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Flowing Linear Particles Hi, I'm having a bit of trouble working on my first quartz composition now and was wondering if anyone might be willing to give some advice or help getting going in the right direction. I've been wanting to learn quartz for a while and have taken a project for a client to push myself. Perhaps not the best plan but I am learning a lot and pleased to have discovered this site with all its wonderful work. What I'm trying to do seems fairly simple, but I am having quite a bit of trouble with it. I am trying to make an interactive screensaver that senses movement and then triggers linear particles from several fixed positions. I would like the particle lines to flow somewhat randomly in slightly swirly or curved paths, as if they are being blown by wind. I have managed to get the tracking part working in a basic manner building off the "Security" sample that comes with quartz composer. My trouble is with the particles. I have seen some projects that are great at manipulating them into linear strands and others manage the flow really well. I am able to analyze them logically for the most part, but it is a really slow process for achieving this project in time. Also I think these compositions are generally more complex than what I really need at the moment. Any pointers or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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For making particle systems you have 2 choices:
1- Using Kineme Particle Tools
2- coding in JS/OpenCL
for this specific need of yours, I'd recommend Particle tools. check the examples to learn about how it works.
There is also the very useful particle plugin by 1024 (_1024_Particle_Warfare). In its input parameters you find the noise setting, try Perlin, there you will have a great "wind effect". (http://1024d.wordpress.com/category/software/qc-plugins/) Google to see some results. I guess with all the example compositions of movement recognition you can look at on this forums, that point won't be a problem for you.