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[Stainless]

I've dropped in a sky cube and texture patch for the 3d view

[Dreamk]

Stainless, there is nothing wrong, this exactly why your effect editor is needed!
I found that the same effect files gives different intensity effect (and even different shape effect) according to the way they are called by the program:
an example: the same smoke effect file for a smoke bomb, called "fumigene.eff" will give a different effect whether the bomb is in the air or floating on water.
Another example, still more striking, the same effect file called fountainwhite.eff will give totally different shaped effects whether it's called directly through a method in the specific bomb class, as an associated effect, or whether it's called through the method used in the explosion class.
Add to that that the TParticlesSystemParams and the TAnimatedSpriteParams produce different versions of the same bitmap with the same basic color parameters.
Your effects editor is going at last to enable to check all these variations and adjust new effects without going through an hellish way.

[santobr]

Mine FlareRed.eff
    Color0  1.00 1.00 1.00 1.0
    Color1  1.00 1.00 1.00 1.0

The red color is from the texture.

You can download the effect here:
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,3718.0.html



santo.

[Stainless]

Seems like I have a lot of research ahead of me.

I really don't like the sound of the variation in display results

[Dreamk]

The second variation I described comes from the method using "ballisticprojectile" instead of "actor"
example:

Code: [Select]

Eff3DActor.New(actor, null, rel, 1.0F, "3DO/Effects/Fireworks/WPSsmoke.eff", -1F);
and

Code: [Select]

Vector3d vector3d = new Vector3d();
                    for(int j = 0; j < 36; j++)
                    {
                        vector3d.set(World.rnd().nextDouble(-20D, 20D), World.rnd().nextDouble(-20D, 20D), World.rnd().nextDouble(3D, 20D));
                        float f2 = World.rnd().nextFloat(3F, 15F);
                        BallisticProjectile ballisticprojectile = new BallisticProjectile(point3d, vector3d, f2);
                        Eff3DActor.New(ballisticprojectile, null, null, 1.0F, "3DO/Effects/Fireworks/WPSsmoke.eff", 12000L);
                    }


[Stainless]

That kind of makes sense.

This is just guess work at the moment, however ....

What I think is happening is lighting is getting in the way. I would expect an actor to be lit, however lighting a particle system is impossible when using billboard quads.

A billboard quad, which most particle systems are, is always facing the camera. So the normal used in the lighting will just be bollocks.

A good test for that would be to pick an effect that has a material with sensible ambient and diffuse terms, then flay around it. If I'm right, the particles will change brightness as you orbit them.

[Stainless]

Can anyone give me a clue what units the various settings in an effect relate to?

Accelerations, velocities, emit rates, all that sort of thing.

I want to get my editor as accurate as possible.

[Dreamk]

MatName //The texture that the Effect particles use.
nParticles  //The number of particles assigned to a cycle
FinishTime //How fast to draw 1st particle (-1=draw continuously) - How fast for color one becomes color 2, at which point it ends or restarts based on the value given.
MaxR
PhiN //Angular speed (?)
PsiN //Angular speed  (?)
LiveTime //length of the cycle - The time inside which the effect 'loops', in seconds.
TranspTransitionTime
EmitFrq // Frequency emission of the particles. This number controls how fast the particles are released. A lower number releases them as a smooth stream, while a higher number disperses them more rapidly.
SegmentLen
MaxObjectVelocity //indicates how fast the smoke travels in the direction of the object that emmits it
EmitVelocity //Min / Max speed of the emission (More specifically, Min is at the base of the effect, Max is at the height of the effect)
EmitTheta // Min / Max angle of the emission (More specifically, Min is at the base of the effect, Max is at the height of the effect)
GasResist //Resistance to expansion, lower = faster dispersal
VertAccel //How fast to move up down vertically ("gain altitude")
Wind //wind is a random speed which moves particles
Size 1.0 2.0  // Size of particles, start & ending size
Rnd // helps control the depth of the effect near an object.

[Uufflakke]

Can anyone give me a clue what units the various settings in an effect relate to?

Accelerations, velocities, emit rates, all that sort of thing.

https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,20628.msg228807.html#msg228807

and

https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,21098.msg228821.html#msg228821

[Stainless]

Yes, I know what the variables are, I'm struggling with units.

EmitFrq      Is this particles per second? Or just an abstract value.
EmitTheta  Radians? Degrees?
VertAccel   Metres per second squared? Abstract value? feet per second squared?

[Eexhaton]

Afaik from my extensive experience with IL2 FX modding:
MaxR = Max Radius - max radius for visual to spawn from particle spawnpoint (not 100% sure)

Emitfrq - afaik particles are spawned per tick - which to me seems much more logical compared to spawn per sec.
Radius is (in IL2) always in degrees

Segmentlen is for stretched textures, shorter Segmentleng results in more often repeated textures along the particle path.
(not 100% confimred though, but from my own experience)

TranspTransitionTime is a value for transparency. How fast the texture goes from 100% to 0% opacity.

Hope this helps.
Feel free to correct any errors, it's been quite a long time for me.

[santobr]

EmitFrq             particles per second
EmitTheta          Degrees (0 is de direction of the hook, it is a cone)
VertAccel           Metres per second squared



santobr.