The String Settings group sets the size and basic appearance of the Box Strings base form. It is enabled when you choose the Box – Strings option in the
Base Form pop-up .
Density sets the density of the strings. Higher settings produce denser strings and take longer to render. The default value of 15 (below, left) will generally produce good results, while values lower than 10 (such as 5, right) cause strings to display as dots. Very high values (in the hundreds, for example) can cause dense glowing lines because of the default Add transfer mode used to composite the
particles.
Size Random sets a randomness to string size. By varying the size of the particles that make up the string, this makes some strings thicker and some thinner.
Below, we show a rotated version of the previous image, but now with a Size Random of 40.
Size Rnd Distribution
controls the random distribution of smaller and thicker strings. This generates lines that appear randomly thicker or thinner across the form.
Shown below are values of 3 (left) and 8 (right) with a Size Random of 25.
Taper Size applies a tapered string thickness at string ends. Shown below are the three options. Off (left) applies no taper. Smooth (center) applies a
taper that starts close to the center of the form, then falls off gradually.
Linear (right) starts the taper only near the form edges.
You may need to increase other String Settings values to make tapering more visible.
Taper Opacity affects opacity at string ends. The Off, Smooth, and Linear options operate very similarly to the same options in Taper Size.
