Creating Text Particles


You can also create particles from any text object by selecting the object and clicking the Make Particles button in the toolbar. In this exercise, you'll create rain particles using the RAIN text object. First, let's change the play range in the mini-Timeline to isolate the Rain layer.

1.

On the Layers tab, select the RAIN text object on the Rain layer.

2.

Press Shift-I to move the playhead to the beginning of the selected object in the mini-Timeline; then press Option-Cmd-I to set the play range In point.

3.

Press Shift-O to move the playhead to the end of the selected object; then press Option-Cmd-O to set the play range Out point.

4.

Press the spacebar to play the Rain section of the project.

The goal in this exercise is to create rain from the word RAIN. There are two ways to accomplish this. You could select the RAIN text object and create particles from it. The downside of that technique is that you would have to set all of the particle parameters to achieve a rainlike effect. The alternative approach is to duplicate the Rain emitterwhich currently showers the frame with raindropsand replace the raindrop object in the duplicate emitter with the RAIN text object. That sounds much easier. Let's try it. First, let's clean up the Layers tab to make it easier to focus on the Rain layer.

5.

On the Layers tab, click the disclosure triangle to close all of the open layers except for the Rain layer.

6.

On the Rain layer of the Layers tab, Ctrl-click the Rain emitter and choose Duplicate from the contextual menu.

A copy of the Rain emitter appears on the Layers tab. It's also good idea to duplicate the RAIN text object and remove any behaviors from it before you replace the emitter object.

7.

Ctrl-click the RAIN text object and select Duplicate from the contextual menu.

8.

Click the disclosure triangle for the RAIN copy text object to view the behaviors applied to the object.

You can delete the behaviors by selecting them on the Layers tab and pressing the Delete key.

9.

Select and delete the behaviors from the RAIN copy text object.

Now you're ready to replace the object for the Rain copy emitter with the RAIN copy text object.

10.

Click the disclosure triangle for the Rain copy emitter to view the contents of the emitter.

You'll drag the RAIN copy text object to the Drop01 copy 1 particle cell to change the object from a drop to the word RAIN.

11.

Drag the RAIN copy text object upward and release it on the Drop01 copy 1 particle cell.

The particle cell changes to RAIN, and the Canvas updates to a shower of rain.

Notice that you can see two RAIN text objects in the Canvas. Since you replaced the particle cell instead of the original object, you'll need to turn off the original RAIN copy text object on the Layers tab.

12.

Select the Activation check box for the RAIN copy text object on the Layers tab to turn it off.

You can use this method to turn virtually any object into rain, including text and AquaBallseven cats and dogs.

Modifying the RAIN Text Particles in the Dashboard

Now that you've created a RAIN text particle cell, let's modify the parameters in the Dashboard to a light drizzle rather than a downpour of words on the screen.

1.

Press D to open the Dashboard for the modified particle cell.

2.

On the Dashboard, drag the Birth Rate slider toward the left to reduce the number of particles born per second from 1200 to around 200.

3.

Press Cmd-S to save your progress.



    Apple Pro Training Series Getting Started with Motion
    Apple Pro Training Series: Getting Started With Motion
    ISBN: 0321305337
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 283
    Authors: Mary Plummer

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