SurfaceEmitter
Overview
SurfaceEmitter generates particles from the surface of an object. New particles are generated by first randomly choosing a face on the tessellated geometry and then a random position on that face. Particles are generated with an initial direction of the normal to that point (including any normal averaging due to normalPerVertex and creaseAngle field settings).
The SurfaceEmitter node belongs to the ParticleSystems component and requires at least level 2, its default container field is emitter. It is available from X3D version 3.2 or higher.
Hierarchy
1
2
3
+ X3DNode
+ X3DParticleEmitterNode
+ SurfaceEmitter
Fields
SFNode [in, out] metadata NULL [X3DMetadataObject]
Information about this node can be contained in a MetadataBoolean, MetadataDouble, MetadataFloat, MetadataInteger, MetadataString or MetadataSet node.
Hint
SFBool [in, out] on TRUE
Enables/disables production of particles from this emitter node. If operating when turned off, existing particles complete their rendering process.
SFFloat [in, out] speed 0 [0,∞)
Initial linear speed (default is m/s) imparted to all particles along their direction of movement.
SFFloat [in, out] variation 0.25 [0,∞)
Multiplier for the randomness used to control the range of possible output values. The bigger the value, the more random the output and the bigger the range of possible initial values possible.
Hint
- variation of zero does not allow any randomness.
SFFloat [in, out] mass 0 [0,∞)
Basic mass of each particle, defined in mass base units (default is kilograms).
Hints
- mass is needed if gravity or other force-related calculations are performed on a per-particle basis.
- Kilogram
- X3D Architecture 4.3.6 Standard units and coordinate system
SFFloat [in, out] surfaceArea 0 [0,∞)
Particle surface area in area base units (default is meters squared). Surface area is used for calculations such as wind effects per particle.
Hints
- surfaceArea value represents average frontal area presented to the wind.
- Assumes spherical model for each particle (i.e., surface area is the same regardless of direction).
SFNode [ ] surface NULL [X3DGeometryNode]
The geometry node provides geometry used as the emitting surface.
Hint
- If the surface is indicated as not being solid (solid field set to false), randomly choose from which side of the surface to emit, negating the normal direction when generating from the back side.
Warning
- Only valid geometry shall be used.
Advice
Hint
- Ff surface is not solid (solid=false), randomly choose from which side of the surface to emit, negating the normal direction when generating from the back side.
Warning
- Only valid geometry shall be used.