Particle Info¶
Pro Particles Particle Info reads particle attributes in materials and Geometry Nodes. It operates on Blender Geometry or Output Cache playback. Native GPU Preview alone does not create geometry attributes for Blender nodes.
Setup¶
- Add a Point Cloud, Instance, or Trails post effect. Select Blender Geometry.
- Open Attributes > Geometry Attributes and select the required channels.
- In the Shader Editor or Geometry Nodes editor, use Add > Pro Particles Particle Info, or search for that name.
- Connect its outputs to the material or Geometry Nodes graph. Unused outputs are initially hidden; use Item > Particle Info > Show / Hide Unused Outputs to reveal them.
The node reads the geometry being processed or shaded. It does not select an emitter or start a simulation. Group and emitter filtering remains on the post effect. Lists and Pro Physics Nodes produce the same attributes, with separate settings in each mode.
Attribute selection¶
Basic retains the existing core channels. All retains the channel set used by 5.3 projects until Extended Channels is enabled. Custom includes only checked channels; Position is always present. Enable Full Particle ID to include both ID halves.
Select only the attributes needed by the graph. Additional channels increase transfer, geometry and cache memory. Speed and Alpha are derived from Velocity and Color and require no separate output channel.
For Trails, enable Particle Info in Attributes before simulating, then select a profile. Values are recorded at each sample, including after the source particle dies. Changing the selection starts a new attribute history; resimulate to record earlier frames. This option increases history memory and uses the full trail geometry path. Leave it disabled for the existing lightweight preview and history workflow. Radius and Color retain the trail's resolved thickness and coloring controls.
Outputs¶
| Output | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Color / Alpha | Output particle color and alpha. The geometry color attribute is col, never color. |
| Radius | The output's radius attribute. Point Cloud and Trails use their resolved radius; Instance exposes particle radius. |
| Scale | Particle geometry scale, independent from radius and instance source transforms. |
| Particle Position | World-space particle center. On an instance, this differs from the shaded surface position. |
| Velocity / Speed | World-space velocity per simulated second and its magnitude. Frozen particles export zero velocity. |
| Rotation | Particle orientation. Geometry Nodes receives a Rotation field; shaders receive XYZ Euler angles in radians. |
| Angular Velocity | World-space radians per simulated second. Frozen particles export zero. |
| Age / Lifetime | Simulated seconds, including Time Scale. |
| Normalized Age | Age divided by lifetime, clamped to 0 through 1. Reads the existing life attribute. |
| Particle ID | Existing 32-bit id. Blender can transform this built-in ID during realization. |
| ID Low / ID High | Exact signed integer representations of the two 32-bit halves of the complete particle ID. |
| Group ID / Emitter ID | Current group and originating emitter identity. |
| Stable Random | A value in [0, 1) derived from the complete particle ID. Independent from particle ordering. |
| Mass | Particle mass. |
| Fluid Density | Most recently stored fluid density; zero when unavailable. |
| Distance Traveled | Accumulated particle travel distance. |
| Smoke / Temperature / Fuel / Flame | Particle values, including values transferred from Pyro. These outputs do not directly sample a Pyro volume. |
| User Float 1 / User Float 2 / User Integer / User Vector | Persistent user data written by Logic. |
Shader integer outputs use floating point and cannot represent every large integer exactly. Use Stable Random for shader variation and the integer ID Low / ID High fields in Geometry Nodes for exact identity. Treat both halves together as a key; do not add them as ordinary signed numbers.
Trails interpolate continuous values between recorded samples and keep discrete IDs and integer channels from the nearest endpoint. Rotation interpolation preserves a normalized orientation.
Shader source¶
Select the Particle Info node and open Item > Particle Info > Source:
- Geometry: points, curves, mesh surfaces and realized instances.
- Instancer: non-realized Geometry Nodes instances. The material belongs to the instanced object; the particle values belong to the instances.
Switching Source preserves connected outputs. Use Geometry after Realize Instances. Blender gives a source geometry attribute precedence over an identically named instance attribute during realization, so avoid conflicting particle attribute names on the source geometry when relying on propagated values.
Missing data and caches¶
An unexported channel reads zero. Check the post effect's attribute selection before interpreting zero as a simulation value. A saved cache contains only channels recorded while baking; enabling a new channel during playback cannot reconstruct it. Re-bake when more data is required.
Existing 5.3 materials using col, velocity, radius, life, id and the other released names remain valid. Particle Info groups use standard Blender nodes and are saved in the project. Cached geometry and materials can be evaluated without a running solver.
The extended channels are stored by Output Cache. Alembic particle export retains its separate attribute selection and does not include these additional channels.
Mesher exposes its enabled Color and Velocity transfers and source contribution maps. A reconstructed surface combines contributions from multiple particles and has no unique Particle ID or recorded particle lifecycle. Particle Info reads only attributes actually present on that mesh.
See Post Effects and Caching and Output for output setup.