VecFlow0.1.0
FlowsOperators

Age Test

Send particles on to another event when they reach an age, since birth or since entering this one.

VecFlow 0.1.0

Particles reaching an age go along the wire.

Add it
EventAdd OperatorTestsAge Test
Sends on
Along its wire: particles reaching the age.
Influence
Yes: it works only on particles whose value is above a half.

When to use it

To make things happen in order: sparks fly for half a second, then turn to embers; a cloud forms a shape, holds it, then falls apart; drops ride a curve, then fall. Each stage is an event, and an Age Test moves particles from one to the next.

Set it up

A flow of 2 events. Sparks: Birth, Position, Speed, Colour, Gravity, Age Test; Age Test: at 0.5 s, give or take 0.2 sends to Embers. Embers: Colour, Scale, Drag, Gravity, Delete.SparksAge Test: at 0.5 s, give or take…Birth: 400 per frame from 1. Make new particles: some every frame, all at once, one on each vertex of an object's mesh (for cloth and ropes: bind them with Bind, Mesh Edges), one on each piece of it (to smash: glue them with Bind, Pieces), or the event's Liquid filling itBirth: 400 per frame from 1Position: Grinder, box. Place new particles in an object's box, on its surface or inside it, or along a curve (a tube round it)Position: Grinder, boxSpeed: 6 m/s. Set the speed of particles entering the event, along a direction (an object's own axes when given), or add it to how they comeSpeed: 6 m/sColour: orange. Set the colour of particles entering the eventColour: orangeGravity: 9.81 m/s². Pull particles down, or any way you point itGravity: 9.81 m/s²Age Test: at 0.5 s, give or take 0.2. Particles reaching an age go along the wireAge Test: at 0.5 s, give or take…InEmbersColour: dark red. Set the colour of particles entering the eventColour: dark redScale: 0.5. Set the size of particles entering the eventScale: 0.5Drag: 3. Slow particles to the speed of the air, which moves with the windDrag: 3Gravity: 1 m/s². Pull particles down, or any way you point itGravity: 1 m/s²Delete: at 1.5 s since entering. Remove particles at an age (since birth, or since entering this event), or at onceDelete: at 1.5 s since enteringIn
Sparks become embers: at about half a second old, each goes to Embers, where it's coloured, shrunk and slowed.BirthForcesPhysicsLooksTests

Settings

As the flow editor’s sidebar shows them. Changing any of them marks the bake old; those marked Keyframable can also change through a bake.

Age
Keyframable
1 s0 to 30

How old particles must be, in seconds.

Variation
Keyframable
0 s0 to 10

Random difference, either way.

Since
Birth

Which clock the age is counted on.

  • Birth: Age since the particle was born.
  • Entering: Time since it entered this event.
InfluenceEmpty

One of the flow’s number values, to weigh it by, particle by particle. Empty for all of it, on all of them. See Influence.

Age and Since

Since Birth counts each particle's age from when it was born, however many events it's been in. Since Entering counts from when it entered this event: “this long after it got here”.

Variation is give or take, each particle its own, so they don't all go in the same step. Particles go along the wire at the end of the substep in which they reach their age.

With Age 0 and Since Entering, every particle goes on the step it arrives: a way to set something on the way through an event, such as a Set Value, then carry on.

The wire

Not wired, an Age Test does nothing: matching particles stay. The first test in the stack that picks a particle out wins, so an Age Test below a Collide doesn't see the particles that Collide sent on.

Works with

  • Goal: an Age Test (Since Entering) in a Goal's event lets particles go once they've held their places a while.
  • Follow Curve: send particles off the curve partway along.
  • Delete works the same way, removing them instead.
  • Influence: weighed by a value, only particles whose value is above a half are tested.

Problems you may see

The editor raises no problems of its own for Age Test.

Collide

Bounce particles off an object, every object in a collection, or a flat ground, and send the ones that hit on to another event.

Speed Test

Send particles on to another event when they go faster, or slower, than a speed.

On this page

When to use itSet it upSettingsAge and SinceThe wireWorks withProblems you may seeRelated