Using Multi/Sub-Object Materials with Particle Systems

Icon: In most cases, each particle, at its birth, is assigned a different sub-material, cycling through each available sub-material. For example, if there are only three sub-materials, the first particle receives sub-material #1, the second #2, the third #3, the fourth #1, and so on. The exceptions to this are as follows:

MetaParticles use only the first sub-material.

Object fragments are born at once, so all of them use only the first sub-material.

Picked Emitter: When used with object fragments as particles, each particle uses the three ID numbers in the Fragment Materials group. If this source is used with the other particle types, the particles are assigned sub-materials in the same way as when Icon is chosen.

Instanced Geometry: When used with Instanced Geometry particles, each particle is assigned a sub-material in exactly the same way as the source object, so each particle looks just like the source object. When used with other particle types, the particles are assigned sub-materials in the same way as when Icon is chosen.

Note: Instanced objects with Multi/Sub-Object materials cannot be image motion blurred.