Particle Storm Object Mapping files (.PSO)
Particle Storm 2.0 introduces a new file type called the .pso file. The .pso extension stands for 'Particle Storm Object Mapping'. In order to understand the .pso file, it is important to first understand the contents of both the .lwo file and the .psm file. The .lwo file contains geometry and surface information for the LightWave object. The .psm file contains information about the motion of the particles created in a scene. Initially, all particles were assumed to be single-point polygons. That assumption goes away when a .pso file exists with a corresponding .lwo (particle object) file. The .pso file is a kind of intermediate step between the two. It links information about the particles to geometric and surface information in the object file. The .pso file is only created, if needed, at the time the particle object file is created. Both will have the same base name, thus only the extension is different.
| For example: If a particle group is named 'MyParticles', the particle object will be named 'MyParticles.lwo' and the Particle Storm object will be named 'MyParticles.pso'. If an effect file were created, its name would be 'MyParticles.psm'. It is the .pso file that makes possible the use of n-polygon particles and n-point polygon particles; essentially allowing each particle to be a unique shape (without loading individual objects into LightWave). One advantage of this is that it allows for polygons inside an object to be mapped to particle paths. |