Overview
PhysicsParticleEmitter is a Nuke Group tool that wraps the native ParticleEmitter node inside a physics-organised interface. All 57 user-facing parameters are remapped from Nuke's default flat layout into seven clearly labelled physics-based sections, presented on a single scrollable page. The result is an emitter that thinks the way a simulation artist thinks — from birth to death, from force to form.
The Problem It Solves
Nuke's default ParticleEmitter presents its parameters in a functional but unintuitive order. Lifetime controls sit next to transform knobs. Rate settings share space with colour inputs. For artists building complex particle systems — fire, smoke, rain, debris, dust this layout creates constant context-switching, slowing down iteration and making it harder to reason about the simulation physically.
PhysicsParticleEmitter reorganises every parameter according to when and how it acts in the simulation pipeline, matching the mental model of anyone with a physics or FX background.
The Seven Physics Sections
1 — Emission / Particle Birth The source term of the simulation. Controls how many particles are born per frame and from where emission rate, variation, channel, emit-from type, vertex rate, selection masking, GeoSelect input, and start frame behaviour. Think of this as the faucet: rate is flow, variation is turbulence in the pipe.
2 — Initial Kinematics Newton's First Law in action. Every particle is born with momentum defined here — initial velocity, velocity range, channel, randomize type, spread angle, and velocity inheritance from a moving emitter. Transfer velocity is critical for animated emitters: it ensures particles "remember" the speed of the geometry they were born from.
3 — Particle Lifespan & Decay How long each particle survives before removal. Includes max lifetime, lifetime range, channel, start/end lifetime boundaries, use-lifetime toggle, and halflife — the only exponential decay control in the emitter. Halflife models realistic population drop-off (smoke fading, sparks dying) rather than hard cutoffs.
4 — Intrinsic Physical Properties The material constants of each particle the properties that determine how downstream force nodes act on them. Mass and its variation and channel control how strongly gravity, wind, and drag accelerate each particle. Size and its variation and channel affect visual scale and collision response. Rotation velocity and its variation and channel define the angular spin of each particle at birth.
5 — Stochastic Controls The organic noise layer. A single random seed drives all variation across the simulation, making results reproducible across renders and team members. Isolated here so it's never accidentally overlooked or buried among unrelated parameters.
6 — Visual / Representation Post-physics rendering choices colour, colour from texture, render mode, emit channels, input order, frame advance, and max clip length. These don't affect the simulation dynamics but control how particles are represented and how animated geometry inputs are handled.
7 — Spatial Constraints The boundary conditions of the simulation. Region type and invert region define a containment volume (sphere, box, half-space, cylinder) that restricts where particles can exist. The full transform stack translate, rotate, scale, skew, pivot, matrix controls the position and shape of that region in world space.
Technical Details
Built entirely with the Nuke Python API using nuke.Link_Knob every control is a live proxy linked directly to the internal ParticleEmitter node, not a copy. Changes are immediate and fully keyframeable.
All three native ParticleEmitter inputs are preserved and correctly wired: particles (stream in), emit (geometry source), and merge (second particle stream).
Self-discovering at build time — a temporary ParticleEmitter is created, all real knob names are read dynamically, and only verified knobs are linked. This makes the tool resilient to minor version differences.
Verified at 57/57 user-facing knobs, zero skipped, on Nuke 16.0v2.
Fully compatible with all downstream particle nodes: ParticleGravity, ParticleTurbulence, ParticleBounce, ParticleRender, and others.
Who It's For
FX artists who work with particle systems regularly and want a faster, more intuitive emitter interface.
TDs building particle rigs or gizmos who want a clean, physics-logical starting point.
Artists coming from Houdini or other simulation-first software who find Nuke's default emitter layout disorienting.
Anyone who has ever scrolled past the wrong knob three times while a render waits.
Installation
Open Nuke's Script Editor, paste the script, and run with Ctrl+Enter. The Group node is created immediately in your DAG, ready to use. No plugins, no dependencies, no menu.py required though dropping it into your studio pipeline as a menu item or shelf tool is straightforward.
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