The Toolbench

The Toolbench holds one page for each tool and editor of the plugin. The pages are for looking things up. They need not be read in order. This page shows where each tool is opened from.

The ≡ button and its strip

A small ≡ button sits at the bottom right of the viewport while the plugin is on. Press it to show a strip of entries to its left. Press it again to hide the strip.

Entry	What it shows or hides	Kept for the next session
Emit	The HUD.	Yes
Properties	The Properties panel.	No. The panel is on at every start.
Counter	The particle counter at the bottom left of the viewport.	No. The counter is on at every start.
Tools	The Tools menu.	No
Settings	The Settings panel.	Yes
Inventory	The Inventory.	Yes
Motion	Motion Preview. The entry switches it on and off.	Yes

An entry reads bright while its target is on. It reads dim while its target is off.

The HUD and the Properties panel show only while something the plugin can edit is selected. That is an emitter, or a stock ParticleEmitter, Trail or Beam. With Emit or Properties off, the panel stays hidden whatever is selected.

The Tools menu

Press ≡, then Tools. A small menu titled Tools opens at the bottom right of the viewport.

Entry	What it does	Described in
Re: Size/Time	Shows or hides the Re: panel, with its tabs Size and Time.	Size and Time
Hue	Shows or hides the Hue panel. Its header reads HueChanger.	Hue
PropertyTools	Shows or hides the PropertyTools panel, with its tabs Clipboard and Shifter.	Clipboard, Shifter
Randomize	Opens the Randomize panel. Pressed again, it cancels the panel.	Randomize
Scan All	Looks through the place for emitters that have a problem.	Scan and Fix
Insert Module	Puts a copy of the Part_Icles module in the workspace.	Insert Module
Emit Code	Shows or hides the Emit Code panel.	Emit Code
Convert from Forge	Converts the selected VFX Forge effects.	Convert from Forge
Opt. Indicator	Switches the Optimization indicator on and off. The entry reads bright while it is on.	The Optimization indicator

The menu is dragged by its header. The ▼ in the header folds the menu to its header. X closes it. The list of entries scrolls.

Tools opened from elsewhere

Tool	Opened from
The graph editor	The ⋯ button on a graph row of the Properties panel.
The colour editor	The ⋯ button on a colour row of the Properties panel.
The colour picker	The swatch on a colour row.
The Theme Editor	Settings ▸ Edit Theme.
Shortcuts	Settings ▸ Shortcuts.

A key can be bound to open or close many of these panels. No key is set at the start. Shortcuts lists the actions and shows how to bind them.

What the tools act on

Every tool acts on the Studio selection.

Selected	Acted on
An emitter	That emitter.
A Folder, an Attachment, a Model that is not an emitter, or another container	Every emitter inside it, and every stock ParticleEmitter, Trail and Beam inside it.
Something inside an emitter, such as its RenderTemplate	The emitter it belongs to.

Selecting a Folder and then using a tool reaches everything in the Folder. An emitter nested inside another emitter is left to the emitter that holds it.

The pages

Page	What the tool does	First used in
The graph editor	Draws how a value changes over a particle’s life.	Exercise 4
The colour editor and colour picker	Sets one colour, or a gradient over a particle’s life.	Exercise 4
Size and Time	Makes a whole effect larger, smaller, faster or slower.	Exercise 10
Hue	Recolours every selected emitter with three sliders.	Exercise 19
Clipboard	Copies chosen rows from one emitter and pastes them onto others.	Exercise 19
Shifter	Multiplies, divides, adds to or subtracts from chosen rows of every selected emitter.	Exercise 19
Randomize	Rolls random values for chosen rows, to keep or to drop.	Exercise 19
Scan and Fix, Insert Module, Emit Code, the Optimization indicator	Finds and repairs emitters with a problem. Writes the script that fires an effect. Shows an estimate of what an effect costs.	Exercise 17, Exercise 20
Convert from Forge	Rebuilds VFX Forge effects as Part-Icles emitters.
Motion Preview	Draws the paths particles would take, before anything is emitted.
The Inventory	Holds textures, flipbooks and saved effects, and inserts them.	Exercise 5
The Theme Editor	Sets the colours, the font and the text size of the plugin’s panels.
Shortcuts	Binds keys to the plugin’s actions.
Settings	Holds the settings that apply to the whole plugin.	Exercise 3
Panels: moving, resizing, folding	Describes how panels are moved, resized, folded away and put back.