basic particles turn on and off randomly

[resort-sand]

hello
it is almost in the title, I am trying to create a flock of fireflies using particles, the idea is to make each particle appears "on and off" to trigger their lighting behaviour before they all "sync" together and turn on and off gradually to form a unity pattern. Since I have a good number of shots, I wanted to create a generic system, focusing on simplicity.
I tried the "particle node modifier" and "data mapper" with a minimum of success as I was not able to turn each off completely.
Then when I wanted to create the mesh objects "spheres" using mograph, I found out it doesn't inherit the radius value.
So I said to myself, maybe I can just inherit the position and animate the scale to turn on&off using fields, I think it tends to over complicate the pipeline instead of simplifying it
I don't hate the actual solution I had, but I was wondering if there is a tip to use on&off in case the client doesn't like the gradual scale changing that will influence the light intensity

Holidays Greetings FF_test01.c4d

[Dr. Sassi]

Hi resort-sand,

Thank you for the file!

If I understand this correctly, the size is there to provide the glow "sphere".

I have left your setup pretty much as it is, but used the Random Effector only to randomize the color.

Below is the more detailed step-by-step. for anyone reading along. Perhaps it is faster to explore the file.

CV4_2026_drs_25_RSff_01.c4d

Material
The Color Data is based on Color User Data and the set up as "RSMGColor" Provided in the presets.

This color information is all over the place, so I use only the red channel via Color Splitter (Blue or green is equally good, as they are just random gray values after all).

To get it from dark to Yellow, I used a Ramp Node. The idea of those lights is a more organic feel, hence the little variations on the right side of the Ramp.
This is then placed into a Mix Node, as you want to be able to go from Random to Full. To make that more comfortable to animate, I used a Group Node, set to Start node (Material Menu> Node> Start Node.)

In this group Node I created an Input-Output and set the parameter to 0-100% with a step of 1% (right mouse click on the input> Edit input. then set up the parameters)

This allows, now, after the material is selected in the Material Manager, to see that input in the Attributes, I named it "Glow RND to Full", and animated it as needed.

The second input of the Group Node is Color. I have set it to blue for now, so the animation and change are clear. Use the warm glow tone for your final use if that is the target.

All of that goes into the Emission Color, and I have set the Weight very high to enable the proper glow in post effects. See below.

Rendering
If the Redshift Render View is open and large enough, the Cogwheel in the right upper corner should be visible.

In the Display Tab, you can set up the Bloom and eventually the Flare effect. I have enabled both.

This produces the Light "sphere" around the fireflies.

The Render Settings have the RS Post Effects enabled

Preview:
https://projectfiles.maxon.net/Cineversity_Forum_Support/2025_CLIPS_DRS/20251230_CV4_2026_drs_25_RSff_01.mp4
.

Please let me know if that works for you.

Happy holidays to you as well!