Creating Fire Effects Using Particles

CreativeStudio can create a myriad of effects using particles.

This page describes how to create a fire effect using particles and sample textures.

Creating a Particle Effect

On the CreativeStudio menu, select CreateEffect.

The ParticleCtrCreationPanel dialog box appears, where you can enter a name for the particle.

Here, we enter "fire" for the particle name.

Entering the particle name

Enter a particle name, then click Apply and close or Apply to create the effect.

Click the Play button in CreativeStudio to display the particles in the Preview panel.

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Emitter Settings

Here, we will set an emitter using the emitter Properties panel.

Parameters for the emitter shape, size, and volume of particles to be emitted can be set on the particle emitter Properties panel.

(1) Single clicking on fireEmitter displayed in the Contents panel displays the emitter Properties panel.

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Selecting the CreativeStudio menu Window > Property panel or double-clicking on an emitter icon displayed in the Contents panel will open the Properties panel in a separate window, where the same emitter settings as given above can be made.

Changing the emitter shape

On the emitter Properties panel, the emitter shape can be selected from among point, disc, sphere, cylinder, rectangle, and cube.

Here, we will change the emitter shape to a sphere.

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Confirm that particle emission changes on the Preview panel when the emitter shape is changed.

Loading texture intermediate files

On the CreativeStudio menu, select File Open Intermediate file to load the fire texture intermediate file located in the following folder:

%NW4C_ROOT%/SampleData/Effect/Intermediate/ManualResource/Fire_Particle/Fire_Anim.ctex

The following texture image is used. L8 is used for the texture format.

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Loading the fire texture intermediate file will display fire_anim in the CreativeStudio Contents panel.

Four flame patterns are drawn for the texture. These will be used for texture pattern animation to be described later.

Material Settings

The fire texture intermediate file loaded into CreativeStudio will be applied to particles using the material Properties panel.

(1) Single clicking on fireMaterial displayed in the Contents panel will display the material Properties panel.

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Standard mode, Details mode and Particle mode have been prepared on the material Properties panel.

The description here uses Standard mode on the material Properties panel.

For details on the material Properties panel, click here.

Adding textures

Change the texture on the Texture tab of the material Properties panel.

Set the image on the Texture0 tab in the Texture List to Fire_anim in the pull-down list.

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Select Fire_anim to set the Fountain_Drop texture for the particle.

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Use the Texture combiner located on the Fragment tab of the material Properties panel to set the textures and colors to be used by the material.

For details on texture combiners, click here.

Particle effect settings

In this section, we will set the particle lifespan and an animation using the particle set Properties panel.

Single click fireParticle displayed on the Contents panel.

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The particle set Properties panel will appear in the CreativeStudio main window. Change the following settings.

Lifespan setting

Lifespan sets the particle lifespan.

Change the lifespan values to those given below.

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Making the above settings randomly varies the particle lifespan between frames 30 to 20.

Color Settings

Let's change the color of the particles.

Note: Left-clicking on the thumbnail allows you to set the color using the displayed color picker popup.

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This color is the color for the particle vertex shader.

With these settings, color is applied to the particle.

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Animation Settings

Now, we will create a fire-like animation.

Alpha animation settings

Now, we will set an animation for the vertex alpha of the particle.

Select Overwrite previous value using four-key method from the alpha animation pull-down menu.

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Setting parameters for Overwrite previous value using four-key method will appear. Change the settings as follows.

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Note: The four-key method is a low-overhead animation technique configured using information from just four animation key locations.
For details on overwriting previous values using the four-key method, click here.

Setting a translation animation for the texture

Here, we will configure a translation animation for the texture's vertex UV , and create a texture pattern animation.

Select a texture pattern from the pull-down menu located under Vertex UV translation for Texture coordinate 0 and then make the following settings.

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Making the above settings will cause the CreativeStudio Preview panel to appear as shown below.

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Scale settings

Set the size and amplitude of the effect by changing the particle scale.

Change scale values to those given below.

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Amplitude (%) is a random value multiplied by the standard value at the time of particle generation.

Amplitude Formula

Standard Value ± (Random Value × Standard Value)

Example

The calculation formula when the above settings, X axis = 2, Amplitude = 25%, have been made is 2 ± (0.25 × 2), with a random value varying between 1.5 and 2.5.

Applying an animation to the scale

(1) Select Add to previous value from the scale animation pull-down menu.

(2) Setting parameters for Add to previous value will be displayed. Change the settings as follows.

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Note: The above setting causes -0.02 to be subtracted from the value for the previous frame. Actual behavior is such that as frames advance, the flame gets smaller by -0.02 each frame.

Rotation settings

Rotate settings are used to set the rotate of a particle around the XYZ axes and its angular velocity when generated.
Change rotation values to those given below.

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Applying an animation to a rotate

(1) Select Add to previous value from the rotate animation pull-down menu.

(2) Setting parameters for Add to previous value will be displayed. Select Random table.

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Note: When Random table is selected, keys are selected randomly from the rotation animation created below and then animated.

Open the Curve editor panel and create an Z-axis rotation animation.

Create the following keys for Rotate Z.

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The values for the horizontal axis and vertical axis when an animation using Add to previous value is displayed on the Curve editor panel are as follows.
Horizontal axis: Frame value
Vertical axis: Default value to be added.

Configuring a speed animation

(1) Select Gravity (accelerate in the specified direction) from the pull-down menu in the Speed section and press the Add button.

(2) Gravity settings (accelerate in the specified direction) will be displayed. Change the settings as follows.

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With the above settings, a gravity of 0.02 is applied in the Y-direction every frame.

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This completes the creation of fire effect using particles.


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