Forces
Emitter · Particle · Forces · Render
Find the section name shown in Entropy, then select it below. Control descriptions follow the product tooltips. Some sections appear only for the selected mode.
Sections
- Forces
- Force Mapping
- Wind
- Turbulence
- Vortex
- Attractor
- Spring
- Displacement
- Fractal Noise
- Disperse
- Oscillate
- Movement
Forces
Controls the motion fields and constraints that move particles after emission.
Gravity
Adds constant vertical acceleration. Positive values make particles fall; negative values lift them.
Buoyancy
Adds lift that fades as particles cool, creating rising and rolling plumes. Negative values create a cooling downdraft. Static emitters don't age, so this has no effect on them.
Cooling
Sets how quickly buoyant lift fades over each particle's life. Higher values make particles rise sharply and stall sooner.
Drag
Reduces particle velocity over time. Higher values make motion settle sooner.
Force Mapping
Varies selected force strengths across the emitter, driven by a layer's alpha or by an editable curve.
Amount
Sets how strongly the map gates wind, turbulence, vortex, and attractor forces. At full amount, transparent regions hold particles while opaque regions release them.
Source
Chooses whether the gating pattern comes from an After Effects layer's alpha or the editable graph. Composer previews the graph source; the layer source resolves in After Effects.
Options: Layer · Graph.
Dissolve
Raises or lowers the entire graph to sweep particles from held to released. -1 holds all particles; +1 releases all particles.
Feather
Sets how wide the release band is as Dissolve sweeps. Lower values give a narrow front that travels across the whole shape; the Force Curve then only decides which parts go first.
Stagger
Spreads each particle's release moment across the Feather band. At 0 everything in the band is partly released together; at 100 each particle waits for its own moment and leaves from where it stood, like the crumbling body.
Force Curve
Shapes force release across the emitter, left to right. Each particle is read at the position it was born, so it keeps its place on the curve as it moves. Low points hold particles, high points release them.
Axis
Chooses which axis of the emitter's content the Force Curve runs along, so a graph wipe can travel across, down, or through the shape.
After Effects label: Map Axis.
Options: X · Y · Z.
Reverse
Mirrors the Force Curve so the wipe runs from the opposite side, for any curve shape.
Map Layer
Chooses the layer whose alpha gates the forces when Source is set to Layer. It is sampled at each particle's birth position across the emitter, so a particle keeps its place on the map as it moves.
Invert
Reverses which map regions hold or release particles. Composer currently stores this setting but does not apply it in the preview.
Affect Size
Scales particles by their Force Mapping release. Positive shrinks released particles away; negative grows them in from nothing, so a second system can appear where the first dissolves.
Affect Opacity
Fades particles by their Force Mapping release. Positive fades released particles out; negative fades them in from invisible, so a second system can take over where the first dissolves.
Affect Hue
Rotates particle color as the map releases each particle. The value sets the maximum hue shift in degrees.
Affect Delay
Delays the mapped size, opacity, hue, displacement, disperse, and oscillate changes after forces release a particle. The delay is measured in frames and applies to the Graph source.
Affect Feather
How much of a particle's release the Affects take to complete. Lower values make Affect Size and Opacity snap in or out the moment a particle releases; 1 spreads them over the whole release.
Affect Displacement
Suppresses fractal displacement while particles are held. At 100%, held particles stay crisp and released particles receive the full effect.
Affect Disperse
Suppresses disperse motion while particles are held. At 100%, held particles stay in place and released particles receive the full scatter.
Affect Oscillate
Suppresses oscillation while particles are held. At 100%, held particles stay still and released particles receive the full wave or shimmer.
Release Kills Particle
Kills each particle the moment its Force Mapping release reaches Kill At, so an On Parent Death child system can be born in its place. Works on static shapes too.
Kill At
The release level, in percent, at which Release Kills fires.
Erode Body
Dissolves the 3D text or mesh body across the Force Mapping band, so the surface crumbles at the same rate its particles appear. A wider Feather gives a wider zone of emergence.
After Effects label: Release Erodes Body.
Erode Scale
Sets the size of the largest bites the erosion takes out of the body, in pixels. Finer detail scales with it.
Wind
Pushes particles continuously in one direction.
Wind X
Pushes particles continuously along the horizontal X axis.
Wind Y
Pushes particles continuously along the vertical Y axis.
Wind Z
Pushes particles continuously forward or backward along the Z axis.
Turbulence
Adds flowing, irregular motion to particle paths.
Turbulence Strength
Sets how strongly the evolving curl field bends particle motion.
Turbulence Scale
Sets the size of turbulent swirls. Higher values produce smaller, finer motion.
Turbulence Speed
Sets how quickly the turbulence pattern changes over time. A value of 0 freezes the field.
Turbulence Octaves
Adds progressively finer layers to the broad turbulent motion. More layers create a busier, more detailed flow.
Turbulence Fade In
Sets how many seconds a new particle takes to receive full turbulence. Raise it to keep emission clean before the field takes hold. Static emitters don't age, so this has no effect on them.
Coherence
Blends stationary world-space noise toward larger swirls that travel with the flow. Higher values organize motion into broader rolls and shear.
Vortex
Pulls particles into rotating motion around a center or axis.
Vortex Strength
Sets the tangential force that spins particles around the vortex axis. Negative values reverse the rotation.
Vortex Pull
Pulls particles toward the vortex axis to tighten their orbit. Negative values push them away from the axis.
Vortex Axis X
Sets the X component of the vortex's rotation axis. Combine it with Y and Z to tilt the swirl.
Vortex Axis Y
Sets the Y component of the vortex's rotation axis. Combine it with X and Z to tilt the swirl.
Vortex Axis Z
Sets the Z component of the vortex's rotation axis. Combine it with X and Y to tilt the swirl.
Vortex Anchor
Chooses whether the vortex center follows the live emitter or stays at an absolute scene position.
Options: Emitter · World.
Vortex Center X
Places the vortex center along X. The value is an emitter-relative offset or an absolute scene position, according to Vortex Anchor.
Vortex Center Y
Places the vortex center along Y. The value is an emitter-relative offset or an absolute scene position, according to Vortex Anchor.
Vortex Center Z
Places the vortex center along Z. The value is an emitter-relative offset or an absolute scene position, according to Vortex Anchor.
Attractor
Pulls or pushes particles relative to a target point.
Use Lights
Uses up to eight After Effects Light layers whose names start with Attractor as force centers. Composer has no comp lights, so turning this on removes the manual attractor from the preview.
Attractor Strength
Pulls particles toward the attractor. Negative values turn it into a repulsor that pushes particles away.
Attractor X
Places the manual attractor along the horizontal X axis.
Attractor Y
Places the manual attractor along the vertical Y axis.
Attractor Z
Places the manual attractor forward or backward along the Z axis.
Attractor Range
Sets how far the attractor reaches. Its pull fades to zero at the edge of this range.
Spring
Pulls particles back toward the position they were born at, so they oscillate around a fixed point instead of drifting away.
Spring Strength
Pulls each particle back toward its birth position. Higher values create a tighter, faster return.
Spring Damping
Removes velocity from spring motion. Higher values reduce bouncing and make particles settle sooner.
Displacement
Groups the displacements: offsets that move particles away from where the simulation put them and let go when turned back down, unlike the forces above, whose push accumulates.
Fractal Noise
Displacement, reversible: offsets particles with layered noise to create detailed, organic distortion.
Strength
Offsets every particle with an evolving fractal-noise field. Returning the value to 0 restores the undisplaced shape.
After Effects label: Displacement Strength.
Scale
Sets the size of displacement features. Lower values make broad sweeps; higher values create finer variation.
After Effects label: Displacement Scale.
Speed
Sets how quickly the displacement pattern evolves. A value of 0 freezes the pattern for still looks.
After Effects label: Displacement Speed.
Octaves
Adds progressively finer layers to the broad displacement pattern. More layers create a more detailed, textured offset.
After Effects label: Displacement Octaves.
Emphasis
Sets how much strength each finer displacement layer keeps. Higher values make fine detail harsher. Raise Octaves above 1 first — with a single layer there is nothing to emphasise.
After Effects label: Displacement Emphasis.
Fade In
Sets how many seconds a new particle takes to receive full displacement. Raise it to keep the emission area clean before the noise appears. Static emitters don't age, so this has no effect on them.
After Effects label: Displace Fade In.
Affect Size
Varies each particle's drawn size using the same noise field that displaces them, so the boil and the shimmer stay in step. It works even at Strength 0, for shimmer without motion.
After Effects label: Displacement Affect Size.
Affect Opacity
Fades particles in and out using the displacement noise field, for twinkle without moving anything. It only ever dims: particles never brighten past the opacity you set. At 100% the darkest cells reach fully transparent.
After Effects label: Displacement Affect Opacity.
Affect Hue
Shifts each particle's hue using the displacement noise field. Every amount already rotates both ways around the base color; the sign picks which way each half of the field goes.
After Effects label: Displacement Affect Hue.
Disperse
Displacement, reversible: spreads particles along stable random directions and lets them return when the strength falls.
Disperse Strength
Scatters particles along stable random directions without permanently changing their simulation. Returning the value to 0 reassembles the original shape.
Fade In
Sets how many seconds a new particle takes to reach full scatter. Raise it to make particles peel away after they are born. Static emitters don't age, so this has no effect on them.
After Effects label: Disperse Fade In.
Oscillate
Displacement, reversible: moves particles with a reversible repeating wave or shimmer.
Amplitude
Sets the maximum distance particles move from their base positions during each oscillation. A value of 0 turns the effect off.
Frequency
Sets the number of oscillation cycles per second. Higher values create a faster shimmer or traveling wave.
Mode
Chooses random per-particle shimmer or one coherent wave that travels through the particle field.
Options: Shimmer · Wave.
Axis
Chooses the world-space direction in which particles move during Wave mode.
Options: X · Y · Z.
Wavelength
Sets the distance between wave crests in pixels. Larger values create broader, more widely spaced bends.
Fade In
Sets how many seconds a new particle takes to reach full oscillation. Raise it to keep newborn particles straight before the motion begins. Static emitters don't age, so this has no effect on them.
After Effects label: Oscillate Fade In.
Phase Random
Offsets each particle's wave phase at random, so a wave stops moving everything in unison and reads as many particles instead of one surface.
After Effects label: Oscillate Phase Random.
Movement
Displacement, reversible: moves released particles by a fixed vector without changing their simulation, so Force Mapping can carry parts of a shape away and back.
Movement X
Offsets every released particle along X by this many pixels, scaled by its Force Mapping release. Returning to 0 reassembles the shape.
Movement Y
Offsets every released particle along Y by this many pixels, scaled by its Force Mapping release. Returning to 0 reassembles the shape.
Movement Z
Offsets every released particle along Z by this many pixels, scaled by its Force Mapping release. Returning to 0 reassembles the shape.
Fade In
Seconds a newly born particle takes to ease into its full Movement offset. Static emission ignores it.
After Effects label: Movement Fade In.
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