Particle nodes create and control particles and particle systems.
To begin working with particle nodes:
In the shelf, click New Particle System on the Particles tab.
Particle node flags
| Cook | At the top-level of the POP network, controls which POP is cooked. All required ancestors of the cooked POP are also cooked. In subnets , controls which POP is the output of the subnet. Violet means on. |
| Template | Show guide geometry specific to the node. For example, turning on the template flag for a force node shows the direction of the force being applied to the particles. See visualize node effects with template geometry . |
| Bypass | Pass the input straight through to the output without modifying it. When the bypass flag is on, the node has no effect. |
Nodes
 | Acceleration | Explicitly sets a particle’s acceleration. |
 | Advect by Volumes | Advects particles by a velocity field defined by three volumes. |
 | Age | Sets the ages and/or expected lifespan of particles. |
 | Angular Velocity | Sets a particle’s angular velocity. |
 | Attractor | Attracts or repels particles using a referenced Force SOP or Point SOP. |
 | Attribute | Adds custom attributes to particles. |
 | Attribute Transfer | Transfers point or vertex attributes from reference geometry onto particles. |
 | Code | Inserts extra code in the particle system. |
 | Collect | Merges particle streams together so you can act on them collectively. |
 | Collision | Sets attributes on and/or groups particles when they collide with geometry. |
 | Color | Changes a particle’s diffuse color and/or alpha. |
 | Creep | Causes particles to stick to geometry. |
 | Curl Noise | Applies a divergent free noise field to particles.. |
 | Drag | Applies drag to the velocity of particles. |
 | Event | Generates events based on rules. |
 | Fan | Applies force on particles like a cone-shaped fan. |
 | Fetch | Imports particle streams from other networks. |
 | Fireworks | Creates a simple fireworks system. |
 | Follow | Makes particles follow a leader. |
 | Force | Applies a global directional force, such as gravity. |
 | Group | Creates and/or combines named groups of particles. |
 | Hit Info | Manually sets attributes associated with collisions. |
 | Instance | Renders instanced geometry on a particle. |
 | Interact | Make particles attract or repel other particles. |
 | Kill | Kills particles based on expressions. |
 | Limit | Creates collisions when particles reach a limit boundary. |
 | Lineage | Manually sets attributes associated with the particle’s family tree. |
 | Location | Emits particles at a location in space. |
 | Lookat | Rotates particles so they point in a certain direction. |
 | Null | Passes inputs through unaffected. |
 | Orbit | Makes particles orbit a center-point. |
 | Position | Explicitly sets a particle’s position. |
 | Property | Manually set physical attributes. |
 | Proximity | Sets attributes on and/or creates groups of particles based on which other particles are nearby. |
 | Render | Controls how particles render. |
 | Resistance | Calculates air or water resistance on instanced geometry. |
 | Rotation | Rotates the particle frame of reference, allowing instanced geometry to point in a different direction from the particle motion. |
 | SPH Density Test | Kills particles if the surrounding region exceeds a certain density. |
 | Soft Body | Performs soft body deformations similar to the Spring SOP. |
 | Soft Limit | Creates a boundary collisions like Limit, but with spongier bounces. |
 | Source | Emits particles from geometry. |
 | Speed Limit | Enforces minimum and maximum velocities. |
 | Split | Splits (emits) particles from existing particles. |
 | Sprite | Changes sprite rendering attributes like texture coordinates, SHOP, rotation, and size. |
| State | Sets the state information of particles. |
| Stream | Emit particles from areas where streams of particles mix. |
 | Subnetwork | Encapsulates the functionality of a POP network inside a node. |
| Suppress Rule | Turns off default rules controlling particle behavior. |
 | Switch | Switches between input streams. |
 | Torque | Rotates particles around another point. |
 | Translation | Moves the particle frame of reference, offsetting instanced geometry from the particle position. |
 | Turn | Changes the direction of particles without affecting speed. |
 | Up Vector | Manually sets a particle’s up vector. |
 | VEX | Executes VEX code to modify particles. |
| VEX Sprinkler | Simulates a sprinkler. |
 | VOP POP | Contains a VOP network that can manipulate particle attributes. |
 | Velocity | Explicitly sets a particle’s velocity. |
 | Velocity Stream | Emits a stream of evenly-spaced particles from geometry. |
 | Wind | Pushes particles up to a maximum speed. |