TrailBorn is  similar to a PositionBorn or Born operator, however the particles created by this operator use by default an unlimited live time, a size of 1 and mass of 1. The key feature of this operator is to use it for procedural modelling with particles. As usual thanks to the flexibility of thinkingParticles core this operator might be even used to cook coffee or bake bread!

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. 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.

Particle - (Particle) - This input data stream reads in the currently selected particle group to the Position Born operator.

The remaining input parameters are identical to the UI controls. For more information about the use of an individual parameter check out the descriptions below.

StartParticle - this particle input allows you to draw instantly a trail between 'this' particle and the main particle.

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.

BornLength - outputs the traveled distance that has been reached so far.

BornLengthRelative - defines the traveled distance (length) of the trail particle trajectory as a normalized value between 0(start)-1(end). This assumes that MaxLength is set to a non 0 value.

BornDirection - outputs the direction from the current to the next position

BornDistance - offers the distance value to the previously born trail particle.

LastParticle - outputs the trail particle before the current one

LastDirection - is the direction vector form the previous particle to the current.

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.

Distance - defines the spacing distance between trail particles. At exactly this Distance traveled  by the guiding particle a new particle is born. Born starts at distance 0 (start).

Variation - by default trail particles are evenly spaced at Distance value. However, to create a more random look of the trail particles spacing the Variation can be increased. The higher this value the more the particles positions will vary between each other.

Curve Quality - (range 0-1) defines how many extra trail particles should be created to accurately capture the trajectory of the guide particle. If there are a lot of corners and sudden changes in direction along with a large spacing distance between trail particles; the value should be increased.

Max Segments - sets the maximum amount  of trail particles that will be born. If this amount is reached, no new particles are created. A value of 0 means that there is no limit on the amount of trail particles that will be created.

Max Length - sets the maximum length the guiding particle can travel to spawn trail particles. If the total length of the trajectory with trail particles ius greater than this value no more trail particles will be born.

Variation - to create a random Max Length value for different guiding particles, a variation can be added. The higher this value the more variation the length of the trajectory of the trail particles  will have.

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