Affect explode modifier with force field

Question

I'm trying to explode an object gradually with the explode modifier. I used the "quick explode" to get the initial setup. Then I turned particle physics off so that the the pieces stay in place. My plan was to now create a force field object and use it to gradually move the particles away from their initial position. I can't seem to get a force field to effect the particles in any way though.

Is this because I turned physics off? Am I approaching this wrong? How could I make the explode modifier explode my object in a gradual and controllable manner, for example from top to bottom?

Answer 1

The explode modifier uses the particle system to guide the shards. To have the shards remain in place, set everything under Velocity and the Gravity influence under Field Weights in the particle system to zero.

Now the particles won't fall due to gravity, and they will have no initial velocity, but they can still be affected by other force fields.