Source Filmmaker

Source Filmmaker

270 ratings
Scaling particles!
By Cassius Alexander
Have you ever been in a situation when a particle system is too big or too small? Well, today I'm going to tell how to scale particles to fit your poster/animation making needs!
UPD: If you want to learn a bit more about particle systems, check my new guide out: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1729828393
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Introduction
Actually, it is not as hard as it seems. I found out how to rescale particles after some trial & error and after I read Tacoman's guide about changing colors of particle systems (you'll find a link later). Now, let's get to it already, shall we?
The magic!
First things first, you'll have to add a particle system to you project (obviously).

Now right click on it in the Animation set editor and choose "Instance particle system".

Then right click on the particle system again and hover to the "Edit particle system definition".
Certain particles are actually not "solid", they are made from parts, just like your scenebuild is made from props for example, so there you will see a list of these parts. You can change any of them separately. Just click on the desired one.

A new window should pop up called "Particle system editor". In the bottom-left corner you should find a list of options named "System properties". Click on "Radius Random".
To the right you should see a bunch of attributes and values. Scroll the list on your right to the bottom. Find attributes called "Radius min" and "Radius max". Play around with them (mostly with the second) to resize your particle.

When you're done, click "Accept".
But wait...
As you probably noticed, your particle acts... weird. Only part of it seem to be resized. Well, do you remember that list of parts that pops up when you hover over "Edit particle system definition?"Yeah, that one. Editing values for each part will allow you to fine-tune the look of your particle system.
Conclusion
Well, that is basically it. This guide is not perfect, obviously, and I myself discovered this scaling thing literally today. I cannot really say how exactly do those values work, but at least I and you now know how to change them. If any of you have something to add to this guide, then leave a comment! Your help will be appreciated. Anyways, thanks for reading, I hope it helped.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=655184159 - Tacoman's "Customizing particle colors" guide
Sidenote
One another thing to mention: it may be worth to play around with "Radius scale - Radius_end_scale / Radius_start_scale". I don't know how exactly they work, but experimenting with these values may help you to tweak the particle system even further and possibly make it look better. Give it a go.
14 Comments
nudle 14 Dec, 2023 @ 1:27pm 
great, except I'm trying to resize a particle with a lot of movement (explosion) and I can't resize the path the particles take, so it goes from an explosion thats way too big to a bunch of tiny explosions scattered across the screen
Nole's gamer 18 Sep, 2023 @ 11:49am 
I know I am a little late to the party bur Radius Scale is simply not an option under Operator for me. It could be that im using a non official valve particle effect
Pikachu X MKIII 16 Aug, 2023 @ 10:16am 
This is a life saver!
Denji el Motosierra 29 Oct, 2021 @ 5:05pm 
niceeee
Red Sword 18 Feb, 2021 @ 4:50pm 
This guide deserves more attention
boray123 8 Nov, 2020 @ 9:34pm 
Thanks.. awesome guide ! :47_thumb_up:
Han Tsunami 8 Jan, 2020 @ 3:49pm 
That's great, really needed it. I would really like to learn how to change its opacity too (making it transparent) if possible.
Cassius Alexander  [author] 2 May, 2019 @ 9:28am 
To all interested, I made a new guide which combines all things I know about particles.
Check it out here: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1729828393
Itchy and Actively Scratching 29 Apr, 2019 @ 1:53pm 
@No worries Alrighty, thank you! Take your time :) I'll check it out, too
Cassius Alexander  [author] 28 Apr, 2019 @ 11:45pm 
@Kittenanimates
Well, as of wrriting this, I can't really say for sure as I am away and cannot access SFM right now. I'd think it is something related to radius or particle lifetime, or it could be in the category "movement random". I'll look into it as soon as I can.