never really used the tool so i'm giving it a whirl now. just simple particles now. might do more later. definitely a time saver. what do you guys think? and do you use it?

[swf=http://www.fileize.com/files/ae682f7b/bfa/combo.swf]width=800 height=400[/swf]

You mean the deco tool? yea it can be useful, but no on all instances. But I dare say it does come in handy sometimes :)

it's got some cool stuff. just wish it didn't bog flash so hard. i like that you can set min and max values for the particle brush. i haven't figured out a good way to play with it yet though

There's an even better technique for particles :P. Create a new graphic clip, and animate 1 particle doing what ever you want it to do. Then use the "Spray" tool and change the default to the graphic clip you made, and see magic happen. You can experiment by using 2 or more graphic clips, and multiple particle animation in each. An other thing is, just placing your one particle in different timeline and stage locations... if you understand what i mean??

thaat's a much longer way. actually that's the way it's usually done, i just wanted to try out a new tool :]

but yeah for most of my particles i just make graphics, scale and rotate, and start on different frames so it's not an obvious recycle.

this tool you just click and wait. looks kinda goofy but it's way faster

I just use brush for particles but zoom in so that they get smaller, so start with the bigger ones and zoom in as you want them to shrink. That's how I do it anyway

i prefer doing particles with causal dissipation. like my sparksin my other thread where they flare and fade out. big things like dirt and blood i like to have end up somewhere whether a clump or stain