[Galemp]

Not strictly FS modding, but I know all the 3D artists hang out here.

So I'm using Blender 248.1 with its very poorly documented particle system, trying to get particles to run for the length of an animation.

Here's the example scene.

Alas! For some reason, at Frame 250, the wind deflector stops working. The particles are still generated but they don't go anywhere.

This is the most obvious of several problems with particles over long periods; static particles will continue to react to the deflector but emitted particles don't. I've made emitters with lattices that spontaneously change normals, or drift off into space. I've had particles not generate after frame 250 if they start at frame 1, and not generate at all if they start later than Frame 250.

Does anyone have experience with Blender's new particle system? Can you help me?

[Vasudan Admiral]

In the particle system of the cube, go to the bake tab and set the end frame to 1500. You may need to free the cache to get it to work after that.

And yeah, the particle system is brand new, and still somewhat in development. It's far more powerful than the old one, but it's not without it's weirdness. I'd think the cache start and end frame counts should be taken straight from the emitters settings rather than getting you to define it twice. Not pretty.

[Galemp]

Thanks, VA. I also discovered that in the timeline you have to choose the Continue Physics option to get it to update in real-time. The effects are working just fine now.

Parenting particle emitters to moving objects is still bizarre; the emitter object likes to start moving at a different rate than its parent. I'll have to make do with a static object with Halo rendering instead of particles. Just as well, really.

[Galemp]

Hrm. scratch that. Particles in the scene that I'm actually WORKING ON aren't actually working. The simulation seems to run just fine when it's playing, yet if I pause all the particles vanish and won't render.  Plus, the frames in the bake don't seem to correspond with the frames in the scene.

Should I PM the scene in question to you?

[Vasudan Admiral]

The particle system works on a cache mechanism as far as I can tell. Before it can display the system in the render, it must have built cache files for every frame the system is active in. As such, clear the particle cache, go to the first frame and alt-A to play it and then wait right through to the end. It's during this playing process that blender builds the cache - and I think it can get confused sometimes if that is interupted.

If that still doesn't work, yeah send me the scene, but I'm pretty busy with a certain other something ATM.

[Topgun]

TEH HADES!!!!!11??

[Galemp]

This is related.