GridSquares plug-in> Square Setup group
This section controls some behavior of your shape particles, mostly for their movement and direction. The default particle is a square; thus, the name of this section.
Lock Birth Attributes checkbox
Affects these parameters in the Square Attribute section: Speed, Viscosity, and Opacity. If this is checked, each square that gets created will remember its settings for those attributes. If you animate them, squares created before the change in values, will not be affected.
For example, if you animate Width from 2 to 6, Squares created before the keyframes will always have a Width of 2. Squares created afterwards will have a Width of 6, so you'll have Squares with varying Widths on the screen at the same time. If LBA is not checked, when you animate Width from 2 to 6, ALL squares on the screen, and all those created afterwards will be 6 pixels wide. This is how most of the attributes behave regardless of whether LBA is on or off.
In both images, Opacity has been animated from 0 to 100. (The background lines were created using GridLines.)
At left, Lock Birth Attributes is off, and all squares change Opacity at the same time.
At right, Lock Birth Attributes is on. The older squares retain the Opacity value they were originally created with.
Unit pop-up
Determines the measurement unit used for the Squares Attribute group. There are two options: Pixel and Grid Space. Your choice of unit can have a very significant on the look of your lines or squares, and how they animate.
If you change to Grid Space without adjusting the particle attributes, you may get extremely long render times. Let's say Attributes> Minimum Width/Height is set to 10, and we change to Grid Spaces. If a grid space is 50 pixels by 50 pixels, at a minimum of 10, the minimum goes from 10 pixels, to 500 pixels (10 (the minimum) x 50 (the size of a grid space)). This results in a lot of extra calculation, which will slow things down while you're trying to change everything to a more normal amounts for the Grid Space unit.
Setup your attributes to something that makes sense for the particular unit BEFORE switching over to it. This is very key in achieving certain types of effects with the squares, particularly when you want the squares to make the grid obvious. For example, you could move the Producer Point over the grid, and new squares would be only created in the grid spaces, which makes the grid much more apparent.
In this diagram, each grid space equals 24 pixels. If you had fewer rows and columns, the number of pixels would be larger. If you had more rows and columns, the number would be smaller. Divide the size of the grid by the number of rows or columns to get the pixel value of each grid space.
Rotation
This parameter sets the rotation for the squares. This causes each square to be rotated by this amount. See the Rotation parameter in the Grid section for a full discussion of the differences.
Random Squares checkbox
This checkbox causes Squares to be sent off in all directions. You have no control over where they go, they get created and are sent off and running in some random direction. Actually, the Turning Controls still affect random Squares, so you do have some control over what they do, but not much.
With this selected, the Vertical Squares and Horizontal Squares pop-ups are ignored. The Squares are quite happy running about in any direction they choose and aren't about to be hampered by a couple silly pop-ups or a dial.
Direction
If Random Squares is not checked then the Squares are constrained by this dial and the series of checkboxes beneath it. Squares get spewed off in whatever direction is selected here. You can either set them to go in one direction, or use the bi-directional checkbox to have they go in both directions.
Bi-Directional checkbox
As mentioned, this takes whatever direction is selected and sends squares running off in the opposite direction, as well as the selected direction.
Constrain Along Horz and Vert Axis checkbox
Causes squares to only move up/down/left/right, locking them to the X and Y axis. Movement at an angle is thus prevented. This is particularly useful with Random Squares checked.
Outlines checkbox
Turns on outlines around the squares. If this is unchecked then there will be no outline on the particles. Makes sense. There are a number of Outline parameters that are interrelated.
Outlines Only checkbox
If you also have the Outlines Only checkbox selected, then no squares are displayed, just the outlines that go with the individual squares. You can get some really interesting looks and effects with the outlines, as you can adjust their look and have them jiggle around.
An example of squares with Outlines Only checked and Outline Jitter at 2.
Outline Jitter
Sets how much the corners of the outline distort. The higher the Jitter value, the more the corners will move around and distort the square outline. This creates a cool 'wobbly' square type of look. This animates automatically so you only have to ues Outline Jitter to set the distortion amount along with the Jitter Rate of Change.
Likewise, be careful about the Outline Width. A value of 1 may be too small for broadcast video and introduce buzzing. A value of 2 or 4 is a much safer value when dealing with broadcast video.
At left, no Jitter applied makes the squares look smooth. In middle, Jitter is low and the shapes are a bit funky.
At right, Jitter is high, the outlines have gone wild and the shapes are no longer always square.
Jitter Rate of Change, ROC Randomness
Controls how often the corners change the amount they're displaced by. This is extremely useful for avoiding any 'buzzing' if you're going out to video. If the squares are changing too rapidly, next thing you know you're sending your viewers into epileptic fits.
Random Seed
Sets the value that all the Randomness parameters use to determine their values. As long as the Seed remains the same, if you change a parameter and then go back to the original value, the animation will look the same. If you change the Seed, and go back to the original value, everything will look different.
Shape pop-up
Choose the geometric shape of your particles. The default option is Square, of course!
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Left to right, the Shape menu, 5-sides option and 6pt Star option.