Creating a basic particle system
In the Pure Data GEM library, the objects related with particle system come with a prefix part_, a short form for particle. The part_head object initializes a particle system. The part_source object creates a source of particles. The part_velocity object specifies the initial velocity and direction for each new particle. The part_killold object removes particles that exceed a predefined age. The part_draw object renders each particle in the GEM window as shown in the following screenshot:
The only parameters are for the part_velocity object. This object defines the initial velocity for each particle in the system. In the example, Particle001.pd, it defines the velocity as a point with the parameters 0, 0.2, 0. It indicates that velocity has only Y direction value. For X and Z the values are zero. All particles in this case will move upward (positive value for Y direction). The three numbers correspond to the X, Y, and Z components of the initial velocity....
