5.5

500Motion User Guide
Create complex particles using multiple source layers
You can add as many cells as you want in a single emitter, creating complex compositions
with different overlapping particles.
1. Add one or more image layers to your Motion project.
2. In the Layers list, select the layers to use as the particle cells, then do one of the
following:
• In the toolbar, click the Make Particles button.
• Press E.
A new particle emitter layer appears in the Layers list and in the canvas. The
emitter’s cells (the image layers you selected in the previous step) appear in Layers
list under the emitter object.
3. To create additional cells for the emitter, drag layers in the Layers list onto an existing
emitter.
Note: An item dragged from the Library to an emitter is not added to the emitter;
instead, it’s added as a layer in a new group.
The layers you drag are copied to the particle system, appearing as new source cells
in the Layers list (under the emitter) and in the canvas as part of the complex particle
system. The original layers remain as standalone items in the project. To hide an original
layer in the canvas, deselect its activation checkbox in the Layers list. (However, note
that if you delete an original layer, its source cell is deleted from the particle system.)
When you play the project, each source cell generates particles simultaneously, according
to each source cell’s parameters. When selected in the Layers list, each cell displays its
own Particle Cell Inspector.
Note: When multiple sources are used to create a particle system, the resulting emitter is
positioned in the canvas at the average of the sources’ positions.
Optimize particle system resolution to improve playback performance
Particle systems often create particles that grow or move off the canvas before they “die.”
This can make the size of a layer or group much larger than the dimensions of the canvas.
Although the particles are not visible after they move off the canvas (unless Show Full View
Area is enabled in the View menu), they’re still present in the project and are processed.
You can improve playback performance by constraining the resolution (height and width) of
the group containing the particle emitter.
Note: Using a movie with applied filters as a particle cell source adversely impacts your
computer’s processing performance. For better performance, export your sequence with
the filter applied, then import it back into Motion and use the movie as the cell source.
1. In the Layers list in Motion, select a group that contains a particle emitter.
2. In the Group Inspector, select the Fixed Resolution checkbox.
See Constrain group size in Motion.