Particle universe guide

Three looks

Each picture below was made in Particle universe from the sample it opens with. The table under each one is the whole recipe; everything not listed stays as the page opens. Color mode sits inside the Formation section, so the table lists Rainbow and Position under Formation.

The 3D shapes turn on their own, so your view will not match the picture exactly.

A rainbow sphere

A smooth ball in upright bands of rainbow colour on a dark ground — The Sphere formation with Rainbow colour and 10,000 points.

Rainbow colours each point by its place in the picture, so the colours run in bands around the ball and slowly cycle. The dots are so big and close that they read as one smooth surface.

Setting	Value
Trail	0
Particle count	10000
Point size	1
Formation	Sphere
Color mode	Rainbow

Press Explode, and the ball bursts into coloured dots and gathers again.

A cube coloured by place

A cube turned at an angle, its faces blending through red, yellow, green, cyan and blue, on a dark ground — The Cube formation with Position colour and 10,000 points, seen from a Distance of 8.

Position colour mixes red, green and blue from where each point sits, so every face and corner of the cube has its own colour. It has turned on its own, so you see it at an angle.

Setting	Value
Trail	0
Particle count	10000
Point size	1
Distance	8
Formation	Cube
Color mode	Position

Try Position on DNA helix: the strands fade from purple at the bottom to green at the top.

Explode, caught in flight

Pink, violet, green and near-black discs of many sizes scattered across a dark frame — The flat sample a moment after Explode.

Every point is thrown in a random direction. Points that fly toward the camera are drawn much bigger, so the frame fills with pink, violet and green discs. A second later they are back in the picture.

Setting	Value
Actions	Explode

Lower Friction and the points stop sooner and gather faster; raise it and they fly further.