pSpawn

pSpawn makes each affected incoming particle act as an emitter. The original parent is not replaced; it continues until the end of its own lifespan, while every spawned child gets an independent lifespan and state.

As long as a parent remains under pSpawn's effect, it can continue generating children. Number, Lifespan, Probability, Age, Sets and Region are therefore population and performance controls, not merely stylistic adjustments.

Default topology contains one orange Particles input. Style = Bitmap creates a dynamic image input for child-particle appearance. Region = Bitmap or Mesh creates a different dynamic Region input. These two sockets have different jobs and can exist alongside the permanent particle input.

Most Controls mirror pEmitter, but pSpawn adds two especially important behaviors. Affect spawned particles allows children to enter the same spawn logic on subsequent frames and can create exponential growth. Velocity Transfer defines how much source-particle motion a child inherits before its own Velocity is added.

Style controls child appearance, while the Sets tab assigns Set 1–32 membership to newly created children. Conditions > Set Mode does the opposite job: it filters already-tagged incoming parents and decides which of them pSpawn may affect.

Region is a particle-domain spatial gate rather than an Effect Mask on the finished image. All/Bezier/Cube/Line/Rectangle/Sphere are built in; Bitmap/Mesh create a dynamic Region socket that receives external 2D or 3D geometry.

pSpawn does not output a finished RGBA image. Its output remains particle data that can pass through pTurbulence, pFriction, pChangeStyle and other particle tools before pRender converts the stream into visible 2D or 3D output.

For diagnosis, begin with Number 1–2, a short Lifespan, Probability 1, full Age, Ignore Sets/Region and Affect spawned particles off. Then add Velocity Transfer, Style, Sets, Age and Region one layer at a time.