The following tutorials will teach you how to use the Particle Editor program.
1 – Open the Particle Editor program. Right click on the main animation area, and left click on “Reset All”. This will reset the particle system attributes to the minimum standard default settings.
2 – Right click on the main animation area, and then left click on “Constant Settings” to open the constant settings window. Under the “Particle Image” drop-down, choose “Fish 1”. Since we don't want the fish to turn white also choose "Standard" from the Blending Style drop down (this is a new feature for version 2.0 of Particle Editor and is not shown in the image below).
the particles are now fish
3 – Change the “Horizontal Direction” to -0.80 by dragging the horizontal direction slider bar all the way to the left.
the fish now swim leftwards
4 – Change the “Height (Y) ” under Emitter Settings to 400.0 by dragging the all the way to the right.
the fish appear from a tall vertical line instead of a point
5 – Change the “Horizontal Location (X) ” under Emitter Settings to 320.0 by dragging the all the way to the right.
the fish start at the right side of the screen
6 – Close this window by clicking “OK” and open the “feedback settings” window by right clicking on the main display area, and left clicking “feedback settings”. Set the speed to be linked to a measurement.
the fish speed is linked to a measurement
7 – We want the fish to swim left, but not shoot towards and away from us, so we need to decrease the depth range. Open the “Constant Settings” window and set the “Depth Range (Z) ” to 0.
the fish stay in a two-dimensional space
8 – Lets have fewer fish, but make
them bigger. Set the start size and end size to 20.0
and the number per
the fish are larger and there are fewer on the screen
9 – That’s pretty good, but let’s set the background color to blue. Under color click the “Use Background Color...”drop-down and click the “Use Background Color…” option that drops down under the drop down box. Choose a pleasant blue color from the “Basic colors” boxes. If you click a color within the large rainbow gradient square you must drag the vertical slider to the square's right in order to select a brightness. Instead of choosing a blue color, you can click "Use Background Image..." and choose an "underwater" image for the fish to swim on.
we have a representation of fish swimming in blue water
Now name and save your creation!
1 – Open the Particle Editor program. Right click on the main animation area, and the left click on “Reset All”. This will reset the particle system attributes to the minimum standard default settings.
2 – Right click on the main animation area, and then left click on “Constant Settings” to open the constant settings window. Under the “Particle Image” drop-down, choose “Alien”. Since we don't want the fish to turn white also choose "Standard" from the Blending Style drop down (this is a new feature for version 2.0 of Particle Editor and is not shown in the image below).
the shape of the particles has changed
3 – Choose “Hour Glass” from the movement drop-down.
the particles now move in a pattern that forms an hour-glass
4 – Make the hour glass large by sliding the speed slider-bar to the right, choose a speed that you like (perhaps around 4.0)
the hour glass is now larger
5 – Make the hour glass more full by adding more particles per second. The Number Per Second slider is already all the way to the right (250). To increase the number of particles per second type the number 350 directly into the input box to the left of the slider-bar.
the hour glass is made up of more particles
6 – Add color to the hour-glass by choosing “Location Based” from the color drop down box.
the particles of the hour glass are colored based on their locations
7 – Click “OK” to close the Constant Settings window, then right click on the main animation area to open the Feedback Settings window. Link the width and height of the emitter both to the same measurement (of your choice), and click the reverse check-boxes.
now when the user is not in the target state the particles disperse through the screen
when the user achieves and maintains the state the particles converge into a colorful hourglass
Now name and save your creation!