Turning particle emitter on and off

cinek · Post by **cinek** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 7:01 pm

Is it possible? I couldn't find anything that would do this in the API docs (maybe I haven't been looking hard enough?).

I want to make a rocket engine "trail", but only when the player is pressing the accelerate button, when he stops pressing it I want the fire to fade out (so deleteing the ParticleSystem isn't a solution).

I've also drawn a conclusion, after skimming the forums, that it's not possible to rotate and translate the emitter without also translating and rotating all the particles (ie. the whole trail rotates with my starship). Is such a feature being planned (I don't need special effects yet) or will I have to tweak the engine myself? (shouldn't be that hard I guess)

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 12:47 am

Maybe you could set the particle size to 0 with setParticleSize() method ???

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 2:29 am

Create your own.. Should be that hard to port this over to be compatible with irrlicht. Will give you much more control over the particles.. And have different systems.. Like snow, Exhaust, Explosions, ect..

Part 1 of a 5 part particle engine tutorial.
http://articles.thewavelength.net/166/

It was designed for Half-Life but shouldn't be hard to port.. In fact i'm porting it right now for my game.. Will give you a lot of control over your particles..

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 6:07 am

cinek wrote: I've also drawn a conclusion, after skimming the forums, that it's not possible to rotate and translate the emitter without also translating and rotating all the particles (ie. the whole trail rotates with my starship). Is such a feature being planned (I don't need special effects yet) or will I have to tweak the engine myself? (shouldn't be that hard I guess)

check out [urlhttp://www.irrlichtnx.mmdevel.de/]IrrlichtNX[/url]. it is a copy off irrlicht 0.6 that has fixes and improvements to it. it has that particle thing either fixed or being looked at for a start.

i haven't used it myself but it sounds good. once irr' 0.7 is released niko, the irr' author, will move the storage of his work over there as well i beleive. that should allow him to focus on the big vision work and allow others to add any smaller fixes or improvements as required.

blayde · Post by **blayde** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 6:13 am

blast and darnation, that last post was me :
IrrlichtNX

cinek · Post by **cinek** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 9:41 am

Thanks for answers.

Once I have the base of my test-game working, I'll try to extend Irrlichts or write my own particle system it (or use IrrlichtNX, if their particles are working by then).

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:17 pm

I almost got it working with irrlicht.
When I get it working if you want it I'll send it to you..

I'll include a few particle effects.. I'll include an explosion and sparks..
You can make your own by inhertiting from the base particle effect class..

Give me a few hours and I should have it all working.

cinek · Post by **cinek** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 9:07 pm

I'm interested

I guess more people are, it would be great if you could put in somewhere on the web.

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:13 pm

Yah its turning out rather nice this system.. In a bit i'll post some screenshots of it..

The screenshots will consist of an explosion a kinda spewing thing.. and some sparks with gravity..

Oh and this particle system isn't limited to 2d graphics ( billboards ).

You can attach a model to particles as well.

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:26 pm

Here is a preview.. The engine framework I still don't have done.. But that is with the begining stages of the particle engine..

These particles arn't affected by the emitters location.. Meaning if you move the emitter all the old particles won't move.. they are under the affect of there own velocity and forces.. The particles are emitted in the direction the particle system specifies.. ( You can change the direction at any time, for example on a ship alter the direction to the back vector of the ship and you get exhaust )

The particles are so smooth moving.. I have total control over them I can make them do what ever I want.. I should have it finished soon then i'll release.

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:13 am

Simple Explosion.. Just a quick burst of particles flying our from center..

Like I said this explosion is simple. You could add forces wind and every to it..

I'll tweak it a bit then release the particle engine.

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 1:19 am

Ok i'll post the particle engine.. But i'm not going to include my premade effects.. Seeing as they are crap I hate physics... So you will have to make the effects.. Just inherit from ParticleSystem and make your own systems..

If you need help making a system just ask..

Also for you cinek you can add a simple pause and resume functions to your system, Only spew new particles if its not paused.. Sound like what you want.

Hehe basically you have control to every single particle by itself.. And the whole emitter...

If you want it email me...
cdbarrett03@yahoo.com

Cause I don't have any space to upload it to for you guys to download..

And here is another screenshot..

blayde · Post by **blayde** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 5:57 am

50free.com

the are f**king fantastic.

anternatly i'll be happy to host it myself, mail me list_lfaATyahooDOTcom.

you might want to consider contru\ibuting that code to irrlichtNX, i think they'd appriciate it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 6:25 am

Yah but theyd have to completly rewrite the particle code to implement this.
But I will.

By request I'll include a few sample systems..

and I checked 50 free.. They don't let you just have file storage.. you must have a site.

Atlantis · Post by **Atlantis** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 8:32 am

Here you go..

I have this place but it sucks.. I mean really sucks.. Only 5mb of bandwidth per day.. But its only place I found for file storage and is free..

http://home.ripway.com/2004-8/157329/Particles.zip

To see the effect in action run particles.exe and walk backwards a little bit..

Then you will see a particle burst every 3 seconds.. Not much but is a simple effect so you can see how to make more.

Now its 4:30am here so good night...

EDIT:
A Screenshot of the particle engine in my game..
This is a simple explosion system I made for the particle engine.

Irrlicht Engine

Turning particle emitter on and off

Turning particle emitter on and off

Re: Turning particle emitter on and off