Give particles that move really fast a smooth look, like a real camera would. It should be noted that the motion blur in Trapcode Particular is somewhat different from most other apps/plug-ins. Instead of blending some time-offset frames to produce a blurred frame, in this plug-in additional particles are inserted into the particle list before rendering. This means that depth cueing in the blurred frame is correct and also that per-particle transfer modes are applied for each blur level. It also means that motion blur can produce an awful lot of particles which can make it memory-intense.
Motion Blur
Select motion blur on, off or to use comp settings. When using comp settings, the shutter angle and phase from the comp is used. These are set up in Composition>Composition Settings>Advanced. To activate motion blur when using comp settings, the comp motion blur switch must be on and the layer motion blur switch must be on.
Shutter Angle
How long the camera shutter stays open when a picture is taken. Controls the "streak-lenght" or "blur-length" of particles.
Shutter Phase
Offsets the point in time when the shutter opens.
Type
There are two types of motion blur:
Linear - assumes particles move in a straight line during the time the shutter is open. Generally faster than Subframe, but sometime gives an artificial look.
Subframe Sample - samples the particle's position and rotation at a number of points during the time the shutter is open. Useful when particle motion is curvy (like when using turbulence or spin).
Levels
The number of points to sample when using Subframe Sample.
Opacity Boost
When motion blur is active the particle is "smeared" out and can loose its strength (become less opaque). This setting can counteract that loss. Useful when creating sparks, or any particle that act as a light-emitter.
Disregard
Sometimes not everything is desired to be motion blurred. With this setting some parts of the simulation can be disregarded when motion blur is computed. The settings are:
Nothing - Nothing is disregarded.
Physics Time Factor (PTF) - Disregards Physics Time Factor. Useful for example when freezing time (using PTF) in an explosion. When this mode is selected, the motion blur from the explosion is unnafected by the fact that time in effect stands still.
Camera Motion - Perhaps the most useful case is when shutter angle is very high (particles very "long"), in this situation if the camera is moved, that motion will cause much motion blur. Using this mode the camera motion does not contribute to motion blur.
Camera Motion & PTF - Neither camera motion, nor PTF contributes to motion blur.