pChangeStyle [pCS]

The pChangeStyle tool provides a mechanism for changing the appearance or style of particles that interact with a defined region. The primary controls in this tool perfectly mirror those found in the Style tab of the pEmitter tool. Particles that intersect or enter the region defined for this tool will change as described by this tool.

With the possible exception of the pCustom tool, this is the only tool that modifies the appearance of a particle, rather than its motion. It is often used to cause the appearance of particles changing in response to some event, like striking a barrier.

When using the pChangeStyle tool in this fashion, it would be natural to assume that the tool should be placed after the tool causing the event. As an example, consider the creation of a particle system that appears to change its style after bouncing off of a pBounce using a line region. In this case, the pChangeStyle tool also uses a line region, positioned identically to the one in the pBounce tool. Placing the pBounce before the pChangeStyle in the flow causes the particles to bounce off of the region before the pChangeStyle gets an opportunity to calculate its effect on the particle.

The result is that the particle is no longer intersecting with the pChangeStyle tool's region, and so the style never changes.

As a rule, to create a change in style that appears to be caused by a physical event created by another modifier tool in the flow, the pChangeStyle tool must be placed before that tool for the effect to work properly.