Adding Particle Emitters Tutorial

Started by arramus, June 05, 2009, 07:53:10 AM

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arramus

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Here is a tutorial describing how to add manually made particle emitter effects to your maps.

We are going to:
1. Add an Emitter.
2. Apply Type of Emitter.
3. Apply a Texture.
4. Configure the Emitter Properties.
5. Save your map and play test.

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1. Open the Actor Classes Browser and select Actor > Emitter.



Right click an area on your map in the 3D window to bring up the selection menu and select 'Add Emitter Here'.



2. Now that the Emitter Actor is placed we can begin adding emitter types. Open the Properties of the Emitter and go to the Emitters category. Select 'Add' and from the drop down list select SpriteEmitter (as this tutorial is going to make a smoke type emitter), then select the 'New' tab and you will now receive a lot more options to choose from.



In the main 3D window select the joystick icon (it looks just like a joystick) from the viewports upper left corner. This will allow you to see the map as a Realtime Preview. Your Emitter will now also display a sprite matching the Emitter icon. It's this sprite that we now need to change.



3. In the Properties area for the SpriteEmitter select 'Texture'. For this tutorial we are going to make an exhaust trail from a blood texture located here 'Texture'Effects_Tex.GoreEmitters.BloodCircle'. Select this texture in the Texture Browser and select 'Use' in the SpriteEmitter 'Texture' area.



Now change the DrawStyle under the 'Texture' category from PTDS_Translucent > PDS_AlphaBlend and the alpha information will display properly.



4. Now we can start configuring the final properties to make the SpriteEmitter come to life.

In the SpriteEmitter Properties perform the following:

SIZE
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Go to Size > StartSizeRange > and for this tutorial set: X Max = 30 and X Min = 5. You will see that UniformSize = True.

This will make the sprite display as a perfect 'square' from all angles.

LOCOMOTION
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Go to Velocity > StartVelocityRange and change the Y Max = 50 and Y Min = 80. This will make the SpiteEmitter begin to show some motion. It's also possible to apply negative direction, e.g -50 / -80 based on your directional needs.

GENERAL
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Go to General > MaxParticles and change to 300.

TIME
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Go to Time > LifeTimeRange and change the Max = 2 and Min = 2.

FADING
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Go to Fading > FadeOut and set to True.

COLOR
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Go to Color > Opacity and set to 0.8.

5. Save your map and play test.