9.5.2

OBJECTS MENU • PARTICLES • 377
Particles
Ever wanted to create shark-infested waters, an intergalactic eet with hundreds of starships, or just
some swirly cigarette smoke? CINEMA 4D’s particle system will do all of this for you, and much more,
in a very easy and intuitive way.
The optional Thinking Particles module enables you to create high-end,
studio-quality particle effects directly within CINEMA 4D. Thinking Particles
gives you astonishing control over particle streams with features such as
nodes, spawning, object-based collisions and much more. For full details on
Thinking Particles, please contact your local MAXON representative or visit
www.maxon.net.
At the heart of CINEMA 4D’s particle system is the emitter, which ejects a stream of particles. These
particles and their shapes can be modied by various parameters and controls to produce, amongst
other effects, rotating, deecting and decelerating particles. It’s a simple as this:
 Create an emitter (Objects > Particle > Emitter).
 Click the Play icon in the animation toolbar and view the default particle
system in the viewport.
 Make an object a child of the emitter (a sphere is suitable for now). In
the Attribute manager, ensure that the emitter’s Show Objects option is
enabled.
CINEMA 4D enables you to use any object as particles — not only spheres, but also complex, grouped
objects with hierarchies such as a jointed bird or a car. Even light sources can be used as particles.
You can create re or smoke effects very easily using visible lights, and particles can even cast lights
and shadows. All objects in the emitter can be fully animated to create, for example, birds that y
and sh that swim.