Documentation

Learn by example

You will very quickly notice that the particles generator is an effect which offers a wide range of options.

Generally, you need to learn how to set :
* the parameters of the world (or universe) in which the particles will move: wind, gravity, collision…
* The parameters of the particle emitter(s): movement, angle, rotation…
* The particle parameters: life span, velocity, number, opacity…

The multitude of parameters is so vast that it may discourage the beginner. For this reason and for didactic purposes, numerous pre-defined examples have been included in this program to help you master this powerful drawing tool.

Many users use them as a model to introduce the particles into their own creations. These pre-defined examples, sometimes referred to as presets, are accessible via the Bin FX menu.

The Bin FX menu appears as illustrated opposite: You are already familiar with the functions Add, Load and Save: they are present for each effect available in TVP Animation. However, the functions Browse and Presets are new.

Choosing Browse opens a window that is specific to the particles generator (see below).

In the popup menu you may choose a pre-defined example from the following categories: cartoon, misc, nature, objects, party, pyrotechnic, sci-fi, text, water.
(Using the ▼ and ▲ buttons you may scroll from one example to another.)

When you have chosen an example, its name will appear in the header of the popup menu and you may observe the changes made to the particle system directly in the window.


Two boxes may be checked in order to improve the quality of the particle animation depending on the power of your computer: Full Quality and AAliasing.

If a pre-defined example is close to the result you wish to obtain for your project, you may choose to set the parameters of the particles generator according to this example. To do this, just click on the Copy to FX button then close the window above. Now you study the example in detail and modify it to your needs.
We will come back to this process to illustrate some situations.