Thanks to great examples from Biggstrek, I have used the legacy particle system to create a blizzard that looks a LOT better than the blizzard example supplied in the PopcornFX Learning Samples.  But this leads to two questions:
1) Does anyone know for sure if legacy particles will remain supported in iClone 8?
2) I have studied the Popcorn particle system manual, and along with its increased power comes vastly increased complexity.  About 3/4 of the manual is easy and intuitive, but about 1/4 (eg the sprite atlas and the way the numerous preexisting emitters correspond to other settings) is brutal and will require careful study.  I'm wondering if anywhere there are simple 'cookbook' instructions that show exactly how to port legacy particles to the Popcorn system.

My gut feeling after one pass through the Popcorn manual is that there is no direct porting path from Legacy to Popcorn, as they are fundamentally different systems.  But if there is a direct porting path and it's documented somewhere, I'd love to see it.

Thanks!
Tim

You can use the "Texture Emitter" from the PopcornFX Super Tools or if you have the PopcornFx plugin you can use the "FeatherStorm" exemple
and change the feather image by a snowflake image.

The second image you show is "Effects Editor".  I've never seen that.  What is it?  Where can I find it and its documentation?  Thanks!
Tim

It is the free Popcornfx editor. You must have the plugin to import in Iclone from the editor. 
Only the V1.12 works with Iclone.
https://wiki.popcornfx.com/index.php/PK-Editor_v1.12

There's only a wiki documentation 
https://wiki.popcornfx.com/index.php?title=PopcornFX_v1

And some tutorial on their youtube channel 

Okay, thanks for that.  I'll check it out.
Tim