# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Particles forming Shapes

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!**Image 1a:** Particles can move to the position of other particles
with *Keyed*
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!**Image 1b:** Particles can react to force fields of other
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_Note all the blender users of version 2.6X,
2.7X_: Using sort of a domain to dissolve the particles by
using the alpha parameter of the material is how I did it. You should
understand along the way. I'll write the sentences in key sequences to
reduce the size. So \[s\], 0.5, \[enter\] means to scale the object by
0.5. Don't worry you'll learn keyed physics here.

-   Open a new blender file.
-   Delete the default cube.
-   \[shift\]+\[A\],text.
-   \[num0\]
-   In the menu, below the tool shelf check align to view.
-   Select the text object, \[alt\]+\[c\], convert to mesh.
-   \[shift\]+\[a\], add Suzanne.
-   \[ctrl\]+\[2\], not the numpad.
-   Set smooth.
-   In the modifier's tab apply the subsurf immediately.
-   If you want you can scale the objects.
-   Add a particle system to text object.\[I leave the renaming parts to
    you\]
-   In the emission subpanel of the text object's particle system:
    Number:5000; Start/end(both):1; Emit from: faces, check random and
    even distribution, random; Physics: none; Uncheck emitter in the
    render subpanel and choose none rather than halo.; Set all to zero
    in the field weight's sub panel(actually I didn't notice much
    difference it even being on).;
-   Now add a particle system to Suzanne and give it the same particle
    system but make sure to have it made to a single user(just press the
    '2' beside the system name).
-   \[shift\]+\[a\], uv sphere.
-   Selecting the sphere, \[alt\]+\g\.
-   \[s\],2000,\[enter\].
-   \[ctrl\]+\[2\],set smooth and apply the modifier.
-   Give the same particle system to the sphere.
-   Now \num0\.
-   \[LMB\] on the pass partout(the greyed out area except for the
    camera).
-   \[shift\]+\[a\], add cube.
-   Give the cube a particle system.
-   Assign the same particle system but let's make a few changes: In the
    physics subpanel select keyed.; In the render subpanel choose halo.;
    In the menu labeled keys, click the '+' icon thrice and set the
    target object to text , Suzanne and sphere in order.; Now select the
    Suzanne's particle system in the keys menu, check use timing and set
    it to 200. Now select the sphere's and set the time to 7025! ( well
    this is just to lower the speed we won't render this).; And set the
    life time of these particles to 500.(this is in the emission
    subpanel).;
-   In the timeline header set the end frame to 300.
-   Now for the material. Select the cube and: Give it a new material.;
    Select halo.; Size: 0.03; Hardness: 16; Add: 1; RGB: As you desire
    how the particles appear.(I did RGB=0, 0.106, 0.8); Now go to frame
    260 and insert a keyframe to alpha value.; Now go to frame 270 and
    insert make the alpha value zero and insert another keyframe.;
-   Set the scene's gravity off.
-   \[ctrl\]+\F12\

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I will show on this page two ways to let particles take the shape of
other objects.

1.  keyed particle physics (**Img. 1a**)
2.  a harmonic force field with a damping of 1. The force field is
    emitted by another particle system, so that each particle is
    attracted by another particle (**Img. 1b**).

v2.48: The second method is easier to control, but I\'ve found that it may not work exact enough. Even if you use RK4 as calculation method, there are some glitches in the precision of the calculation, so that your particles may not come to a standstill (depending on the size of the particles and their number this may be visible or not).\
v2.49: That the particles didn\'t come to a standstill has been a bug that Jahka has fixed in 2.49. So if you use Version 2.49 and upwards you will find it easier to work with the harmonic force field.

## Keyed Physics

So here we\'re going to use keyed particle physics and quite a few
different particle systems.

Basically this is the way to go:

-   Use mesh objects and let them emit particles.
-   Each system moves to another system because of the keyed physics.
-   Choose a good visualization of the particles and animate that also.
-   At last the hard part: sync the different animations.

The animation shall last 300 frames, this will be 12 seconds.

:   \- In the first 2 seconds the word \"Blender\" shall appear (frame 1
    to 50).
:   \- Than Suzanne shall build up in 3 seconds (frame 51 to 150).
:   \- Suzanne shall be clearly visible for a few frames (frame 151 to
    200).
:   \- After that the form shall dissolve and the particles move a bit
    until they vanish (frame 200 to 300)

### Preparing the scene

-   Remove the cube.
-   Add a text object *Blender*. Name it *Blender-first*.
-   Add a *Suzanne* (*Add-\>Mesh-\>Monkey*). Name it *Suzanne-first*.
-   Convert the text object to a meshobject, because only mesh objects
    can emit particles (menu: *Object-\>Convert Object Type-\>Mesh*).
-   Move the objects to their final positions, also the camera.
-   **Clarification required - what are the final positions?** (**Noob
    note**: the author probably means to move the camera and objects to
    a right position for viewing the animation correctly.)

We need every visible object twice.

-   Duplicate *Blender-first* and call the duplicate *Blender-last*.
-   Duplicate *Suzanne-first* and call the duplicate *Suzanne-last*.

One problem is that the objects have different sizes. So how many
particles shall be used to create a clearly visible form? Since the most
difficult object is Suzanne, I have first chosen an acceptable
representation and set everything else accordingly. But I will discuss
the settings of the objects in order, and not in the way I did it in
reality.

### Set up the particle systems

**Blender-first:**

-   Add a particle system to *Blender-first*.
    -   Amount *20.000*
    -   *Sta:* 1, *End:* 50, *Life:* 50
-   *Emit from:*
    -   *Random/Faces/Even/Random*

Leave all other settings at default. This object will appear in the
first 50 frames. After that the object has to vanish in the 51st frame.

-   Insert a layer key for *Blender-first* in frame 50 (mouse over the
    3D window, **I**-\>*Layer*).
-   Change to frame 51.
-   Move the object to layer 20 (**M**-\>select layer, bottom right
    box). Make that layer visible.
-   Insert the next layer key for the object.
-   Make layer 20 invisible again (select layer 1).
-   Change back to frame 1.

**Suzanne-first**

-   Add a particle system.
    -   Amount *20.000*
    -   *Sta:* 50, *End:* 100, *Life:* 200 (we don\'t need this long
        life but the lifetime doesn\'t matter as long as it\'s long
        enough)
-   *Emit from:*
    -   *Random/Faces/Even/Random*
-   *Visualization: None*

Leave all other settings as default. These particles shall not move and
they shall not be visible. They are simply a target to the next system.

-   Animate the layer of this object also. Move it out of sight in frame
    151.

**Blender-last**

These particles shall move from the shape \"Blender\" to the \"Suzanne\"
shape.

-   Add a particle system to *Blender-last*.
    -   Amount *20.000*
    -   *Sta:* 51, *End:* 51, *Life:* 100
-   *Emit from:*
    -   *Random/Faces/Even/Random*
-   Physics:
    -   *First/Keyed* It is the first system of a chain (a very short
        chain in this example) of systems.
    -   *Keyed Target:* Suzanne-first, *Psys:* 1. Target is the first
        particle system of \"Suzanne-first\".
-   Set time to *Absolute* in the *Extras* panel. We\'re going to
    animate the material of the particles, I want all particles to
    change at once in a certain frame.

framed\|none\|**Image 2a:** Particle system of the first keyed
system.

**Suzanne-last**

These particles shall dissolve the form, so at first they take the shape
and move around randomly afterwards.

-   Add a particle system to *Suzanne-last*.
    -   Amount *20.000*
    -   *Sta:* 151, *End:* 151, *Life:* 150, *Rand:* 0.5. The lifetime
        is randomized from 151/2 to 151 frames. \[Noob Note: In 2.49a,
        you can\'t set the start later than the end, so you must first
        change the end to 151, then change the start.\]
-   *Emit from:*
    -   *Random/Faces/Even/Random*
-   *Bake:* *End* frame 300. Though we don\'t use baking here, you have
    to set the *End* frame in the *Bake* panel. Else the last 50 frames
    wouldn\'t be calculated.
-   *Time: Absolute*

framed\|**Image 2b:** Animation of Brownian
Motion
Animate the Brownian motion of the particles.

-   Open an *Ipo* window.
-   Select *Ipo Type* particles.
-   Select the *Brown* channel (**LMB**).
-   **Ctrl-Click** with the left mouse button in the *Ipo* window to
    create an Ipo-key for the selected channel.
-   Create a curve similar to **Img. 2b**. **Brown** = 0 to frame 200,
    than increase to **Brown** = 4 in frame 217.

### Material

Blender-first and Blender-last will get the same material, Suzanne-first
is invisible anyway, but Suzanne-last will get a material. The material
of the three objects is very similar, but I have animated the visibility
of the particles to match the brightness of the objects.

framed\|none\|**Image 2c:** Material settings for the
particles
**Suzanne-last**\
\* Create a simple *Halo* material like that in **Img. 2c**. This is
nothing special, relatively small particles with a relatively \"sharp\"
edge. The *Add* parameter gives more brightness if particles overlap, I
think this is a nice effect here.

**Blender-first**

-   Assign the material also to \"Blender-first\".
-   Make the material a *Single User Copy* by clicking on the small
    number next to the material name.
-   Set *Alpha* to 0.438.

**Blender-last**

-   Assign the \"Blender-first\" also to \'\'Blender-last\".
-   Make the material a *Single User Copy* by clicking on the small
    number next to the material name.
-   Animate the alpha value of the material.
    -   Insert an *Ipo* key for *Alpha* in frame 50.
    -   Change to frame 150.
    -   Set *Alpha* to 1.
    -   Insert an *Ipo* key for *Alpha*.

Now the brightness of all systems are matched.

### Links

-   Manual about Particle
    physics

## Harmonic Force Fields

So here we will use *Harmonic* force fields. The Text \"Blender\" shall
be transformed to the text \"2.5\" and than to the text \"The big leap
forward\" (**Img. 1b**).

-   Use mesh objects and let them emit particles. Only the particles
    from the first object are visible and move.
-   The other particle systems use an animated *Harmonic* force field to
    attract the particles from the first system.
-   The particles from the first system take the place of the other
    particles.
-   Choose a good visualization of the particles and animate that also.
    This is difficult and maybe you should animate the visualization at
    last.
-   At last the hard part: sync the different animations and force
    fields.

### Preparing the scene

-   Remove the cube.
-   Add three text objects:
    -   \"Blender\"
    -   \"2.5\"
    -   \"The big leap forward\"
-   Convert the text objects to mesh objects (menu: *Object-\>Convert
    Object Type-\>Mesh*).

### Set up the particle systems

-   Give each of the three objects its own particle system.
-   The first object \"Blender\" gets following system:
    -   Type *Emitter*
    -   *Amount*=4000. We need a lot of particles, to fill the last text
        evenly. If you want to make the animation even better, you could
        animate the *Halo* size of the particles to match the density of
        the different objects.
    -   *Sta(rt)*=1, *End*=10, *Life*=250. The particles are created
        from the first to the 10th frame and live for 250 frames.

Only the particles of this system will be visible later.

-   Change the calculation method from *Midpoint* to *RK4*. We need the
    extra precision here.

The objects \"2.5\" and \"The big leap forward\" will get particle
systems with very similar settings:

-   \"2.5\":
    -   Type *Emitter*
    -   *Amount*=4000
    -   *Sta(rt)*=30, *End*=30, *Life*=70. So all the particles are
        emitted in frame 30 and live 70 frames. So their force field
        (which we give them soon) will start in frame 30 also. If you
        want a smoother transition you should give the particles a bit
        more time to be emitted (like from frame 30 to frame 40).
    -   Emit from *Random*/*Faces*/*Even*/*Random*.
    -   Phyics *None*. The target particles shall not move.
    -   Visualisation *None*. The target particles are not rendered.
-   \"The big leap forward\": All settings as for \"2.5\", except *Sta*,
    *End* and *Life*.
    -   *Sta*=101, *End*=101, *Life*=90.

### The force fields

framed\|**Image 3a:** The object does not get a force
field.
The **particle systems** of the objects \"2.5\" and \"The big leap
forward\" will get a force field now. The objects **don\'t** get a force
field.

-   Select the object \"2.5\".
-   Select the particle system in the *Field* panel of the *Physics*
    buttons (**Img. 3a**).

framed\|**Image 3b:** The particle system gets the force
field.

-   Use field type *Harmonic*. Now the particles from the object \"2.5\"
    do attract the particles from the object \"Blender\".
-   The *Strength* of the force field determines the time the particles
    need to reach the target. Set it accordingly.
-   The *Damp*(ing) makes sure, that the particles move to their target
    but not beyond.

Do the same for the object \"The big leap \...\", i.e. select the
particle system and give it a *Harmonic* force field.

I have used a *Wind* field in the last frames to blow the particles
away.

(Noobie Warning: When i followed the tutorials up to this point, i
didn\'t know how to use wind. I thought selecting *Wind* instead of
*Harmonic* would create the effect but then blender froze on me (I am
guessing it went away and calculated wind for every single particle). so
don\'t try wind yet. Wind is instructed in later tutorials.)


### Links

-   The Blend file to
    download
-   The manual about force
    fields

