Adobe AFTER EFFECTS CS3 PROFESSIONAL User Manual page 506

Note: The simulation space is not bounded by the dimensions of the layer to which Particle Playground is applied. You
may need to use a selection map that is larger than the Particle Playground layer so that dots that are not visible are still
affected by Selection Map.
Specifies the characters you want to affect. This control applies only if you are using text characters as
Characters
the particle type.
Specifies the age threshold, in seconds, above or below which you want to affect a particle.
Older/Younger Than
Positive values affect older particles, and negative values affect younger particles. For example, a value of 10 means
that as soon as a particle reaches 10 seconds, it changes to the new value.
Specifies the age range in seconds within which the Older/Younger Than value is feathered, or softened.
Age Feather
Feathering creates a gradual, rather than abrupt, change. For example, if you set Older/Younger Than to 10 and Age
Feather to 4, about 20% of particles start changing when they're 8 seconds old, 50% change when they're 10 seconds
old (the Older/Younger Than value), and the remainder change by the time they're 12 seconds old.
Use Particle Playground Property Mapper controls
You can control specific properties of individual particles by using a layer map and either the Persistent Property
Mapper or the Ephemeral Property Mapper. You can't alter a specific particle directly, but you can use a layer map to
specify what happens to any particle that passes over a specific pixel in the layer. Particle Playground interprets the
brightness of each layer map pixel as a specific value. The Property Mapper associates a specific layer map channel
(Red, Green, or Blue) with a specific property, so that as a particle passes over a certain pixel, the brightness value at
that pixel modifies the property.
A particle property can be modified in either a persistent or an ephemeral way:
• A persistent change to a particle property retains the most recent value set by a layer map for the remaining lifespan
of the particle, unless the particle is modified by another control such as Repel, Gravity, or Wall. For example, if
you use a layer map to modify particle size and you animate the layer map so it exits the frame, the particles keep
the last size value set by the layer map after it exits the frame.
• An ephemeral change to a particle property causes the property to revert to its original value after each frame. For
example, if you use a layer map to modify particle size and you animate the layer map so that it exits the frame,
each particle returns to its original size value as soon as no layer map pixels correspond to it. Similarly, if you apply
an operator such as Add, each time a particle passes over a different layer map pixel, the value of the layer map
pixel is added to the original value of the particle.
In both the Persistent and Ephemeral Property Mappers, you can control up to three particle properties indepen-
dently by using a single RGB image as a layer map. Particle Playground achieves this by extracting brightness values
separately from the red, green, and blue channels in the image. You don't have to use all three channels if you want
to modify just one property. To change just one property or change up to three properties using the same values, use
a grayscale image as the layer map because the RGB channels are identical.
In combination with keyframes or expressions, the Property Mappers provide complete control over individual
particle properties in space and time. Using layer maps, you can change particle properties at any location within a
frame. By applying keyframes or expressions to Property Mapper options and animating a layer map, you can control
how particle properties change.
1 For Use Layer As Map, choose a layer map to use as the source for values that modify particle values. The layer
map must be part of the composition.
To apply the effect to a subset of particles, specify the Affects controls as necessary.
2
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