version: "1.0.0" name: maya-particles description: |- Authoring stage - Maya particle systems: nParticle and classic particle creation, emitters (omni, directional, surface, curve, volume), particle look and physics attributes, and geometry instancing. Use for particle effects such as dust, sparks, rain and debris. Not for cloth or rigid body simulation (maya-dynamics), Bifrost volumetric work (maya-bifrost), or keyframe editing (maya-animation). license: MIT allowed-tools: Bash Read metadata: meshy-dcc: dcc: maya layer: domain stage: authoring version: 1.0.0 tags:

• maya
• particles
• nparticle
• emitter
• instancer
• vfx
• simulation

search-hint: |- nParticle, particle system, particle, emitter, point emitter, volume emitter, surface emitter, curve emitter, emit particles, rate, speed, spread, lifespan, particle render type, spheres, sprites, blobby, cloud, streak, instancer, instance geometry onto particles, particle instancer, rotationPP, cycle sequential debris variation tools: tools.yaml groups: groups.yaml

maya-particles (Authoring stage)

Typed wrappers around Maya's particle commands. Both particle families are covered:

• nParticle (kind="nparticle") — Nucleus-driven, collides with nCloth /

nRigid, cachable. The right default for new work.

• classic particles (kind="classic") — legacy particle nodes, kept for

compatibility with older rigs and MEL scripts.

Particle workflow

1. create_particle_system — pick kind, set lifespan, lifespan_mode and

particle_render_type up front.

1. create_emitter — choose emitter_type; pass targets to connect it in

one call, or omit and connect later.

1. set_emitter_properties — tune rate, speed, speed_random, spread.
2. set_particle_properties — tune the look: radius, opacity,

particle_render_type, and physics: conserve, drag, mass, bounce.

1. create_particle_instancer — replace point rendering with real geometry.

Use cycle="sequential" with several source objects for debris variation. Maya's -cycle only accepts none or sequential; random is rejected.

1. Collide with the world via maya-dynamics create_nrigid, then cache with

maya-dynamics create_ncache.

Scale note

nParticle inherits the Nucleus solver's space_scale. If particles look like they are moving through treacle, check maya-dynamics set_nucleus_properties before touching any emitter value.

Scripts

• create_particle_system - Create an nParticle or classic particle system
• create_emitter - Create an omni / directional / surface / curve / volume emitter
• create_particle_instancer - Instance source geometry onto a particle system
• list_particles - List particle systems, emitters and instancers
• set_emitter_properties - Edit rate, speed, spread and other emitter attributes
• set_particle_properties - Edit particle look and physics attributes