>> but as I don't have Smart Gallery, I have no idea how they integrate into that system.  <<

Good news!  I just bought a bunch of your sixpacks, and every one of them automatically loaded and integrated into SmartGallery.

Tim

Good to know, thanks (And thanks for buying them!  Hope they come in handy.)

https://marketplace.reallusion.com/iclone/author/biggstrek

You kindly said that I could ask a question if needed.  I think I've pretty much mastered Legacy particles, meaning that I can pretty much do whatever I want with them now (thanks to studying your many excellent examples).  But there's one thing that still has me stumped.  No matter what I do, the particles generate their own light.  Even in a completely black environment, with no lights at all, the particles glow.  In some cases I want my particles to be illuminated by the lights in the scene rather than being their own source of light.  If there is no light (such as a spotlight) shining on them, I want them to be invisible.  I've tried everything I can think of, and nothing works.  Reducing their opacity helps a little but is far from a good solution.  Is there a way, or is this just a property of Legacy particles?  Thanks!
Tim

Sorry to say, but there isn't a way for them to react to light dynamically (as in move from a lighted place to darkness and appear different.)  The only way I could think of that would be to have two different emitters, one constructed to be in light, the other to be in darkness.  And the simplest way to make them darker would be to darken the texture map in your photo editor, and/or darken the 4 particle "keys".

They certainly have limitations (don't even get me started on Depth of Field!) so judicious use is recommended.

EDIT:  Just to clarify a little, think of these particles as "sprites" (may not be accurate, but that's as close as I can come) - they aren't really a part of the scene.  They aren't affected by light, gravity (physics), movement, etc.  They live in their own world and barely interact with the scene they are placed in.  And Depth of Field seems to work like this:  they inherit the DOF of what's behind them.  i.e.:  They don't have their own DOF, they just blur if the prop/background directly behind them is also blurry, and if it's sharp, they are sharp no matter if the particles are technically within the DOF range or not.

Dumb question back to you:  Can Popcornfx particles handle lighting changes?  (I have always assumed that whatever Legacy Particles can do, Popcornfx can do better.  Right?  Or is that a fallacy?  (Just curious as I hope to upgrade soon, all being well.))

https://marketplace.reallusion.com/iclone/author/biggstrek

I don't know the answer to that.  I use the Popcorn library often, and even use their full plugin to do neat things like making a complete mesh into an emitter.  And I use their super-tools sometimes.  But I've never used them in a situation in which they would be lit; I always wanted self-light, such as fire.  But in this case, I have snow at night and a snowplow whose headlights I want to illuminate the snow.  It's not working out the way I hoped.  I may have to switch to Popcorn particles anyway.  Sigh.  I've read the manual, and it's vastly more complicated than Legacy particles.

Tim

That's a bummer.

The only thing that comes to mind is maybe a cone of bright snow flakes (one for each headlight) and keep the other snow darker?

https://marketplace.reallusion.com/iclone/author/biggstrek

Very quick snow blow made from Popcorn "Spout" texture emitter.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c83rN-6wig6Kf4OuDHQYpNzvX8KgBcOK/view?usp=sharing
There is a lot can be changed there to make it better.
You'd have to set a floor and enable physics (static box) for it with maximum friction, if you want a snow to stay and accumulate.

76% of original size (was 660x19) - Click to enlarge

Wow, that is really, really good!

I realize now that I have to bite the bullet and plow through the Popcorn manual.  It's very intimidating, but if I want to have particles that can be lit with spotlights I obviously have to go that route.  Thank you for that excellent demo.

Tim

There are lots of PopFX videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNV5zSFadPdnnsQgETl2SSUcsX_OfdDk8

A good starting point is probably the mesh emitter. But a texture emitter is probably pretty good too.

Thanks for that.  I'm starting to dig in today.
Tim