or press F6 to display the render tree for the selected particle cloud. By default, the particle type is displayed.
Connecting Shaders in a Particle Render Tree
Connecting shaders in a particle system’s render tree gives you full control over which shader you want attached where. You can attach shaders directly to each particle type for ultimate control. This allows for maximum flexibility when you have multiple particle types on the same cloud.
In addition, you have access to the standard Softimage shaders, many of which can be plugged into any particle shader.
This section describes how to use the render tree for particles, but for general information about using the render tree, see The Render Tree [ Material and Shader Basics ] .
Connecting Shaders to a Particle Type
To connect shaders in the particle’s render tree
1. Select some particles or a particle cloud.
2. Open a render tree in a viewport or press 7 to open one in a floating window.
3. Click the Update icon or press F6 to display the render tree for the selected particle cloud. By default, the particle type is displayed.
You can also select any particle type node from the Selection list at the top of the window in the render tree (ParTypes.name of particle type).
4. Choose Nodes > Texture > More in the render tree. Then open the Particle_Old folder to see all available texture-based particle shaders. This folder includes all of the particle shaders except for the Particle Renderer shader, which is a Volume shader.
The basic shaders (Blob, Sphere, and Billboard) are attached by default to get the initial particle surface/shape. You must have one of these basic shaders attached before you can use other shaders, such as Shape, Sprite, or Particle Gradient.
5. Connect the basic shader to the Renderer input of the Particle Type node. For example, the Billboard shader is connected to the particle type, and the Shape shader is connected to the Billboard shader’s Color input. This is the default shader connection when you create a particle cloud.
6. Now you can connect other shaders to the basic shaders, and to the shaders attached to them. For example, the tree below shows how to connect other shaders to the Blob shader to give reflection and incidence to a fluid’s appearance.
Autodesk Softimage v.7.5