CREATING LOOPS IN PARTICLE ILLUSION V3

This tutorial briefly explains how to create a 5 second loop at 30 frames per second.

Step 1

• Start a new PI project of 150 frames (5 seconds x 30 frames per second = 150 frames).
• Insert the 'Meadow' emitter from the default library. You can of course use any emitter of your choice but ensure that no particles appear yet in frame 1; for example do not pre-load frames.

• Also ensure that there are no particles shown anymore in frame 150. You can achieve this by reducing the number value, life, velocity values, visibility, etc.

• The above file is available here: V3 Tutorial Background  
• Render these 150 frames and keep the quality as high as possible. I have used sequenced PNG files in this tutorial and simply called the files 'BG'. PI renders the 150 frames animation to BG0001, BG0002, etc.
• Save this PI project but keep it open.

Step 2

• Create a new layer (this will be layer 1) within the same PI project as above (you don not need to create a new PI project).
• Move layer 1 below layer 0
• Right-click Layer 1 and insert the background sequence we just made. Start at project frame 1, hold last frame for 1 frame and start the sequence at frame 76 and end at frame 150. Click OK.

• Right-click Layer 0 and insert the same background sequence. This time choose start at project frame 76, hold last frame for 1 frame and start the sequence at frame 1 and end at frame 76. Click OK.

• The second part of this project is available here: V3 Tutorial Final
• Render this Final project with the compression codec of your choice.
• Done! Here is the final AVI in WMV9 codec: PI Loop Tutorial V3 Final (550 KB).