Jump to content

CorzaX24
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hey team!

 

So I've been using Leadwerks for a while now, and coming along nicely. But for the life of me, cannot figure out how to get a good "authentic" looking emitter effect. Particularly with a fast jet of steam, or sparks.

 

Anyone good with emitters? Have any good settings that work well?

 

Much appreciated!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Particles are still an underappriciated thing in Leadwerks while the API lets you create pretty powerfull stuff.

 

This is one of those things were I would love to have access to some sort of plugin manager. That way the community could extend the editor with a particle editor with complexer design. I do remember that tool, worked really nice.

 

I hope to cover some tutorials about this stuff sooner than later.

  • Upvote 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been working on a set of generic emitters for my own use. I've been considering either selling for a low price of giving away for free (or a free subset). Not sure what the interest would be.

 

There is a spark effect in the workshop by Josh and it pretty convincing. The physics interaction is nice, as long as you don't over crank this.

 

A few tips:

 

1) Expect to have multiple emitters for each effect (with each set as low as you can for the effect you want).

2) For each single emitter aim to capture a single property of the item you are modelling (e.g. fire = flames + sparks + smoke)

3) Turn on only one emitter at a time and tweak it so that it gives you the effect you want for that component.

4) Have each emitter attached to a pivot, and then save the whole lot of as a prefab.

5) Consider if an animated sprite sheet rather than a static material might improve the look OR help you reduce particles needed. E.g. an animated frame versus multiple particles to do the same thing.

 

That's what came to mind first anyway.

  • Upvote 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had planned a good deal of the things you mention and have early versions of most of them. I have only recently begun investigating this with more seriousness (started just last weekend really), so everything is quite early at this time.

 

Here is a screenshot and video (if I can figure out how you link a video) to show a bit of what I've done.

 

VljmM83.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to these I have plans for multiple types of those in the image as well as some or all of the following

  • blood impact
  • billowing dust
  • sandstorm
  • steam
  • impacts - maybe glass/metal/wood/cement/dirt (e.g. bullet hitting dirt)
  • lightning
  • gas (poison)
  • explosions
  • maybe lasers/tracer/muzzle flash
  • water - taps/fountains/rain splash etc.

I'd probably be open to any requests.

 

I might do some custom scripts for the prefabs to allow you to more simply control parameters or gain additional programmatic control over things.

  • Upvote 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

mdgunn, your knowledge and examples of your own emitters are quite good! I have made a simple water drop emitter which I think actually looks kinda good.

 

I'll be sure to check out this spark effect too!

 

I do hope in the near future that we see some emitter packs up for grabs!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very awesome!! To embed a video, use the media tag [media ]youtubeURL[/ media] without the spaces and make sure you use the http NOT the https link.

 

Thanks, got it working.

 

I do strongly suggest hit effects like the one in Batman, shown here (video should start at 54 minutes but it doesn't seem to work with this forum):

 

These look possible. I will take a closer look when back at home.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice work md. Are they all made just with the emitter or are they spritesheets?

 

The majority of the effect of these is just standard leadwerk emitter (usually multiple).

One or 2 (smoke ones I think) use an animated sprite sheet to give a small time variation to the particles over their lifetime but that usually isn't giving the main effect.

 

The spell one (red expanding circles) looks like it could be sprite sheet, and might be more efficient if it was (though limited in resolution), but it's 2 emitters and no sprite sheet at all.

 

For a torch or candle, and possibly some projectile/spell effects, I would probably go with a sprite sheet where the size of what you want is limited, many instances would be inefficient, or the effect it difficult to create exactly with Leadwerk emitters.

 

Most effects I would be aiming to have as proper LW emitters so you can modify them to be what you want.

 

None of these emitters have scripts doing anything yet but that might be an option for some extra control as well.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When using the LW emitter, do you use different materials to get your effects or just use the default?

 

You mean just the few materials that come with the standard projects, like smoke and tracer? No, the emitters I showed above use all new materials though you can do quite a bit with the the simple default blur and smoke.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...