of the particle, the emitter or in the world system.
The reference system can be selected here for the Spin Vector settings Axis, Radial and Custom. The particle matrices' own axis system is used for Alignment. With Local, the evaluation takes place in the axis system of the Emitter; with Global, the world axes are used.
Here you can use Spin Vector Target to assign any object whose position is evaluated using drag & drop. The imaginary connecting line between each particle and the specified object position is used as the axis of rotation.
Here you specify a maximum direction variation for the axes of rotation. As with all random variation values, this calculation is also based on the Seed value of the emitter. A new Seed value therefore also leads to a new variation of the axes of rotation.
This value controls the ratio between the rotation axis of the particles varied by Spread and the original Spin Vector of the particles. The greater the Spread Falloff, the closer the rotational axes of the particles return to their original direction. The greatest possible spread of the rotational axis directions is therefore obtained with a value of 0%.
This percentage value controls the transfer of the rotational speed of the decaying particle. At 100%, the current Angular Velocity of the decaying particle is completely adopted and the individual Speed settings on the Reproduce Emitter lose their effect.
This percentage value controls the transfer of the Spin Vector of the decaying particle. At 100%, the current Angular Velocity of the decaying particle is completely adopted and the individual Spin Vector settings on the Reproduce Emitter will lose their effect.
Here you can select how colors are to be generated and assigned to the particles:
- Constant: The values set with Color and Alpha are assigned to all particles. This is the default setting.
- Random: In this mode, an individual color gradient with colors and alpha values can be defined. The colors and alpha values are then read out randomly from this gradient for each particle.
- Noise: This mode works in a similar way to Random and also uses an individually configurable color and alpha gradient. This time, however, the assignment of colors and alpha values is not purely random, but based on common noise patterns and can therefore also be configured with transitions.
On the left is an example of the Constant color assignment, in the middle a Random color assignment and on the right a color assignment based on a Noise structure.
In Constant Sample Mode, select the color value that should be assigned to all particles when they are created. Click on the arrow symbol next to the color field to access the standard color controllers and color selection systems. Alternatively, different color selectors can also be displayed in a separate dialog box when clicking directly on the color field.
The pipette symbol to the right of the color field also allows you to pick up a color value directly from another location on your monitor with a simple left-click. This color recording mode can also be ended early by pressing the Esc key.
In Constant Sample Mode, select the alpha value that should be assigned to all particles when they are created. This property is not displayed directly on the particles in the viewports, but can be read out, for example, within Redshift materials with the Scalar User Data Node and its Particles/Transparency (XP) preset and thus also used to control material properties. Its use is not limited to specifying the color opacity, but can also control the roughness of a reflection or the intensity of lights, for example. This is because an Alpha value represents regular floating point values between 0 and 1 (or converted values between 0% and 100%).
This element is offered in the Sample Modes Random and Noise and lets you define several color and alpha values from which the particles are then selected randomly or based on a noise structure. The color gradient used for this is also used as a control element in many other places in Cinema 4D. If you would like to read about its functions again here, simply open the following section.
Click here to see a description of the standard color gradient.
Gradients are used at many locations in Cinema 4D and make it possible to use color and alpha values to create linear gradients that run from left to right. Various types of interpolation are available, which can also be used to calculate automatic transitions between the colors and alpha values you have placed. Note that you can access further parameters (described below) by clicking on the small arrow to the right of the color gradient.
The small, square color fields directly below the gradient (called Knots) determine the colors and their positions in the gradient. To add a new Knot, simply place your mouse pointer just below the gradient. A semi-transparent color tab appears, which can be moved sideways together with the mouse pointer. A click then creates a new color tab. To remove excess color tabs from the gradient, simply drag them up or down out of the gradient with the mouse.
To change the color of a color tab, select it by simply clicking on it. Below the gradient, settings for the exact position of this color on the gradient, the interpolation used on this tab to the neighboring color on the left and, of course, the standard color sliders for adjusting the color are displayed. Some interpolation types also offer additional Knots on the gradient, which are visible as small circles between the color tabs. This can be used to change the mixing point at the color transition between the colors. These Bias Handles can also be moved directly with the mouse or placed with numerical precision by simply clicking on a numerical value for the bias position.
If you also hold the Shift key when moving color, alpha or Bias Handles, the movement will be performed in 5% increments.
Several Knots can also be selected at the same time. To do this, you can select the Knots one after the other using Shift + click (or remove them from the selection again using Ctrl-click) or hold down the left mouse button directly in the color gradient and drag a selection frame over the desired Knots from there. Orange brackets appear around the selected Knots below the gradient. All Knots contained in such a bracket can be moved together along the course if you place the mouse pointer between the brackets and then drag them with the left mouse button held down. Pulling on the Knots will scale the distances between the Knots within the brackets. The colors cannot be placed outside the boundaries of the gradient. If you move a group of color tabs too far to the left or right, the outer color tabs will automatically stop at the edges of the gradient and their distance to the subsequent colors may be reduced as a result.
Similarly, the bias Knots can be selected in groups and then moved together. However, no separate Knot symbols will be displayed. Selected Bias Handles can be recognized by the black coloring, whereas unselected Knots use a white circle as a symbol.
A double-click in the color gradient selected all Knots, a single click deselects everything. Double-click on a Knot to display all settings in a separate window. If there are several Knots on top of each other, they can be right-clicked to select one of them from a list that appears (selected Knots are enclosed in square brackets).
The gradient can be moved or scaled horizontally (see below). In the latter case, brackets appear around the color gradient (red marking at the top of the image). Clicking on these brackets scales the color gradient back to 100%.
Selected Knots can also be moved using the cursor keys (left, right). Shift also quantizes in 5% steps here. The cursor up and down keys adjust the Knot brightness (old color gradient only).
The following buttons apply for navigation within the color gradient - similar to the Timeline:
- 1, Middle mouse button: Move (only possible with enlarged color gradient)
- 2, Mouse wheel, Alt + right mouse button: zoom in and out
- S: Show selected
- H: Show all or scale to 100%.
Right-click on the color gradient to open a context menu with the following commands:
Invert Gradient
This reverses the color gradient and thus the order of the colors.
Double Knots
This defines the current color gradient to its own end, doubling the Knots and the color gradient.
Distribute Knots
This sets the Knot distances to identical values.
Bias Handle
If Bias Handles (the small circles in the color gradient) are to be displayed, this option must be activated.
Interpolation of all Knots
This lets you set the interpolation of ALL Knots - regardless of the selection - at the same time.
Size
This can be used to define the vertical size of the color gradient in 3 stages. This setting is also available as a program default setting (Units tab).
Interpolation
Several interpolation methods are available to control the behavior of the color values between the Knots. Each Knot can have its own interpolation!
Soft/Cubic/Cubic Bias/Linear/Step/Blend
The color transition from one selected Knot to the next takes place as indicated by the small curve symbols in front of each option. Most interpolation types also use the Bias Handles to place the color transition between the adjacent colors as desired. Only with Step interpolation will there be no Bias Handles, as the color change will always take place abruptly when the next color Knot to the right is reached.
Step
There is no interpolation at all. The color changes abruptly without transition at the position of the next touch.
Knot position
The position of selected Knots can be defined numerically here. 0% = left edge, 100% = right edge.
Bias position
This parameter defines the position of selected Bias Handles between the adjacent colors. 0% = left color or alpha Knot, 100% = right color or alpha Knot.
Brightness
Brightness can also be used to control the brightness of selected Knots above 100%. They generate overbright colors (HDR) that the color selector cannot provide on its own.
Edit Alpha
Activate this option to work on the alpha values associated with the color gradient. The creation, placement and setting are carried out in the same way as already described for the color Knots. The only difference is that only percentage values and therefore no colors can be assigned for the alpha Knots via a Brightness value. The curve interprets 0% as black and 100% as white. Values between 0% and 100% are often used here by default, but brightness values above 100% can also be assigned.
The alpha Knots can be placed completely independently of the colors. Therefore, all color Knots and their gradients are also hidden by default in this mode.
Display Result
This option displays the color gradient taking the alpha channel into account. This means you can practically display the opacity of the alpha Knots overlaid with the colors while you work on the placement and values of the alpha Knots.
Load Preset
Save Preset
Color gradients can be saved and reloaded at any time using these two commands.
When the Save Preset command is executed, a small dialog window will open where the preset name and other information can be entered.
Click on Load Preset to open a small selection window where you can load the corresponding preset with a single click. There you will already find a selection of common color gradients, even if you have not yet saved your own.
General details regarding the Preset System in Cinema 4D can be found there.
These settings are only used in the Noise Sample Mode. The selected Noise pattern generates black and white values that are used to read the matching entries from the color gradient. With a black section in the Noise, the colors and alpha values from the left edge of the color gradient are used for the particles; with white Noise, the colors and alpha values from the right edge of the gradient are used. Gray intermediate values address corresponding sections in the middle part of the gradient.
This option must be switched on so that a Noise structure is used to determine the color and alpha values of the color gradient. If this option is switched off despite the selection of Sample Mode Noise, all particles will receive the same color from the left edge of the gradient.
The calculation of the Noise pattern is based on this value. A change in the Seed value therefore also leads to a recalculation of the selected Noise structure.
Here you can choose the right one from the various patterns. These are three-dimensional structures that can be configured in the axis system of the emitter or the world and with individual scaling along all axis directions. Automated modification and animation of these patterns is also possible:
Here you can select whether the Noise structure should move with the axis system of the emitter or whether it should be a stationary Noise whose origin lies in the global world axis system.
This defines the amount of detail in the Noise structure. Larger values produce more variations in the Noise pattern. Small values lead to a loss of contrast and details, as well as to a softening of the structure. This setting is not available for the Noise Types Box, Cell, Mod Noise, Perlin and VL Noise.
You can use these values to scale the Noise structure individually along the three spatial directions. Proportional scaling is also possible via the separate Scale value.
This allows the Noise structure to be scaled proportionally. Individual scaling for each of the three axis directions is also possible using the separate Relative Scale.
The Noise structures can also be changed over time. Use this value to specify the speed of these changes. By default, 0 is used here, which results in a static structure.
Almost all Noise types (exception: Electric and Gaseous) have this parameter, which causes the noise to loop after the specified time in seconds (the Animation Speed must be greater than 0). The Noise state then repeats itself in the bars of the Loop Period, which is specified in seconds. A value of 0 turns this effect off.
These two parameters are used to move the Noise through the 3D space. Movement is used to set the direction in which the Noise structure is moved. Use the Speed value to regulate the movement speed of the Noise structure.
Please note that the Movement is also dependent on Noise Space, as the coordinate systems defined there can differ greatly from one another.
This can be used to limit the brightness values that the Noise should provide. By default, Low Clip is 0% and High Clip is 100%. This means that all brightnesses can be output unchanged between 0% and 100% by the Noise. Increasing the Low Clip results in all brightnesses that are lower than Low Clip being output as black (or 0%). Similarly, a reduction of High Clip results in all gray values above the brightness of High Clip already being output as white (or 100%).
In fact, this mechanism can be used not only to sharpen a Noise structure and to strengthen the contrast, but also to invert the brightness values. To do this, simply reverse the original arrangement of the clipping values. With Low Clip 100% and High Clip 0%, you get an inverted noise.
This is used to adjust the general brightness value of the Noise. Values above 0% increase the brightness, values below 0% reduce it.
This allows us to reduce or increase the contrast of the Noise brightnesses. The Contrast describes the range of brightness values output. With a low contrast, the differences between the Noise brightnesses supplied are therefore smaller. Greater Contrast leads to greater differences in brightness between the Noise brightnesses calculated. This often results in the brightness transitions being more abrupt and less smooth compared to using a lower Contrast.
This percentage value controls the transfer of the Color of the decaying particle. With 100%, the current Color of the decaying particle is completely adopted and the individual Color settings on the Reproduce Emitter will lose their effect.
This regulates the scaling of the particles. The size of the particles can also be displayed directly in the editor if you have activated the option to draw the radius in the Particle Group. The Radius of a particle is also automatically used for scaling the shapes that are bound to the particle via a Redshift Object Tag, for example.
The Radius can also be varied per particle during emission with the following Variance value. It is also possible to adjust the Radius at any time using various particle modifiers.
Alternatively, the current radius of the decaying particles can also be adopted via Inherit Radius.
Here you can define a maximum deviation from the defined radius per particle. Negative radii will automatically be avoided for the particles. Particles can therefore never have a negative radius.
This percentage value controls the adoption of the Radius size of the decaying particle. With 100%, the current Radius of the decaying particle is completely adopted and the individual Radius settings on the Reproduce Emitter will lose their effect.