The Born Operator is very similar to the Position Born operator except that it simply acts as a birth event. In contrast to the Position Born operator, the Born operator does not tell the particles where to be born, how fast they should move or in what direction they should travel. In essence, the Born operator is a stripped down version of the Position Born operator that gives the user the ability to custom build what attributes need to be assigned to the particles.

ON - (Bool) This input data stream determines whether the operator is considered 'on' or 'off'. You can connect other operators to this input channel such as a Bool Helper to activate/deactivate the whole operator.

Time - (Time) This input data stream is used to define the local time for the operator when the user wants to override the default system time.

Birth Type - (Integer) This input data stream sets which of the three birth types will be used for the creation of particles (e.g. - Count, Particles / s, Pistol Shot). The range of integer values goes from 0 to 2, with 0 = Count, 1 = Particles / s, 2 = Pistol Shot.

Count - (Integer) This input data stream provides the value for the number of particles to be created at any time. In order for the connected operator to be used, the Birth Type input must be set to Count in the rollout, or there must be a connected operator that sets the Birth Type to 0.

Rate - (Scalar) This input data stream provides the value for the number of particles to be created per second. In order for the connected operator to be used, the Birth Type input must be set to Particles / s in the rollout, or there must be a connected operator that sets the Birth Type to 1.

Shot - (Integer) This input data stream provides the value for the number of particles to be created at one time. In order for the connected operator to be used, the Birth Type input must be set to Pistol Shot in the rollout, or there must be a connected operator that sets the Birth Type to 2.

Life Span - (Life Span) This input data stream supplies the particle life span for all particles created within the Position Born operator.

Life Variation - (Scalar) This input data stream provides a variation amount for the particle life span for all particles created within the Position Born operator.

Born Particle - (Particle) This output data stream sends particle data for newly created particles to other operators. Every particle birth will activate all rules connected to this particle data stream. As a result , this can be used to directly assign a value to the particle.

Particle Frame Counter - (Integer) This output data stream provides a “counter-like” function that holds the current number of created particles at the given frame. This counter is reset per frame and starts over again at 0. As a result, you can use this output data when you want to trigger other rules based on the creation of a certain number of particles.

Particle Animation Counter - (Integer) This output data stream provides a “counter-like” function that holds the current number of created particles at the given point in the animation. This counter is NOT reset per frame and accumulates the total number of particles created over the course of the animation. As a result, you can use this output data when you want to trigger other rules based on the creation of a certain number of particles.

Generator - this output enables the multi-threaded creation of particles or particle clouds. Generator outputs are used to directly connect to an ExpressionME-L node. If the Generator is the first input of the ExpressionME-L Node, the created particles will be processed in parallel. 

Group - When particles are created, a target particle group must be selected. Choose any particle group from this group drop down list to store the newly created particles in.

Count - When this radio button is selected the spinner to it's right sets the maximum amount of particles that will be created at any time.

Particles / (s) - When this radio button is selected the spinner to its right determines how many particles per second are created. Remember this simple formula when determining how many particles will be emitted per frame: number of seconds = amount of frames/FPS rate. This option is most useful for fast moving objects such as rocket trails, because there is no frame dependency that might cause trouble.

Pistol Shot - When this radio button is selected, particle creation is set to go all at once. Be aware that you can trigger an On/Off activation cycle to continually emit blocks of particles from the Born operator.

In contrast to standard 3ds Max particle systems, this feature gives you the ability to exactly control the number of particles born per activation event. Connecting an animated Bool operator to the On input data stream can help create this kind of effect.

Per Call - when checked, new particles will be created on each call of this operator. Note this feature is only valid for the pistol shot mode! With every call of the operator, a particle is created. In all other cases particles will be created when the On input switches from False to True.

Life Span - This spinner sets the maximum life time a particle may have before it is killed.

Variation [%] - This spinner assigns different Life Span values for each particle created by the Born operator. A Variation value of 100% means that every particle created will receive a different Life Span value - from 0 to the value set within the Life Span spinner.

Random Seed - Each particle generator carries its own random seed. Change this value to make the particles behave differently from other Born operators.