Adding Particles to Clips

The basic steps for adding an emitter to a clip are:

• Select an emitter from the library.
• Choose an Emitter tool.
• Place the emitter on the clip.

When you play the clip, the emitter creates particles.

Although the Particles operator is simple to use, there is also a lot of power behind the simplicity. This power allows you to create an almost endless variety of particle effects.

First, experiment with the library emitters, then start modifying them. For example, change the particle shapes and colors. Eventually, you learn about all the properties you can adjust for the emitters and particle types.

Note: The Particles operator takes advantage of OpenGL hardware if the system has it. Otherwise, it uses the software-based OpenGL renderer which is somewhat slower. The viewport automatically switches to OpenGL mode and the Particles preview also uses OpenGL. For more information, see Using OpenGL.

The Particles operator can only input an 8-bit image stream. If you add it to an operator that uses a higher bit depth, the warning icon   appears in the status bar. Double-click it to show a list of the error messages. The bit depth message is similar to "Bit depth '10 bit' is not supported in OpenGL. '8 bit' is used instead."

Whenever you use an operator (for example, a third-party plug-in) that only works using 8-bit, the operator icon becomes red as shown previously with the Particles operator.