I want to do a camera match move. Is there a way to use a tracker to control the x/y transform of the particle? (position)
Hi, are you using the plugin version of Particle illusion?
Looking through your earlier posts it suggests you’re using Resolve?
I only have the free version of Resolve,
Basically track your object, open PI, then double click to dd the emitter, normally it would add the emitter centre screen but because you tracked something it will auto lock onto the tracked object.
Here Ben shows tracking the Emitter & the World
Hi. Yes Resolve, BCC node on the color page, as BCC is not supported on the Fusion page. Ok, I see the tracking feature now which uses Mocha. I’ll give that a try and hopefully it won’t give any trouble on the color page.
Another wrinkle is that the cloud particle travels from left to right and I need that reversed. The only way I can see to do that is to flip the emitter 180 deg (host control panel). I don’t know how this global setting affects how the mocha tracker operates. For reference, this is a shakey hand held shot and I need the dust cloud particle to attach to the world, not the character.
Thanks for the links!
Which emitter is that?
Flip the emitter inside PI – you can use the Angle parameter to rotate it.
This won’t interfere with tracking or anything else.
It’s the cloud emitter from the Seeds and Clouds preset.
Awesome. Thanks Alan.
There’s three Angles, Transform, Emission & Layer,
Layer Angle will rotate the everything, the whole scene/project ?
Transform & Emission is localized for that emitter but @Alan_Lorence can you expand on the difference between those two?
Is it Emission is the angle it emits from the birth position & Transition just turns everything in that emitter node inc the birth position, a bit like a local version of the Layer Angle? if that makes sense 
Thanks.
The Emitter “Angle” parameter will rotate the entire emitter shape, and emission is relative to this.
For a more basic emitter, changing “Emission Angle” will give the same result as changing “Angle”, but it will be different if you are using “Emit at Points”, or if specific particle types are using their own emission parameters (most people don’t realize that particle types can have their own emission angle and emission range – they are set to use the Emitter values by default)
The Layer Angle rotates the entire scene. If your emitter is at the center of the frame, then there’s no difference between Layer Angle and Emitter Angle – you can use either.
Once you get multiple emitters, or Forces, Deflectors, etc., or your emitter is not at the center of the frame, then rotating the Layer is useful.
Except, you could also just rotate the camera. Set it to “orbit” model and then rotate it 180 degrees and you’ll be looking at the other side of the emitter.
So many ways to do this stuff!
Alan.
1 Like
If you mean this one then yes I’ve fiddled with it, but yep ‘So many ways to do this stuff’ , I like to start with the basic emitter, fiddle with the parameters & see what happens but my brain is still trying to make sense of it, 
This is one I enjoyed but can’t remember why i set that Random Range what i did, think i just wanted it going in one direction 
New WinRAR ZIP archive.zip (168.1 KB)
Thanks for all the detail @Alan_Lorence
I think my scene is looking pretty good. There’s only two more things I need to do.
- How do I set the emitter to stop emitting at a certain point in time?
I want the cloud to float through the air in this shot, shot #4. but in the scene, the thing that caused the cloud has already finished it’s kinetic impact in shot #3 so there should be no more emissions in shot 4.
- I need a static particle that looks like broken bark where a bullet hit a tree.
Hi, try Number
See here at the start there’s 1347 particles being emitted making the initial firework burst,
Then in the following frames it’s at 0 to stop it emitting after that initial burst
- I need a static particle that looks like broken bark where a bullet hit a tree.
Use the Basic Emitter, you can import your own PNG shapes into the Custom library , use Single particle. adjust with Size to make it bigger etc.
I tried number for the emitter and it appears to increase the number of particles that exist over the entire area of the cloud. So this would be useful for making the cloud more diffuse over time but it does not stop the emitter from generating new emissions.
I was hoping there would be a canned image to use but I’ll try the import function. I might have a screen grab of an image that will serve the shot using this method.
At the frame you want the emitter to “turn off” (stop creating new particles), set a key for the “Number” parameter at whatever value it’s at. Then move one frame ahead and set a new “Number” key with a value of “0”. That will stop creation of new particles.
If you want all of the particles to disappear at a specific frame, for instance if you’re cutting to a different shot – you can’t do that in PI. You have to treat each shot as separate and then edit together.
Alan.
Hi, Number does stop the particles being emitted ,
Here in this pic you see the Number is 12.3, I’ve created a keyframe by choosing Linear in the box at the end of Number.
Then i’ve moved the play cursor just one frame forward & set the Number to 0, another keyframe gets auto created
The problem you’re seeing is that the Pollen & Clouds have quite long lives so they stay on screen longer, I increased the project length from 300frames to 1200frames just so that it played out a bit longer giving the clouds n seeds time to dissipate,
If you want them to disappear quicker you’ll have to keyframe one of the other parameters like Size, zoom, opacity etc… so the particles can’t be seen after a certain time.
It’ll need to be a png with transparency around the bark chip, & when you import it choose Full color.
No that’s not it. I tried this and on my system, it’s not having any effect.
If that’s the design, I think maybe I found a bug in Resolve. I found a workaround though. I created a new mask shape in Mocha and animated that to move in space over time. It’ll do for this shot.
I don’t use Resolve very often & I’ve only got the Free version, but it works as i describe,
Keyframe for the Number,
Next frame set to 0,
Back in Resolve clouds
Then further down the timeline the clouds have all drifted away.
Dude. I know how to keyframe. I’ve been editing for 20 years. FYI, Boris products have had issues in Resolve since forever. Just listen to me when I say that I tried that and it’s not working.