by Blenderthings·Motion Graphics
Images © Blenderthings. Used for product review; image policy.
Blender Particle Tracer for Animation Nodes earns its place in the superhive library as a focused tool for turning particle motion into keyframed objects and adjustable splines. It carries a five-star rating from a single review, and the developer is a Blender Dev Fund contributor.
Blender Particle Tracer for Animation Nodes is a Setup built for Animation Nodes 2.1 that records how one or many particles move. Each particle is captured as an object with keyframes, and you can specify which object gets duplicated. All duplicated objects are placed on Layer 1 (counting from zero), so the full set is easier to select once the process finishes.
From the same particle movement, the Setup generates splines. Their look can be tweaked toward jagged or straight, with a tip or without, and both spline thickness and resolution are adjustable. All created splines can also be separated so they can be shaded with a random color inside a single material.
The Setup can offset the animation time of the particles, letting you run the particle simulation once and then shift the whole thing in time to hit specific timings, with the option to speed it up or down. Duplicated objects can be copied to another instance of Blender, carrying their keyframes with them.
Blender Particle Tracer For Animation Nodes is best for blender artists working with particle simulations who want to record particle motion as keyframed objects and generate adjustable splines from it.
Blender Particle Tracer For Animation Nodes is completely free to download and use.
Blender Particle Tracer for Animation Nodes lists support for Blender 2.79 and 2.8, so it runs on either of those releases. It's built as a Setup inside Animation Nodes 2.1, which needs to be installed alongside it. Because it depends on that specific Animation Nodes version, check that your Blender install matches one of the listed versions and that Animation Nodes 2.1 is in place before setting up the trace. For behaviour on newer Blender releases, the developer's page is the best reference.
Blender Particle Tracer for Animation Nodes is a Setup for Animation Nodes 2.1, so that add-on needs to be present for it to function. Once in place, the Setup records the motion of one or many particles as an object with keyframes and lets you pick the object that gets duplicated. It also generates splines from the particle movement. Since it targets Animation Nodes 2.1 specifically, matching that version matters; the developer's page is the place to confirm current requirements and any changes.
Blender Particle Tracer for Animation Nodes is listed as free here, and it is distributed under a Creative Commons license. Licensing terms can change over time, so for current licensing and the exact license conditions, the developer's page is the most reliable source. The download provides the Setup itself, which you then load into Animation Nodes 2.1 within Blender. If you plan to redistribute or reuse the results commercially, review the Creative Commons terms on the developer's page before doing so.
Blender Particle Tracer for Animation Nodes can copy its duplicated objects into another instance of Blender, and the keyframes are carried across with them. That makes it possible to build the traced animation in one file and move the resulting objects elsewhere without losing their timing. The Setup places all duplicated objects on Layer 1 (counting from zero), which makes selecting the whole set easier before copying. Beyond the duplicates, the tool also produces splines from the particle paths that can be adjusted separately.
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