Particle Instancer Options

Use these options to control the display of objects you instance with nParticles. If you want to modify the options after you use the particle instancer, select the instanced particle object and display the Attribute Editor. Most of the options are in the Instancer Attributes section of the particle shape node tab. A few options are in the instancer node, available by clicking the instancer node tab in the Attribute Editor after you select the particle object. You can also select the instancer node in the Outliner.

Note:

You can apply the particle instancer two or more times to the same particle object. When you select the particle object and display the Instancer Attributes section of the Attribute Editor, you’ll see an Instancer Nodes menu that lets you choose the instancer node associated with the settings you want to modify.

Particle Instancer Name

Optional name of the instancer node. A default name is created if you leave this entry empty.

Rotation Units

If you set the Rotation settings for you particles, this option specifies whether the value is interpreted as degrees or radians.

Rotation Order

If you set the Rotation settings for your particles, this option sets the precedence order of rotation, for instance, XYZ, XZY, or ZXY.

Level of Detail

Sets whether the source geometry appears at the particle locations or whether a bounding box or boxes appear instead. Bounding boxes speed up scene playback.

Geometry

The source geometry appears at the particle locations.

Bounding Box

Displays a single box for all the objects in the instanced hierarchy.

Bounding Boxes

Displays individual boxes for each object in the instanced hierarchy.

Cycle

Select from the following options:

None

Instance a single object.

Sequential

Cycle through the objects in the Instanced Objects list.

If you select None and the Instanced Objects list has more than one object listed, only the first object listed will be used as the instanced object.

Note: If you select Sequential, Maya cycles through the objects in the Instanced Objects list in the order shown. You can select a different starting object for each particle with the CycleStartObject (see nParticle Instancer attributes), but the order of the cycling remains the same. For instance, one particle might cycle through objects 0-1-2-3, while another cycles through 2-3-0-1. No particle can cycle through 3-2-1-0.

To use an order different than the Instanced Objects list, select None, create a custom attribute, select the custom attribute as input to the Object Index option (see nParticle Instancer attributes), then write a creation and runtime expression to set the custom attribute appropriately as the scene plays.

Cycle Step Unit

If you’re using an object sequence, select whether frames or seconds are used for the Cycle Step Size value.

Cycle Step Size

If you’re using an object sequence, enter the particle age interval at which the next object in the sequence appears. For example, a Cycle Step Size of 2 (seconds) displays the next object in the sequence at the frame where a particle’s age exceeds 2, 4, 6, and so on. For details on how to alter the age of particles, see nParticle Lifespan attributes.

If you use an object sequence, you’ll typically use unanimated objects displayed in sequence. You can use animated objects effectively if you set the Cycle Step large enough to portray their animation.