Version 1.2 (13 Dec 01)
From first users test, the orignal model particle is turned invisible at to start of the script. This will prevent the modeled particle from being rendered or seen during animation playback.

Version 1.1 (4 Dec 01)
This script was written for the purpose of animated particles/objects along another object path. Recoded from and based on particle scripts developed by Matthew D. Bennett of 3D Fuel , you can animate smoke, contrails, or even bombing drops along the path of an object. Warning: this is a processor intensive script. Long animation times may take a while to run.

User setup: the particle/object emission is based on the axis of the emitter object.


particle = doc.Object("particle")   <-- this is the object in the scene to be created along the path 
path_object = doc.Object("path")    <-- this is the emitter object 
 
framestart = 0                      <-- this is the first frame to start particle emission 
frameend = 300  		    <-- this is the last frame to emit a particle 
frametotal = 300  		    <-- this is the number of frames in the animation 
framerate = 2  			    <-- this is the resolution along the path. Small numbers will produce 
					more objects, but take longer to run script. (i.e. 5 will produce
					a "particle" every 5th keyframe. 

life = 300			    <-- this determines how long each emitted object lives before 
					it dissappears
flowrate = 0			    <-- used for random particle emission	

maxSize = 0.3	  		    <-- the maximum size in meters the object grows to  
minSize = 0.1			    <-- the initial size in meters of the object when first created
growrate = 30			    <-- how many frames it takes for the object to grow from min to maxSize

Group = "yes"  			    <-- "yes" for group all created path objects, "no" to keep them separated  

xoff = 0			    <-- initial particle offset in x-plane from "path" objects axis
yoff = 0			    <-- initial particle offset in y-plane from "path" objects axis
zoff = 0			    <-- initial particle offset in z-plane from "path" objects axis

#Wind effects in direction of coordinate system
linear = "no" 			    <-- "no" for random particle motion, "yes" for stright line paths (i.e. bombs)
xwind = 0.5			    <-- x-plane velocity change in the particle in meters/second
ywind = 0   			    <-- y-plane velocity change in the particle in meters/second
zwind = 0.2			    <-- z-plane velocity change in the particle in meters/second
prot = 1.0			    <-- rotational speed of each object, zero (0) for no rotation

fps = 30			    <-- the frame rate you will be rendering to (i.e. 15,24,30,60,100)

There is some scene setup required before running this script.

1. Set your animation path of the "path" object and name the object "path".
2. Create and shade the object (smoke ball, bomb) which you want to be the emission and name is "particle" .
3. Load the script under Scene.
4. Make all your settings seen above in the script.
5. Run the script.

Q: Script errors or crashes.
A: Check to make sure you have your objects named properly: path and particle.
A: Or make sure you have the names of the object labeled properly in the script.

Q: It takes too long to run the script.
A: Increase your framerate or shorted the life or frametotals. It has to create and animate each particle individually.

Q: Can not quit script.
A: Sorry, I have not gotten around to this. Hopefully in an upcoming version.