Data Mapping¶

Data Mapping converts a particle, simulation, timeline, procedural, or Mask value into a supported effect parameter. Mappings can replace the control, multiply it, add to it, and be layered in a defined order.

Use Data Mapping when a parameter must vary per particle. Use a Mask when only the overall influence of an emitter, effect, Logic condition, or mapping must vary. A mapping can itself read a Mask, which is useful when a spatial Mask should produce a parameter value rather than only fade an effect.

On Effects, particle Data Mapping applies to the Particles domain. Cloth, Soft Body, and Strands use the effect's base values. Use deformable material maps to vary supported material parameters within an object. Collider surface Weight Maps use contact-surface data as described below. See Common effect settings.

Lists workflow¶

1. Select an Effect and open its Data Mapping section.
2. Choose Add Mapping... and select the target parameter. The menu contains only targets supported by the current effect configuration.
3. Choose Source.
4. Set Source Min and Source Max. The source is normalized between these values.
5. Choose Outside Range for source values below or above that interval.
6. Set Output Min and Output Max. The normalized result selects a value between them.
7. Choose Apply Mode and Influence to combine the mapped result with the value already produced for that parameter.
8. Enable Remapping Curve only when the linear response needs reshaping. Use Presets above its editor to apply or save a curve shape.

Mappings are evaluated from top to bottom as displayed in the list. Several mappings may target the same parameter. Each layer receives the result of the preceding layer, which makes order significant for Add, Multiply, and mixed stacks.

Disabling a mapping removes that layer without deleting it. Removing all enabled mappings for a target returns control to the effect's ordinary value.

Nodes workflow¶

Select an Effect node and use Inspector > Data Mapping > Add Mapping.... Pro Physics creates a Float Field or Vector Field and connects it to the target input.

• An unconnected target uses the value shown on the Effect node or in the Inspector.
• Removing the Field link restores that ordinary value.
• Connect another Field to Previous to layer mappings. The chain is evaluated from the first Field through the last connected Field.
• With Source: Mask, connect a single or composed Mask to Mask Source. When this input is unconnected, the Field provides its own Add Mask... list, also available in the Inspector. A connected expression takes precedence over that local list.
• A Vector Field provides vector Output Min/Max and supports Replace or Add. Direction and axis targets are Replace-only.
• Field nodes can cross Physics Group boundaries. Expose a uniform value as a group socket when it should vary per group instance; use a Field when it should vary per particle.

Source normalization, curves, output ranges, Apply Mode and Influence work the same way in Lists and Nodes. Each mode keeps its own mapping settings; changes do not carry over between them.

Collider surface maps¶

For a collider contact parameter, choose Source: Weight Map, then select Map. Only the Map selector is shown for this source. An empty Map leaves the parameter unchanged until a map is selected. Weight 0 disables that parameter locally; weight 1 uses its full value. The collider remains solid. Surface maps multiply the control after ordinary particle mappings, so the general range, curve, Apply Mode and Influence controls do not apply to this source.

In Lists, add the mapping on the collider. In Nodes, add it through the collider's Inspector and choose the Map on the connected Field or Pyro Mapping node. Use one enabled Weight Map per parameter. Every collider mesh in a Collection must provide the chosen name. See Collision and Pyro colliders.

Evaluation order¶

For every selected particle, a mapping performs these operations:

1. Read the source value.
2. Convert it from Source Min/Max to normalized space.
3. Apply Outside Range.
4. Evaluate the optional Remapping Curve.
5. Convert the result to Output Min/Max.
6. Apply Replace, Multiply, or Add to the current target value.
7. Blend between the previous and applied value with Influence.

This order matters. For example, Output Min/Max defines the actual multiplier in Multiply mode. To fade a strength from none to its ordinary value, map to 0 through 1 and use Multiply. To author an absolute value range, use Replace.

Apply Mode and Influence¶

• Replace: uses the mapped output as the target value.
• Multiply: multiplies the current target value by the mapped output. New scalar mappings default to Multiply except for absolute Set values and thresholds.
• Add: adds the mapped output to the current value.
• Influence: blends between the value before and after this mapping. At 0 the layer does nothing; at 1 it contributes its full result.

Vector targets allow Replace and Add. Directional targets such as Vortex Axis and Rotation Axis are Replace-only because component-wise multiplication would not provide a useful direction.

Source and output ranges¶

Source Min maps to Output Min; Source Max maps to Output Max. Output Min may be larger than Output Max to reverse the response. A zero-width source range resolves to the start of the mapping rather than dividing by zero.

Outside Range controls values outside Source Min/Max:

• Clamp: holds the first or last mapping value.
• Repeat: repeats the normalized 0-to-1 interval.
• Ping-Pong: alternates forward and backward through the interval.
• Continue: continues beyond the interval. With a curve, continuation follows its endpoint slope.

The optional Remapping Curve receives the normalized result before Output Min/Max. Use it for ease-in, plateaus, thresholds or other non-linear responses.

Sources¶

Time and identity¶

• Life Progress: normalized age, 0 at birth and 1 at the end of the particle's lifetime.
• Age: elapsed particle age. Choose Frames or Seconds for Source Min/Max.
• Life: the particle's total lifetime, not its remaining lifetime. Choose Frames or Seconds.
• Document Time: simulation time on the Blender timeline. Choose Frames or Seconds.
• Particle ID: stable particle identifier. Use it with Repeat and Ping-Pong for bands or repeating patterns.
• Group: current numeric group value. Named group selectors are used elsewhere in the UI, but a mapping treats the stored group value as a scalar source.

Motion and particle data¶

• Velocity: one signed X, Y, or Z component.
• Speed: velocity magnitude.
• Acceleration: non-negative acceleration magnitude measured from the previous simulation step.
• Distance Traveled: accumulated world-space travel distance.
• Mass, Radius, and Scale: current values. Scale can read Average, X, Y, Z, or Maximum.
• Emitter Vertex Weight: emitter selection weight captured when the particle was born, available for Collision contact parameters.
• Weight Map: vertex group or Float / Point attribute on a collider mesh. Available for Collision, Dynamic Collider and Pyro Collider contact parameters. This weight is sampled on the contacted surface. Gravity and other unrelated effects do not offer weight sources.
• Color R, Color G, Color B, and Color Luminance: current particle color channels. Luminance uses the perceptual RGB weighting rather than a simple average.

Neighborhood and procedural sources¶

• Neighbors: number of particles found inside Search Radius.
• Fluid Density: local mass density measured inside Search Radius.
• Noise: animated spatial noise with Noise Scale, Noise Speed, Noise Seed, and Octaves. For this Data Mapping source, higher Noise Scale produces smaller spatial features. This control is not the same scale convention as the Advanced Color Noise factor.

Neighbors and Fluid Density require a spatial neighborhood search. Keep Search Radius close to the scale needed by the effect, especially with large particle counts.

Transferred and persistent data¶

• Smoke, Temperature, Fuel, and Flame: persistent fields already transferred to the particle, for example by Volume Advection.
• User Float 1, User Float 2, User Integer, and User Vector X/Y/Z: persistent values written by Conditional Logic.
• Mask: combined 0-to-1 output of the mapping's own Mask list or a connected Nodes expression.

Choose Source: Mask, then use Add Mask... within that mapping to create masks or reuse existing definitions. Add, remove, reorder, enable and blend them independently of the effect's Influence Masks. Each use has its own Enabled, Blend Mode and Influence; definition settings, including Invert Output, are shared when a mask is reused. An empty or entirely disabled mapping Mask list leaves the ordinary parameter unchanged.

Supported targets¶

The menu is configuration-aware. For example, FLIP hides Splashiness while APIC is selected, Scale exposes only its active Float or Vector target, Avoid hides Strength and Scatter outside Steer mode, and Particle Constraints shows only targets used by its selected type.

Planar Constraint has no mappable target. Dendrite mappings belong to individual Growth Layers in Lists and Branch component nodes in Pro Physics, not to the parent Dendrite effect.

Practical examples¶

Fade Curl Noise over particle life¶

1. Add a mapping for Curl Noise Strength.
2. Set Source to Life Progress and Source Min/Max to 0 and 1.
3. Use Multiply with Output Min/Max of 1 and 0.
4. Enable the curve and flatten its last section if the motion should stop before death.

The ordinary Curl Noise Strength remains the peak strength because the mapping multiplies it by a 1-to-0 factor.

Drive collision friction from a Mask¶

1. Add a Collision mapping for Friction.
2. Choose Mask as Source.
3. Use Add Mask... inside that mapping to create or reuse a spatial Mask.
4. Use Replace for an absolute friction range, or Multiply to preserve the ordinary Friction as the maximum.
5. Set Output Min/Max for the unmasked and masked regions.

Troubleshooting¶

Use Particle Inspector to read a mapping layer's Input and combined Result, or display the sampled values in the viewport. A newly selected mapping must run for one simulation step before its evaluations are available.

• The ordinary control still matters: Replace overrides it at full Influence. Multiply and Add start from it.
• A second mapping changes the first: mappings are layers. Check their visible top-to-bottom order and Apply Modes.
• A Mapping disappears from Add Mapping: the current solver mode may not use that target. Check the effect type and its mode-specific controls.
• A Mask source produces no result: add and enable masks in the mapping's own list. In Nodes, use that list or connect a single or composed Mask to Mask Source. Required source objects must be assigned.
• Neighbor-driven mappings are slow: reduce Search Radius and avoid adding several neighborhood sources when one shared artistic control is sufficient.
• Frame and second ranges do not match: the selected Unit converts the displayed source range using the scene frame rate. Life Progress is already normalized and has no time unit.