Weapon Trails... anyone try this idea?
by Cinder Games · in Torque Game Engine · 09/30/2005 (7:14 pm) · 9 replies
Was just thinking.... instead of using GL draws for weapon trails... using particle emiters instead. if done right you could create some much more exciting results that way. I'll probably tear into it and see what results i get, but i'm curious if anyone has approached this method for weapon trail effects.
I figure you could use a "particle" that's pretty much shaped like the blade, have it position the ejected particles to match the orientation of the weapon. Particle effects can change colors, shape, and opacity really easy... so there are lots of possibilities.
I figure you could use a "particle" that's pretty much shaped like the blade, have it position the ejected particles to match the orientation of the weapon. Particle effects can change colors, shape, and opacity really easy... so there are lots of possibilities.
#2
10/02/2005 (9:42 pm)
Yeah, spawning particles is pretty easy. Getting it to work 100% right in call cases is tricky.
#3
10/02/2005 (9:45 pm)
Hmm... i did some tests today, and couldn't get the particles to spawn fast enough or something. as the character moved it left gaps. before trying to attach to a weapon, i used a particle mounting resource on the site here. mounted it to the plaer and had him run around. i set the spawn rate of the emit to 1 ms and it still left big gaps. 
#5
10/02/2005 (9:54 pm)
Seems to be a problem with the mounted particle resource... guess i'll look into it more. making just a normal particle emiter.. doesn't create the same gaps. 
#6
10/04/2005 (3:42 am)
What is the issue with the resource ? 
#7
10/04/2005 (3:46 am)
With any high speed object that a particle emitter is attached to it never seems to work right. I tried to make a solid bullet trail using a particle emitter but it always left gaps, so it looked like dots. 
#8
10/04/2005 (5:37 am)
You could lower the lifespan of the the particle (less than a quarter of a second) and have it the emitter create particles more quickly. This will help with the problem to an extent.
#9
10/08/2005 (11:33 pm)
I was having it spit out the particles every MS and it didn't help. As for the issue with the resource.... it doesn't seem to spit out particles as fast as a normal emiter would. i could spawn an emiter, and move it manually, and there wouldn't be the gaps that occur with the mounted particle resource. 
Torque Owner Kevin Johnson