Particle Editor v1.12
by Eric Forhan · 09/10/2002 (11:00 am) · 48 comments
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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
#42
You're in luck. Labrat just released a new version, which fixes some bugs and sets it up as a -mod! It's much, much easier to start up now.
He announced it in his latest .plan, or you can go directly to his website.
But feel free to continue posting either here or his .plan. :-)
-Eric F
02/04/2004 (9:39 am)
Hi Charles!You're in luck. Labrat just released a new version, which fixes some bugs and sets it up as a -mod! It's much, much easier to start up now.
He announced it in his latest .plan, or you can go directly to his website.
But feel free to continue posting either here or his .plan. :-)
-Eric F
#43
I do thank you for updating me of the information, I am excited to try and use this resource, and do appreciate all the work that has gone into it. Thanks!
02/04/2004 (2:18 pm)
I downloaded the 'new' Particle Editor from Labrat's website, but it is the same v1.12 editor window - no different than the previous and nothing like the one in the help file. It crashes and has the same behavior I was having before. Even says v1.12 on the window bar.I do thank you for updating me of the information, I am excited to try and use this resource, and do appreciate all the work that has gone into it. Thanks!
#44
CPU: Make / Speed
Video: Make / Mem / Driver
OS:
etc.
02/05/2004 (10:37 am)
Could you post some info on your System Specs?CPU: Make / Speed
Video: Make / Mem / Driver
OS:
etc.
#45
The bug is repeatable. If you mess with the Emission Variance controls on the top of the Emitter window. If you set the top slider to zero (all the way to the left) while a particle emission thing is going, it bombs. Or, if that doesn't work, just move the next slider around a bit, and it crashes. Error message is...
Fatal: (...torque\engine\game\fx\particleengine.cc @ 1137)
Error, next particle ejection time must always be greater than 0 (Retry/Cancel) either one bombs out of Torque.
02/05/2004 (12:16 pm)
Eric helped me out. I did a complete recheckout of HEAD and it works - fine. Though I did find a bug.The bug is repeatable. If you mess with the Emission Variance controls on the top of the Emitter window. If you set the top slider to zero (all the way to the left) while a particle emission thing is going, it bombs. Or, if that doesn't work, just move the next slider around a bit, and it crashes. Error message is...
Fatal: (...torque\engine\game\fx\particleengine.cc @ 1137)
Error, next particle ejection time must always be greater than 0 (Retry/Cancel) either one bombs out of Torque.
#46
// For particle Editor, real annoying if game quits while you are editing
$Game::Duration = 0;
02/05/2004 (4:56 pm)
I HIGHLY suggest you put this line in game.cs// For particle Editor, real annoying if game quits while you are editing
$Game::Duration = 0;
#47
08/11/2006 (4:38 pm)
hey im a noob at this, ite realy cool and all but howcome when i open saves.cs it contains tones of gibbrish? 
Torque Owner Charles Savage
I set up everything to the above. I have the ParticleEditor directory in my starter.fps directory, with two sub directories, particles and Saves. I also have a particles directory in data/shapes/. I fixed the exec("./DefaultParticles.cs"); bug mentioned above.
Really, a nice step by step process on what to do when you first launch this would help nicely. Like do I need to copy any of my emitters or particle textures or what, to someplace to make them assessible? Or if there was something I was working on, can it be imported in some way?
TIA