Creating a plankton flow effect.

I watched this effect created in AE6 and it reminded me of watching plankton churning around in an ocean. I began to wonder how I could create this effect in PI.

The problem is that some of the particles have an oscillation-like motion, some only travel in one direction, some change size from big to small, and some from small to big. So I'm thinking a super emitter would be the only choice? But I can't work it out how to have random particles' motion oscillate like that. Once a particle is randomly emitted at a certain angle how can you have it randomly slow down and randomly change directions?

Changing the reference point...oh yeah! I see now why you don't need a superemitter either since the spin variation would make some oscillate and others not. Do you think it would buy you anything to be able to randomize the reference point? (Not necessarily for this problem, but for making particles in general.)

[Elvis Dean] "Reference Point over Life" ...My sentiments exactly...just curious since, in my limited knowledge, I don't know if it would provide you with anything useful.

I was working on reproducing the plankton effect based on Alan's suggestions and I was in the process of adding it to my libary when pI crashed. Arrgh! Oh well, it will turn out better the second time around. I started thinking about something I haven't figured out as I worked on this (please bare with me if it's a stupid and obvious question): Does pI emit particles as fast as it can generate them or is there a way to control the rate? For instance, is there a way to specify that an emitter spew out 2 particles a frame, or 5 particles a second, etc.?

Why do I keep getting the feeling that I need to go by my local community college and sign up for Physics 101 just to have fun editing video and creating motion graphics to go with it?

Steven
Adobe PremierePro / After Effects 6.0 Pro / Hobbyist
http://www.stevengotz.com/premiere.htm