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Trapcode Particular

Environment group

The Environment group houses external forces that act upon particles, such as Gravity, Wind and Air Turbulence.

Air Density and Air Turbulence allow for more realistic displacements of particle systems, such as rain sheeting in a blustery wind.

Using the Designer, you can have one Environment block on the Primary system that controls these external forces for all your systems to inherit from. Alternatively you can assign each system their own Environment block for more individual control.

Gravity

Gravity is the acceleration that makes particles fall downwards in a natural way. Mass and Air Resistance settings for the particles affect the final force downward, just like any object in the real world. Low values make the particles fall slowly. High values make the particles fall more quickly.

Wind X, Y, Z

The new Wind simulation applies a force that is responsive to the mass and air resistance of particles. Particles shifted off path by Wind will continue on in a new direction. More natural results such as sheeting rain/snow in a windstorm are now possible.

Drift (Fast Physics) is identical to the original Wind effect, simply shifting particle positions without regard for the physical properties of the particles.

Air Density

Air Density works with the Air Resistance value for the particles to determine how easily the particles will move through the air.

Default is set to 1, turning this lower will make it easier for the particles to move along, while moving it higher makes it harder for them to cut through.

Air Turbulence

You can also now define the Air Turbulence around your system, and how much that will affect particle Position and Orientation/Spin, which can all be moved by the Wind.

This behavior helps tremendously when creating fire and smoke effects to make particle motion look natural. Unlike fluid dynamics, Turbulence computes fast and can be freely scrubbed back and forth in the Timeline.


Air Turbulence working with Flocking attraction

If you want to know about the inner workings of Turbulence Field, read more about Perlin Fractal Noise .

Affect Position

Affect Position uses the fractal to displace particle position. This is useful for creating natural looking motion for fire and smoke effects, or sheeting rain/snow.

Affect Orientation/Spin

Affect Orientation/Spin uses the fractal to modify the orientation or spin of the particle. This will be most noticeable on Sprites that have a more obvious orientation than a sphere particle for instance.

Move with Wind

Move with Wind gives the ability to move the Turbulence Field with the Wind. It ties the Air Turbulence field into the Wind X, Y, Z controls. Measured as a percentage of the Wind value. At 100%, the Air Turbulence follows the Wind exactly. At 50%, it still follows the Wind's direction, but only 50% of the distance.

This control gives a very realistic look to fire and smoke effects. It is useful for getting a natural look in making wind, since the Turbulence Field moves with the wind as it would in real life.

Turbulence Controls

A group that gives you control over the underlying fractal driving the Air Turbulence offsets.