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Lightning Emitter aka My first Emitter :-)
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7 Replies
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Thank you for sharing that. It is VERY nice.
Bob
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Bill,
Very nice, and will be quite useful. A few questions…
– How did you create the images? I need to be sure that they’re not copyrighted, since they will eventually make it into the general emitter library collections I’m sure. Plus, I’d like to be able to create this type of image sequence myself (and others would too I’m sure).
– Would you mind if I included this in the Aug. Emitter library? If you don’t mind, then please let me know how you want me to attribute it. It would be something like “Lightning 01 (Bill ___ )”
– Keep in mind: Only use 512×512 shape images if you really need to (if one particle is approximately that size when rendered). If you don’t need it that big, making it 256×256 will save a lot of memory, especially with an animated shape like this.
Alan.
wondertouch -
One more thing to remember whenever you are making particle shapes:
Don’t let the “important” parts of the image reach the edge of the image. For example, in some of your frames the “glow” around the bolts reaches the edge of the image. This results in a sharp edge in the particles (maybe not visible until you zoom out, or use the emitter in a larger project), that completely kills the effect.
So, make sure that you have an area of complete (0,0,0) black all around the edge of your images.
There are a few old “blurred star” shapes in libraries that go to a near-black like (5,5,5) or something like that, and in some cases this creates a sharp edge that is visible. Quite ugly.
Alan.
wondertouch -
You are welcome Bob, enjoy. 🙂
Bill
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Allen,
Thank you for commenting and taking the time to help me.
You see, when I -
One thing I just thought of I deliberately had the lighting bolts coming from the top of the particle image as if they started off frame. I was thinking they would always be coming from something like a cloud or from behind a structure or other obstruction or the emitter would over lap the top of the stage so it would not be noticed.
Should I start the bolt inside of the top as well, would that be better?
Thanks,
Bill -
It really depends on what your application is. If you want it to look like the bolts are half-buried in a cloud, then starting it “off the edge” is probably best. This would limit the usefulness of this shape though, since it would only look good in this type of effect.
If you want a more “general purpose” bolt shape, then make sure that the bolts start and end inside the image area (surrounded by black on all sides).
For “electric” effects (like a ball of lightning) and to make the source of the bolt more predictable, make each frame of the sequence start at the exact same point in the frame.
The size of the shape used and the “size” properties are not related. If you take an emitter that uses 512×512 shapes and swap out a 128×128 shape (if I remember correctly) you don’t have to adjust the “size” property. You may need to adjust the “reference point” location though.
Scaling a large shape image very small results in poor quality, just as scaling a small shape very large does.
Finally, you don’t need to use a square shape image — you can make it 128 x 512 for instance.
Alan.
wondertouch
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