After playing around more with texels as I refine effects, some observations prompt me to offer these pointers.
Whereas non-texel effect textures can be made to alter in size while drawn, texels seem to remain at a fixed size at all times. Suppose an. eff file utilizing a texel (file type: .txl) has
Size 5 25
A 'normal' particle would grow from 5m to 25m between first appearing and disappearing. But a .txl will have its particles remain at a fixed 15m, that being the average of 5 and 25. And so such an .eff might as well have
Size 15 15
A texel runs in the background on a continuous loop, whether any instance has been invoked for drawing or not. The initiation of such an effect therefore does not automatically start at the first frame; it will commence at whatever frame is referenced while the sequence is continuously looped. This means also that if there are two or more instances of the same effect invoked, even at different times, the sequencing of the frames will be identical at any given moment. In other words, the one and only looping sequence serves for all effect instances.
This informs us that for longer sequences it is problematic to use an animation having a clear discontinuity between beginning and end. Such as an evolving explosion that fades away. For then, should the effect be called at a point somewhere in the middle, the oddity of a sequence having the initial burst occurring well later would be jarring. The better approach is a sequence that blends the end into the beginning at least reasonably smoothly.
Author
Topic: Notes on texel-based animated textures (Read 650 times)
