lost directional emitter
 

for some strange reason maya won't let me create directional emitters. all the other options (such as volume emitter etc) come up. But not directional emitter.:headbang:

CAn anyone help? Its driving me mad.

Never seen that. Can you explain more about the stapos of what you're doing? What version of Maya? Are there any errors or warnings when you launch Maya? etc...

I just tried and directionals are still there so there's something very odd in your setup.

I've given up on the directional emitter. What i am attempting to do is contain particles within a cone, with the particles emitting from the tip of the cone. Any ideas? I'm getting so stuck!:confused:

Well what are you stuck on. I would create a small cone, emit from the object, and have a larger cone that your particles collide with. Pretty simple if I understand you correctly. What's not working?

erm. how do you effect where in the shape the emitter is located? at the moment it is located at the base of the cone, not the tip.

the whole shape (or you can look into emitting by texture but you really don't need to). Just do as I recommended and you'll be golden.

oh dear.
 

k. Well, what i did was:

create cone
create 3d fluid container
shift select both
emit from object.
create larger cone around it. shift select both
make collide.

But there aint no collision. i need them to radiate out evenly in a cone shape. and then when they hit objects to be blocked and continue to radiate outwards in manner of a spot light. (the whole point of this is to, in effect, solidify a spot light. I'm really sorry to bug you so much. I've been trying for days! :blush:

oh, I had no idea you were using fluids. Thought it was particles. I don't know fluids well at all, but my main question would be why are you using them? Why not just create a spot light with fog?

because I am an architecture student and I am attempting to show a spot light as a solid polygon that I can manipulate, and it will appear like a shape with the shadows of objects cut out of it. c?

Honestly I don't. Seems like you could do that with a spot light casting shadows and fog turned on, but maybe I just don't get what you're really trying to do. Sorry and good luck.

one more reply. I've done it with fog bfore. But i need to manipulate the shape now. not just have it show up in the renderer. Well. thanks for all your help anyway! :p