Particle Editor v1.12
by Eric Forhan · 09/10/2002 (11:00 am) · 48 comments
Download Code File
vers. 1.11a 09/05/02 (closed release)
*Numerous bugs repaired--caps, misspells, etc.
*Rearranged GUI--all particle and emitter settings on proper pages
*Maxed-out and tested most settings ranges.
*Found out that SpinSpeed is never saved or loaded (even in T2 version).
+(Fixed in 1.12)
*Made defaults.cs always run so that defaultEmitterNode is accessible
v. 1.12 09/08/02 repaired spinSpeed. Now saves and loads properly
***
This update further extends the functionality of the particle editor. It allows for quite huge long-living particles, among other things. I believe I've found all the caps inconsistancies, so hopefully it will run on linux/mac versions. As said above, it now saves the spinSpeed, which actually has less to do with the speed of particles than one would expect (it is the spin of the emitter as a whole).
IMPORTANT: With the addition of spinSpeed, it breaks any backward compatibility with previous particle ed. versions.
The picture is from Trajectory, which would have been much longer in the making without the editor.
Kudos to Melv May w/his FxLight, which can be seen in some of the pictures. :-)
I think the particle engine is underrated, and we've only seen the beginning. Hopefully this is a good step toward an even better engine.
:)
KNOWN BUGS:
-Does not load saved particle datablocks upon startup.
-Particle #4 can not be edited
-Cannot permanently place emitters and save mission file
EDIT: 09/11/02 Fixed defaultparticles.cs to load the particle texture from the same directory as the .cs. It was causing TGE to crash while loading.
EDIT: 09/23/02 Changed Emitter Variance from 10 to 1000.
EDIT: 11/18/03 Added "KNOWN BUGS" section to description.
vers. 1.11a 09/05/02 (closed release)
*Numerous bugs repaired--caps, misspells, etc.
*Rearranged GUI--all particle and emitter settings on proper pages
*Maxed-out and tested most settings ranges.
*Found out that SpinSpeed is never saved or loaded (even in T2 version).
+(Fixed in 1.12)
*Made defaults.cs always run so that defaultEmitterNode is accessible
v. 1.12 09/08/02 repaired spinSpeed. Now saves and loads properly
***
This update further extends the functionality of the particle editor. It allows for quite huge long-living particles, among other things. I believe I've found all the caps inconsistancies, so hopefully it will run on linux/mac versions. As said above, it now saves the spinSpeed, which actually has less to do with the speed of particles than one would expect (it is the spin of the emitter as a whole).
IMPORTANT: With the addition of spinSpeed, it breaks any backward compatibility with previous particle ed. versions.
The picture is from Trajectory, which would have been much longer in the making without the editor.
Kudos to Melv May w/his FxLight, which can be seen in some of the pictures. :-)
I think the particle engine is underrated, and we've only seen the beginning. Hopefully this is a good step toward an even better engine.
:)
KNOWN BUGS:
-Does not load saved particle datablocks upon startup.
-Particle #4 can not be edited
-Cannot permanently place emitters and save mission file
EDIT: 09/11/02 Fixed defaultparticles.cs to load the particle texture from the same directory as the .cs. It was causing TGE to crash while loading.
EDIT: 09/23/02 Changed Emitter Variance from 10 to 1000.
EDIT: 11/18/03 Added "KNOWN BUGS" section to description.
About the author
#22
The particles, and everything they are doing is perfect. I just simply want to rotate the whole thing.
ie. Imagine getting a building, and rotating it so it faces a differnet direction. This is rotating about the z axis. When I try this with the particle emmitter it does not move.
09/24/2002 (4:03 pm)
Nope. LOLThe particles, and everything they are doing is perfect. I just simply want to rotate the whole thing.
ie. Imagine getting a building, and rotating it so it faces a differnet direction. This is rotating about the z axis. When I try this with the particle emmitter it does not move.
#23
I've hit that problem, too, and haven't found an answer for it. It's like the whole emitter faces you no matter how you circle it.
There may be an answer, but I don't know it. :-/
09/24/2002 (4:32 pm)
LOL! I've hit that problem, too, and haven't found an answer for it. It's like the whole emitter faces you no matter how you circle it.
There may be an answer, but I don't know it. :-/
#24
09/24/2002 (4:43 pm)
How's this for another weird problem. Every time I change ANY slider in the GUI, it causes the green slider to jump down by a bunch of points. If I touch another slider, it jumps down some more. Dosen't matter which part of the GUI I'm on. Any ideas for that?
#25
I'll look further into that.
09/24/2002 (5:23 pm)
Yeah, I agree: That is annoying. I think it is because the sliders both read and set the data, if I remember correctly. I'll look further into that.
#26
i thought I had mine pointing in certain directions - just using the map editing tools to adjust the emitter, but maybe it is stuck.
you can also do the orient on velocity, override advances (? no idea) and the other one - those might make the particles look more like what you need.
that screenshot looks like the particles have no textures, just using squares - or no alpha at least. try no using inverse alpha so they dont add up to white.
09/24/2002 (8:08 pm)
Daniel, i thought I had mine pointing in certain directions - just using the map editing tools to adjust the emitter, but maybe it is stuck.
you can also do the orient on velocity, override advances (? no idea) and the other one - those might make the particles look more like what you need.
that screenshot looks like the particles have no textures, just using squares - or no alpha at least. try no using inverse alpha so they dont add up to white.
#27
//exec("~/ParticleEditor/ParticleEditorStartup.cs");
Everything works fine, i saw you call [exec("./Saves.cs" );] but the zip file doesnt comes with a saves.cs file.
What im missing? (i already double checked paths).
- fa
09/25/2002 (9:14 pm)
I think im missing something, when creating a server this error shows up "Fatal: netconnection.cc, invalid connection objectID", if i comment//exec("~/ParticleEditor/ParticleEditorStartup.cs");
Everything works fine, i saw you call [exec("./Saves.cs" );] but the zip file doesnt comes with a saves.cs file.
What im missing? (i already double checked paths).
- fa
#28
09/25/2002 (9:40 pm)
I'm not sure what the problem is, Marcelo. Saves.cs is created when you save your first particle.
#29
09/26/2002 (12:52 am)
you need to make sure the saves path points to a place which exists
#30
Thank you!
09/28/2002 (6:25 pm)
Just installed all again and everything work fine, i surely made something stupid the first time.Thank you!
#31
10/09/2002 (10:07 am)
This is fantastic... thank you!
#32
11/27/2002 (1:05 am)
YAY GUI's help alot.
#33
I had no errors at all. Extra cool feature to add to TGE. A must!
Hope to see further versions of it. I love the fact of not having to go into the editor to create my particles.
02/04/2003 (9:08 am)
Beautiful, amazing and simple!I had no errors at all. Extra cool feature to add to TGE. A must!
Hope to see further versions of it. I love the fact of not having to go into the editor to create my particles.
#34
-Barzahd
03/15/2003 (9:11 pm)
it works, but I have no clue how to use it.... help on this? Examples? For instance, what settings would I use to make smoke?-Barzahd
#35
06/03/2003 (1:14 pm)
Cool resource. I dont make my particles with it, but I can at least get a good feel for generally what settings I want using th editor. Also, your scripts allow me to create particle fountains where ever I want! (no more need for emitters on the objects themselves.) 
#36
Please help !
10/23/2003 (9:40 am)
Is there somewhere a usable guide to this particle editor ? its really frustrating, that its we have, but no idea how to use it..Please help !
#37
The keybinding is "p", to start it in-game. You'll have to save the particles and add them manually.
10/23/2003 (11:31 am)
What kind of trouble are you having, Gabor?The keybinding is "p", to start it in-game. You'll have to save the particles and add them manually.
#38
Two of the bugs have not been fixed, mainly due to my limited knowledge in Torquescript/programming in general. I believe they may be as simple as directing them to the correct directory so the datablocks can be loaded.
If anyone wishes to help, please do! :-)
-Eric F
11/18/2003 (2:28 pm)
Added "KNOWN BUGS" section to the main description, above.Two of the bugs have not been fixed, mainly due to my limited knowledge in Torquescript/programming in general. I believe they may be as simple as directing them to the correct directory so the datablocks can be loaded.
If anyone wishes to help, please do! :-)
-Eric F
#39
11/20/2003 (2:05 pm)
I'll look at this over the weekend
#40
Anyway, thanks Lab. I did try it out in the latest Torque Demo, and there are a couple of new errors. One, is make sure in game.cs the exec is correct (see instructions--it's to make a link to run the editor), and two, in ParticleEditorStartup.cs change the first exec command to this: exec("./DefaultParticles.cs");.
The bugs I listed above may simply be making sure all the directories are correct.
If you need anything, email me (via profile).:-)
-Eric
11/20/2003 (3:56 pm)
Ack! I just posted and the message went to NeverNeverland. :-(Anyway, thanks Lab. I did try it out in the latest Torque Demo, and there are a couple of new errors. One, is make sure in game.cs the exec is correct (see instructions--it's to make a link to run the editor), and two, in ParticleEditorStartup.cs change the first exec command to this: exec("./DefaultParticles.cs");.
The bugs I listed above may simply be making sure all the directories are correct.
If you need anything, email me (via profile).:-)
-Eric
Torque 3D Owner Eric Forhan
Velocity would make them go out further; drag would slow them down to compensate for the speed. At least, it should. ;-)
Eric
EDIT: Nice screenshot, btw!