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2. Select the Create⇒Particles⇒Super Spray menu command, and drag the icon in the viewport. Rotate and position the emitter icon so that its origin is right in the jet's exhaust port and the directional vector is pointing outward, away from the jet.

3. Open the Modify panel, and in the Basic Parameters rollout, set the Off Axis Spread value to 20 and the Off Plane Spread value to 90.

These settings focus the flames shooting from the jet's exhaust.

4. In the Particle Generation rollout, set the Emit Stop to 100, the Life value to 30, and the Particle Size to 5.0.

5. In the Particle Type rollout, select the Standard Particles option and select the Sphere type.

6. Open the Material Editor by pressing the M key, and select the first sample slot. Name this material Jet's Exhaust, and click the map button to the right of the Diffuse color.

7. From the Material/Map Browser that opens, select the Particle Age map. In the Particle Age Parameters rollout, select dark red, dark yellow, and black as colors for the ages 0, 50, and 100.

You should use darker colors because the scene is lighted.

8. Click the Go to Parent button to access the Jet's Exhaust material again, and then click the map button to the right of the Opacity setting. Select the Particle MBlur map.

9. In the Particle MBlur Parameters rollout, make Color #1 white and Color #2 black with a Sharpness value of 0.1. Then drag this material from its sample slot onto the particle system's icon to apply the material (or click the Assign Material to Selection button if the emitter icon is still selected).

10. With the Shift key held down, drag the Super Spray icon in the Front viewport to the other exhaust port. Make the new Super Spray an instance of the original.

Figure 41.17 shows the jet at frame 30 with its fiery exhaust.

FIGURE 41.17

Realistic jet flames created using the Particle Age and MBlur maps

Controlling Particles with Particle Flow

Particle systems like Super Spray are great for certain applications, but they suffer from an inflexibility. Each system has lots of parameters, but once the parameters are set, the particles follow the set parameters without changing. The Particle Flow system is an event-driven system that constantly tests its particles for certain criteria and alters its actions based on these defined criteria. This gives you the ability to program the particles to react in unique and different ways not possible with the other systems.

The Particle Flow Source option in the Create⇒Particles menu is more than just a new particle system: It is a whole new interface and paradigm that you can use to control particles throughout their life. This is accomplished using the Particle View window, where you can visually program the flow of particles.

The Particle View window

The Particle View window, shown in Figure 41.18, is opened by clicking the Particle View button in the Setup rollout when a Particle Flow Source icon is selected or by pressing the keyboard shortcut, 6. Pressing 6 opens the Particle View window even if its icon isn't selected.

FIGURE 41.18

The Particle View window lets you program the flow of particles using a visual editor.

The Particle View window is divided into four panes. The Event display contains all the event nodes. These nodes contain individual actions, and nodes can be wired to one another to define the flow. The Parameter pane in the upper-right corner displays the parameters in rollouts for the action selected in the Event display. The Depot pane is below the Event display pane and contains all the possible actions that can work with particles. In the lower right is a Description pane that offers a brief description of the action that is selected in the Depot pane. Except for the Event display pane, you can turn off the other panes using the Display menu.

In the lower-right corner of the window are several display tools. These tools can be used to navigate the Event display. The Display tools include Pan, Zoom,