Particle and Effect Nodes¶

Connect Source, Emitter and Effect nodes to build a particle or deformable simulation. They use the same settings as Lists, with additional connections for branching, mapping and components.

Where to find it¶

Use Shift+A > Emitter for Emitter and Source nodes. Effect nodes are grouped under the same Forces, Collision & Interaction, Flow & Path, Behavior, Logic, Modify and Lifecycle categories used by the Lists Add Effect... menu.

Source, Emitter and Effect connections¶

Source nodes¶

Surface Source, Volume Source, Curve Source and Shape Source each own one source definition and output Source. Connect one or more of them to the Emitter's ordered multi-input Sources socket.

A Source node can be shared by compatible emitters. Sharing one source across incompatible particle, deformable or strand emitters shows an error.

Source settings, source collections, selection data, packed Volume modes, velocity overrides and multi-source weighting are documented in Emitters.

Emitter¶

The Emitter node combines its linked Source definitions and owns the birth settings for Particles, Cloth, Soft Body or Strands.

Sockets¶

• Sources: ordered multi-input Emission Source socket.
• Particles: ordinary particle stream and the particle representation of deformable emitters where a simulation effect consumes that stream.
• Geometry: deformable geometry for Cloth, Soft Body and Strands. Ordinary particle emitters require a geometry-producing post effect before Geometry output.
• Mask: graph expression controlling birth probability.
• Color: Advanced Color expression evaluated at birth.
• deformable Field inputs: Density, Damping, Pin Strength, Collision Thickness, Cloth stiffness/break controls, Soft Body stiffness, Strand radius/stiffness/break controls, Balloon Pressure, Plasticity and contact controls. Unsupported inputs are hidden for emitter types that cannot use them.
• Pyro: live Pyro Volume enabling Cloth, Soft Body or Strands interaction when connected from Pyro Dynamics.
• Cloth Constraints: ordered Settings chain for Attach, Stitch and Sew components when the emitter type supports them.

The Inspector exposes the complete Emitter and Source controls. See Emitters for particle birth behavior and Cloth, Soft Body & Strands for deformable parameters, maps, constraints and Pyro coupling.

Effect node connections¶

Every effect in Shift+A > Forces / Collision & Interaction / Flow & Path / Behavior / Logic / Modify / Lifecycle has its own node. Each effect has:

• Particles input: required simulation stream.
• Mask input: optional graph mask. On a partial Emitter Branch, use a linked Mask instead of combining branch scope with the effect's Apply to selector.
• Particles output: resulting stream after that effect.
• Inspector: complete effect settings, including controls not kept on the compact node body.

Some effects provide additional inputs:

Disconnecting a Field or Color input restores the node's local property value. Muting an Effect node bypasses the effect while preserving graph topology.

For Volume Advection, selecting Source: Pro Pyro requires a connection from Pyro Dynamics / Volume to Pyro Volume. Use the Dynamics branch connected to Simulation Output / Pyro, with Pyro active in Nodes mode. A missing or inactive connection blocks simulation and marks the node as an error. A connected Pyro Volume selects the live Pyro source. With Source: VDB Volume, select a Volume Object; an empty selection shows a warning and the effect contributes no motion or field transfer.

Branch scope¶

A partial stream created by Emitter Branch is intentionally restricted. The following effects can operate on a partial emitter population before the branches are reunited:

Gravity, Wind, Drag, Turbulence, Curl Noise, Attractor, Vortex, Rotation, Strange Attractor, Explosion, Change Radius, Change Mass, Change Group, Change Direction, Set Speed, Scale, Freeze and Delete.

Other effects require the complete particle stream and must be placed after Merge Disjoint Streams. This includes domain/neighborhood solvers, Logic and post-simulation systems whose result depends on the complete population. Placing one on a partial branch shows a graph error.

Forces¶

Collision and Interaction¶

Flow and Path¶

Behavior and Logic¶

Modify and Lifecycle¶

Troubleshooting¶

• A specialized effect turns red on an Emitter Branch: reunite the particle partitions before that effect. Only the explicitly branchable effects listed above accept a partial emitter scope.
• An effect on a partial branch also uses Apply to: set the effect to All and use a linked Mask for the additional selection.
• A mapped value appears to ignore the local control: a connected Field or Color socket owns that value. Disconnect the socket to return to the local property.
• A deformable Field socket is missing: the active emitter type or feature toggle does not support that parameter. The Inspector shows only valid controls.
• Particle Emitter Geometry is rejected: ordinary particles need Point Cloud, Trails, Instance, Mesher or another geometry-producing post effect before a Geometry output.