New Features in Particular 2.2

Are you ready to read something exciting? This page lists the new and improved features in Particular 2. If you know Particular 1 or Particular 1.5, then you will be amazed by the new things we thought of, and pleased with often-requested features that we added in.

Recent updates in 2.2

The free Particular 2.2 update adds minor enhancements and some bonus features. If you are using Particular 2.0 or 2.1, you can update to version 2.2 from this Updates page.

- The new maximum visible particles has been raised to 20 million. Wow!
- In the Emitter> Emission Extras group, the new Lights Unique Seeds checkbox lets you set a unique random seed for each light emitter, in scenes that have multiple lights emitting particles. Learn more
- The Emitter> Layer Emitter subgroup has a new default mode called Still. The Still mode should be active when a still image is used as a Layer Emitter. Learn more
- In Emitter> Layer Emitter, the new Layer RGB Usage mode RGB – XYZ Velocity lets particles get their velocity from the RGB of the layer used as an emitter.
- The Transform World controls have been renamed to differentiate them from the Emitter controls, which is helpful when you are writing expressions. Learn more
- In the Rendering group, the new Particle Amount control lets you quickly change the amount of particles shown for previewing. Learn more
- In the Physics> Air> Turbulence Field subgroup, the Affect Position control now goes into negative numbers for a greater range of control. Learn more
- Bug fix: The Layer Grid emitter has been fixed so it now properly kills particles if their alpha is 0, which is helpful when working with Aux System particles. Learn more

New features in 2.0

Here is a list of the major controls that have changed or been added in Particular 2.0.

- There is a new Shading group. Particular 2 needs you to set up AE lights in the Timeline, but once you've done that, Particular can add special effects shading. These particles are illuminated based on After Effects' light characteristics. As a bonus, the Shading controls can die directly into Trapcode Lux. Learn more
- On a related note: Shadowlets. This new kind of Shading object creates a shadow off the main light, like a 'projected shadow'. Basically a volumetric cone shaded simulation of the shadow from the light's perspective. Learn more
- The Particle Type popup in the Particle group has been renovated. In the Particle Type popup, the Layer Source types are now called Sprites. Learn more
- There is a new Particle Type called Texture Polygons. While Sprite (formerly Layer Source) objects always face the 3D camera and don't move independently, the new Texture Polygons are objects with their own independent 3D rotation and space. Learn more
- The Rotation controls in the Particle group are brand spankin' new. Learn more
- The World Transform group now transforms the camera without moving the camera in the scene. In other words, you don't have to move the camera to move the particles. Learn more
- In the Transform group, there is a new Particle Type called Streaklet. It gives you a glowy, streaky 'iPod effect'. The Streaklet coordinates with the new Emitter> Position Subframe control. Learn more
- In the Rendering group, there is now a Transfer Mode. This menu has the usual suspects. The benefit is that it lets you stack multiple Particulars on one layer, and you can also apply particular to video footage. Learn more
- This isn't a new feature but it was an often overlooked one. In the Options menu, you can set up multiple light sources (and now shadowlets) very easily. Just use the Light Emitter 'Name Starts With' and the Shadowlet 'Light Name' options. You can set up to 128 light sources and now up to 32 Shadowlets. Learn more

Layout changes in 2.0

- There is no longer a Preview Window. The Preview was a way to preview Particular thumbnail animations and get a feel of the physics in real time. This feature was a little confusing so we removed it.
- New Options menu. Previously, the Options window had a lotta stuff in it. We have removed all but two parameters. Those controls are now in the Effects menu. Learn more
- A custom particle layer no longer has to start at the same frame as Particular. In version 1.5, you had to start the Layer Source at 0; otherwise, a blank frame would show. This behavior often led to flickering because the custom particle layer was offset by one or a few frames, which you could not see that without zooming into the Timeline. Now layers used for Sprites or Textured Polygons can start at any point on the Timeline. The layers do not have to be aligned in time.
  NOTE: The custom particle layer/pre-comp still needs to have the SAME FRAME-RATE as the Particular comp for predictable behavior.
  ALSO: Animation Presets still need to be applied to the first frame of the Timeline.
- You don't have to use a composition-sized Solid if you are applying Particular to a Solid layer, although we suggest doing so.
- With the addition of Transfer Modes, you can apply Particular to other media layers, like video footage. Useful for stacking multiple instances of the effect on one layer. Also useful for applying particles to footage or other effects.

Performance optimizations in 2.0

- We spent a lot of time on multi-threading performance. While we have added many new render-intensive features, you will find that the render time really isn't impacted. Threading now divides the computational load onto the existing cores and CPU's to make the effect render faster.
- Countless other small bugs and performance improvements have been made. For instance, a cause of flickering in Particular 1.5 was a bug with the Texture group> Time Sampling> Split-Clip Loop and Random - Loop. These have now been fixed.
- Increased maximum particle limit now allows quick bursts of 1 million particles per second.
- Float allows super-bright (luminant) particles which look great with, for example, motion blur. Particular 2 has a complete float implementation so all colors, even the custom color gradient UI support 32 bpc float. A must-have if you use float compositing seriously.
- For views like 4 Views, the new Ortho rendering support enables viewing a scene from many directions (front, top, left) at the same time. Very helpful when setting up complex 3D animations. A camera must exist in the comp for this option to work (Layer> New> Camera).

Compatible with Particular 1.0/1.5 projects

Particular 2.0 can load projects made in Particular 1.5 and convert to 2.0 projects. Doing this will display a warning. Note that the new renderer is not pixel-perfect with the old, so it is a good idea to save your new project with a new name, in case you for some reason need to go back to using the old. Also, never mix Particular 1.5 and 2.0 in a render-farm.

You can open a Particular 1.0 or 1.5 project in Particular 2.0. You will get a standard After Effects message that says the project will be converted and needs to be resaved. Any old project file that contains the Smokelet Particle Type is automatically converted to use Cloudlet+Shadowlet.