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Originally Posted by gap
Yep, I noticed that. I am trying to track down the problem. It might be related with max number of particles / particle creation rate.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gap
I didn't do the math yet, but the quote below might apply to your stuttering/resetting particle effect:
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Originally Posted by Nisgeis
To address patchy bubbles - you don't need anywhere near as high as 5,000 particles for this effect, a few hundred should be just fine. To get a steady release, make sure that @Helix Bubbles.FastParticleGenerator.BitmapParticles.n.Cr eation.Rate multiplied by .Life is less than MaxParticles. For example if you tell it to have a max of 100 particles, but to release 50 every second for five seconds, then after two seconds it's going to run out of particles, until the first ones start to die. So you'll have a patchy of three seconds where there are no particles.
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Yes, I know this. In the foam_particles generator, MaxParticles=40, life for each particle is 2s, and rate of creation is 10/s, so there is a maximum of 20 particles ...
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Originally Posted by gap
I have moved the new particle generators and the related material to the Lighthouse_FX library file. For compatibility issues, I think it is better messing as little as possible with stock files which are altered by many mods.
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Yes ok, if it's still working.
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Originally Posted by gap
The main effect has two particle generators, one of them with an object particle item, the other with a bitmap particle item and the sound effect attached to it. Can you explain what each particle generator/particle is mean for? Couldn't you use just one particle generator with two array items (one for the object particle, and one for the bitmap particle?). Sorry for the many questions, but I am trying to learn  |
The one with a bitmap particle item attached creates the visual effect. The other one creates one "object" which has a sound attached. Long time ago, I tried to create a particles generator with both bitmap and object items, and it didn't work properly, IIRC.
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Originally Posted by gap
In the Material dat, under the water spray texture, there was a fastparticle generator (which I moved in the Lighthouse_FX file together with the material/texture) having as parent the main node of the lighthouse unit. As far as I can judge, this configuration is a bit unusual. I have tried to remove the controller and/or to set the Parent Id field to 0, and the effect becomes buggy. Can you explain why you set the material/particle this way? Is there no way to link the FastParticleGenerator directly to the splash effect (as an object particle maybe), rather than linking it to the model through parent Id settings? I ask so because, if keep it like this, we will need as many copies of the controller as the lighthouses/rocks that we want to have splashes on them.
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Really, no details can escape from you !
This node was part of an attempt to create a unique generator throwing several particles generators all around the beacon, but it didn't work. You can ignore/delete it. Same remark for both nodes called "$mat_int_halo_2".
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Originally Posted by gap
It is me, or water splashes spawn on the wrong side relative to wave direction? After rotating splash effect's node by 180deg, splashes seem to be triggered on the correct side of the lighthouse. I am not sure though: it could be an optical illusion.
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Yes, the direction of the foam is in the other direction of the wave, because (in my mind) the water crashes on the beacon, splashes in the air and returns in the other direction with foam.
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Originally Posted by gap
Splashes spawn a bit too far from the concrete base. I have displaced effect's placement nodes in the lighthouse file so to form the vertices of a regular octagon having a circumradius of 5 m (moving them closer didn't work, as most of the times splash particles were triggered at once on all sides), and I have displaced particle generator's node by 1.5 m along its z axis, in the direction of the lighthouse center. Now splashes spawn directly against the walls of the lighthouse, rather than looking like water columns with a loose connection with the model.
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Why not.
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Originally Posted by gap
The texture used for the effect was quite poor. I have replaced it with a custom texture based on another texture I had created long ago for FX Update by TheDarkWraith (for SH5). Better resolution, a hint of blue in the RGB channel, and an actual water splash with a cloud of small water drops painted on the alpha channel. I think you will like it  |
Do you have a screenshot ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by gap
Even after bringing all the changes mentioned above, the effect still looks a bit monotonus. I think we should add some degree of randomness to its particles, and to make them affected by wind. The result we should aim for, is every splash being unique in appearance and, unlike now, not to look as the same texture reiterated n times.
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I fear it won't be possible.
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Originally Posted by gap
For the same reason as above, I think we should switch the two particles/particle generators that the effect is composed of, to use two different textures. That's why I asked what each of them is meant to represent  |
In the generator with the bitmap item attached, you can add as many items (with different materials linked, and different settings) as you want.