Maya Instancer

Rotation: (vector)

This option is based pretty much how it looks. You use this to determine how your instanced copies are rotated based on their pivot point in world space. You can create an PP expression that gives your objects a random rotation around their individual pivot point. The default value is None, which gives each particle an initial Rotation of <<1,0,0>> (positive X-axis).

Note that when dealing with rotation, for spinning objects in the instancer, the numbers are very touchy. So you will probably want to use small numbers like .001 for a more manageable rotation speed. Larger numbers like .5 will result in very fast rotational speeds.

AimDirection: (vector)

This will determine how your object rotates throughout its lifetime based the direction it is traveling. The most common setting for this is “velocity”. This will result in your objects updating their direction based on their movement in X, Y,. or Z in world space. For instance if you want rockets or birds to point toward the direction their movement is taking them you would use this setting. The default value is None, which gives each particle an AimDirection of <<1,0,0>> (positive X-axis).

AimPosition: (vector)

Here you can specify a point in space where you want your objects to point in world space. Say you have a bunch of eyeballs you want always looking at a specific position. This is pretty much like using the Aim Constraint in Maya’s Animation mode. The default value is None, which gives each particle an AimPosition of <<0,0,0>>.

AimAxis: (vector)

This is a vector attribute that works only with AimDirection and AimPosition rotation types. The default setting is None, which uses the value of 1, 0, 0. If you build your objects with the “nose” pointing down the positive X-axis, you should never have to change this setting.