How do I create a new layer in Particle Illusion and rename layers?

Particle Illusion
#1

Hi there,

Does anyone know how to create a new layer in Particle Illusion and rename layers? I can’t for the life of me, find these options in the control panel. I have the paid plugin version if that makes a difference.

I would appreciate any help.

Thank you,
Jayne

#2

Hi Jayne,

We will be bringing back the option to create additional layers in a forthcoming release. In this release you can add as many emitters as you like but we are limited to a single layer.

Note that you can stack copies of the filter in the host if need be to get around the single layer limitation.

Thanks,
Peter.

#3

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your reply. That’s a shame but at least I know I’m not crazy, looking for it high and low and not finding it. What do you mean by stacking copies of the filter in the host? Rendering individual filters and adding them as a new layer in Premiere Pro? I have done this for as many effects as I can, however, the clouds, sun flares, and flames that I’m using don’t seem to render out nicely. The clouds get a grey outline and the sun flares and flames appear more solid and cartoon-like when I do this so I am compositing these effects. I am having a couple of problems with this because PI is now running painfully slow and I want to use Mocha to mask out certain sections on my project but it seems I would require multiple layers to mask out different effects at different times on my timeline. Is that right? This is the first time I’ve used PI and Mocha.

Thanks,
Jayne

#4

Multiple layers in PI doesn’t give you any advantage other than organization, or if you want some emitters to be affected by a force or deflector but others not to be. Your usage of different effects needing different masks at different times requires multiple instances of PI.

For more composition options change the Composite Style to “Alpha + Apply Modes” and try some of those options. The “Classic” composite will generate the outlines you’re seeing.

#5

Also as regards the compositing results, you may find you get the look you’re wanting if you stack multiple copies of PI on the same layer in Premiere, as opposed to creating separate layers for each PI instance. When you stack them on the same layer you can still use the default “classic” compositing style which typically gives the cleanest looking soft edges assuming the underlying clip you’re applying to is opaque. Each copy of PI in that case would composite the new particles immediately onto the previous stage, as opposed to building up separate copies with alpha channels on separate layers which then requires apply modes to be used to help with the compositing of soft edges.

As for Mocha, you would need a separate copy of PI for each effect that requires different masking, so again stacking multiple copies of PI is the way to go. Your decision at that point is whether to stack them on separate layers or stack them all on one layer. Stacking them all on the same layer is probably more likely to give the compositing you’re looking for so that’s the place to start, and if that doesn’t work then exploring the additional compositing and apply modes makes sense.

-Jason