Emit Blast

This emitter blasts out particles over a certain number of frames. It uses two fcurves to control the particle emission rate and their initial velocity.

Plug this compound's Emit output into the ICETree node. This compound should be plugged in to the first port of the ICETree node because you usually need to emit particles before any other node or compound can be evaluated.

For more information, see Emitting a Particle Blast.

Tasks: Particles/Emitters

Output Ports: Emit

Enable

Turns the particle emission on and off.

Emission Parameters

Emitter1

Plug in the emitter object's Value output here. You can plug multiple geometries into this emitter.

Start Time

The frame (timeline) at which particles are emitted.

Duration

The number of frames over which particles are emitted for the blast.

Loop

Loops the particle emission using the Duration value.

Emission Rate Profile

This fcurve defines the emission rate over the duration of the blast.

Emission Rate

The number of particles created per second. The rate is also controlled by the Emission Rate Profile Curve.

Seed

This number is used as the basis for the random generation of particles. If two different particle emitters use the same seed, you may get identical results in their motion. Change the seed value to get a different random generation of particles.

Direction and Speed

Velocity Profile

This graph defines the velocity of the particles over the duration of the blast.

Velocity

Defines the speed at which new particles are moving when they are emitted. This port controls only the initial velocity. To change the velocity over time, you can plug in a compounds such as Modulate Velocity Over Time.

Spray Origin Method

Defines the point from which the particles are sprayed:

• Away from the Controller Object (its center)

• Away from the Controller Object's Surface

• Away from a Specified Position that you define with the Spray Origin Position values below.

Spray Origin Controller

The object from which the particles are blasting away. This object is used only if you selected Away from Controller Object or Surface as the Spray Origin Method. Plug in the controller object's Value output here.

Spray Origin Position

Defines the position in XYZ from which the particles are sprayed. This applies only if you selected Away from a Specified Position as the Spray Origin Method.

Amplitude

The overall velocity strength of the particle blast.

Initial Values

Mass

Defines how much matter the particles have. The value is in kilograms (kg). The mass is used to determine how the particles are affected by forces and other physical effects. Particles with higher mass values require larger forces to modify their motion.

See ICE Particle Mass for more information.

Size

Defines how large the particle is. This value is the particle radius, but the particle display size is the diameter. For example, if the Size value (radius) is 1, the diameter (display) size is 2. Some compounds use the Size value to help with collision detection or to define motion, such as Bounce Off Surface or Stick to Surface, for example.

See ICE Particle Size for more information.

Color

Defines the initial particle color as displayed in the viewport. Rendered particles do not use the particle color values unless you've set up the shader to do so. Set the color value using the standard color sliders and color box.

See ICE Particle Color for more information.

Shape

Defines how the particle shape is drawn on screen. You have a selection of different methods for displaying particles: point, segment (trails), disc, rectangle, sphere, box, cylinder, capsule, cone, and blob.

• If you select Blob, the particles are displayed as blobs only in the render region.

• To display trails, select Segment.

• To render sprites, select the Rectangle shape.

• If you want particles to collide with an obstacle, they require a shape that has 3D geometry, such as a sphere, box, cylinder, capsule, or cone.

See ICE Particle Shapes for more information.

Orientation

Defines the orientation of particles when emitted. The particle's orientation stays the same over its lifetime unless some force changes it. Set the Orientation of the particle around its local X, Y, and/or Z axes. Then set the Angle value, which is the amount of rotation in degrees around these axes.

See ICE Particle Orientation for more information.

State ID

When using the State nodes to define particle behavior, this value defines which state the particles will be using when created.

See Setting the Particle’s State ID for more information.

Execute on Emit1

You can plug in nodes that have Execute output ports. These ports only get executed once when a particle gets created.



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