Maya 2014 Create Smoke or Water Effects with Image Sprites Tutorial by Stuart Christensen
There are many ways to create smoke and water effects in Maya and there's a special technique of using nParticles with a random image sequence attached to sprites for achieving a low cost render while maintaining a good quality visual effect. There's a special process involved to get this system working and this tutorial by Stuart Christensen will explain the process in detail and help you understand the mechanics of using particle sprites to create great smoke and water effects.