Particle Sim
The Particle Sim mode runs a Lagrangian spring simulation on the GPU. Each particle has a rest position it is pulled back toward; force generators apply impulses that scatter, spin, or drag particles away from rest. The result is elastic, bouncy motion with a physical feel.
← Point Cloud Displacement overview
Enabling
Section titled “Enabling”- Open the Point Cloud Displacement card in the inspector
- Click the PARTICLE SIM toggle to enable it
When Particle Sim is active, the FLUID DISPLACEMENT and TRACK DISPLACEMENT sections become inactive — Particle Sim takes exclusive ownership of position integration. NOISE still stacks on top.
Simulation parameters
Section titled “Simulation parameters”A Presets dropdown at the top of the simulation section provides quick starting configurations (e.g. bouncy, tight spring, heavy damping). Select a preset to load its values, then fine-tune from there.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Spring | How strongly particles are pulled back to their rest position — higher = snappier return |
| Damping | Viscous damping — reduces oscillation proportional to velocity; higher = quicker settle, less bounce |
| Friction | Fixed speed subtracted from each particle per frame — higher = particles slow and settle dead; 0 = off |
| Gravity | Pulls particles along the Z axis (depth) |
| Strength | Scales how far particles can be displaced from rest |
Bounding box
Section titled “Bounding box”A Bounding Box section constrains particles to a box, with three controls:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Width | Horizontal extent of the box |
| Height | Vertical extent of the box |
| Bounce | How strongly particles rebound off the box walls |
Reset Particles snaps all particles immediately back to their rest positions.
Force generators
Section titled “Force generators”Click Add Force to add a generator. Each force has Strength, Pos X/Y/Z, Radius, and a Falloff mode that controls how the force diminishes with distance (Linear, Quadratic, or None).
| Force type | What it does | Extra parameters |
|---|---|---|
| Directional | Pushes particles in a fixed direction | Dir X, Dir Y, Dir Z |
| Radial Out | Pushes particles outward from the emitter | — |
| Radial In | Pulls particles inward toward the emitter | — |
| Rotation | Spins particles around an axis | Spin X, Spin Y, Spin Z |
| Vortex Sink | Swirling inward drain | Spin X/Y/Z (axis), Pull, Lift |
| Pulse | One-shot impulse triggered by a mappable trigger | Trigger, Decay |
| Noise | Turbulent per-particle force field | Scale, Speed |
| Drag | Slows particles proportional to their velocity | — |
Up to 8 force generators can run simultaneously.
All force parameters are full modulation targets — right-click any slider to map it to an LFO, sequencer, audio range, MIDI, or OSC. Map a Pulse trigger to an audio onset or MIDI note for beat-reactive explosions.