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neo1471

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 12:21 am    Post subject: Particles Reply with quote

right, who what where and how post

the imvu made tut is all nice and wonderful to re texture an allready made particles product, now how the hell do you add one to a mesh at meshing level, can u add more than 1 and what tips do you have about there creation, texture size, file type of image ect

spent a while some time ago prodding particles to work out how to make more realistic fire, failed but didnt realy need it at the time but now my curiocity has peeked

please and thankyou ^_^
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 6:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ugh, I think I understand them but don't want to mess with them.

You make your mesh, then set coordinates in the particles tab of previewer to determine where the emittor will be on the mesh. I think the coordinated used on the example in creator center correspond with the avatar but can be applied to furniture else how would IMVU have the fountain, etc?

Well I'm not much help am I? I did just wake up so I'm a little fuzzy.
I know you have to upload and test in client as they don't show in previewer.

Have fun. Razz

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's what I've learned:
* You must upload and test in client - previewer won't show them. A few times, I've had glitchy looking squares show up, but not consistent

* Use a png with embedded transparency for the image. I use PSP and it saves PNGs like that by default, if you have a layered background (right-click the layer and "Promote background").

* You need a source and a way to kill the particles. I've experiment with a few types for source, including point and disk - both seemed to work well

* Gravity works. I believe it's a unit vector with "0, 0, 1" being regular gravity working upwards (backwards from "normal" gravity) and "0, 0, -1" being standard "let it fall down" gravity. You can set the x and y values to have particles move sideways, at an angle - say a dust storm.

* The transparent PNGs have the same blending issue as everything else in IMVU. That is - Particles will disappear behind other meshes that have blended transparency AND particles in front of something will hide the mesh behind. Most notably - lots of hair is blended transparency and will disappear completely as particles pass close by.

* It's a LOT of guesswork to get distances right. I had a largeish round room that was meant to have glowing "pixie dust." The source was a disk at z=0 (on the ground) with a radius of... I kept guessing. I tried 2, then 3, then 4, then 3.5. You change, submit, clear cache and load in client. Then repeat if changes are needed.

* You can only have ONE particle image per product. So if you want "pixie dust" of many colors - tough noogies. Making 2 or 3 different colored particle products as simple furniture items doesn't work because of the blending issue. You can add them all to a room, but particles will cut in and out as one is blocked by another

* I think you USED to be able to link particles to a bone in a skeleton. So you might have particles coming off a Head bone of an avatar, or a particular bone/node in your room. But it seems that feature is gone, or was never fully implemented? As it is now, I think the "source" values are all based off of the root of the room/furniture skeleton. A source of "0, 0, 0" means the particles will be created right where the root node of the room is. If you need particles off to the side or above a chimney stack or in a firepace or something... you can guess at the location through trial and error, or you can move your root node to make the particles easier.

That's a lot of issues/notes, but... when they work, they work great! mostly.

-ner
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MorpherGoddess

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 3:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Previewer version 424.21 will let you see the actual particles. I used it to make this fire.

The texture has to be 32x32 pixels.
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 4:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for asking about this particle thinggy again, it triggerred me to try to assign a particle emitter to a node and figured out how it's done Razz Here's the thing I just made.
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MorpherGoddess wrote:
Previewer version 424.21 will let you see the actual particles. I used it to make this fire.

The texture has to be 32x32 pixels.


where can I download this version ?
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hey I need that previewer version lol. any one has the link ??
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 2:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

@Morpher or twistednanny:
Where can one find the download for previewer 424.21?

And... based on some docs I saw awhile back, it sounds like you used to be able to type in a node name to hook the particles to? As twistednanny said - "assign a particle emitter to a node and figured out how it's done?"

Any chance you'd be willing to trade such knowledge? I've got... cookies and milk and... sketches - or...? Please? Very Happy

-ner
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 2:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

oops
edited.

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 4:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

About that previewer, I don't think you can download it from anywhere. It was available for download when it was launched long time ago. I'm not sure whether it is against the TOS to pass it around so I kind of kept quiet about it.

Long time ago when my friend Gylia was still devving in here she was the one the taught me about working with particles. That time it was still the very first introduction of particle in IMVU and at that time you used to be able to assign it to 3 nodes, not very flexible and as I was about to experiment, they introduced the new particle system with the introduction of that previewer version. It was about the same time my good friend became addicted to SL and no longer dev things in here, I kind of left it alone until somebody asked about it a while back and IMVU had new tutorial on particle under the current system out so I dived in again to see what I could do with it.

At first I couldn't figure out how to assign the particle to a particular node until Neo posted this thread which got me experimenting again and here is how it is done.

With the current particle system, the emitter will be assigned to the Root Node of whatever you're deriving from:

In Rooms: it is the Room's Root Node
In Furniture: it is the Furniture's Root Node
In True Accessory: it is the Accessory's Root Node
In Fake Accessory (Clothing items): it is the Avatar's Root Node and in this case the same goes for Avatar's derivations as well.

Yes, you can have particle in all 3D products. It is a combination of the position of the Root Node, and the coordinates you put in that gets the emitter assigned to a 'particular' node. It is very straight forward on Rooms, Furnitures but I will focus on the assignment of the emitter on Accessory items as this is where the excitement begins.

This is the very first particle product I made, and that was a Fake Accessory where you will notice that the emitter is assigned to the Avatar's Root, and when you put in the coordinates, the position of the emitter changes according to the coordinates you put in but... the emitter will not move with the avatar in this arrangement so when the avatar moves in a posing seat, animations, dances, etc. you will see the emitter stay in the same place referencing to the position of the avatar's root.

So after realizing that the emitter will follow the Root Node of whatever product you're making, I made this, and you will notice that the emitter follows the avatar everywhere now. You will still have to input the coordinates to tell it where the Root Node is, in this case the AttachmentRoot is assigned to the Head Bone so the coordinate is 0,0,2. To assign the emitter to other bone placement, you will have to assign the Root Node to the bone you wanted, and put in the coordinates where that bone is in the avatar's default 'T' pose, you'll have to play with the numbers until you get it right but the basics is x,y,z:

X = Left/Right ~ negative number = right hand side of the avatar, positive number = left hand side of the avatar
Y = Front/Back ~ negative number = front of the avatar, positive number = back side of the avartar
Z = Height ~ negative number = below the grid line, positive number = above the grid line and the height of the Head Bone is 2 so if you're gonna make a Halo with particle you'll have to put in something like 0,0,2.3 (experiment with it until you're satisfied)

You will have to refer to all the information on the Education Center on other settings of the emitter (they all work as I've tried all of them). Of course having that previewer version will help you speed things through in experimenting with a setting, but I wouldn't recommend you to use it to actually submit products as I think IMVU want you to use the lates previewer (not counting the 'new create mode' that is under testing). Perhaps when time permits I will come back with a more 'understandable' tutorial on particle just like I did with the Head Tutorials Razz
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 8:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dang, it's as I feared - all my tests were showing particles are only linked to a root node. Great for fixed offsets, but if you want them to travel "with" anything, you're outta luck without that special previewer.

Thanks twistednanny. Hopefully one day that old previewer will surface. Or even better - maybe the new client built-in previewer will support particles better.

-ner
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twistednanny

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 8:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

YW Smile I thought I'd share somethings I've learned. As to the new previewer, according to MD on Particles, there won't be any changes. Geez I also wish I could assign it to secondary or whatever level nodes to make animations give more impacts. The thing that is missing is also the trigger function of the particle. But for the current setup, if you make an accessory item with particle it is as easy as putting it on and taking it off ~ manual triggerring Laughing
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NoToZee_55020043_retired_

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PostPosted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 7:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

can we just attached the particle to the motion..dance move let say...
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

NoToZee wrote:
can we just attached the particle to the motion..dance move let say...


You'd have to create this by deriving from an accessory product, specify the bone on the avatar body which you want the particle to align to, put in the coordinates referencing to the 'T' pose, then just put it on or take it off when you're in the dance action.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

twistednanny wrote:
NoToZee wrote:
can we just attached the particle to the motion..dance move let say...


You'd have to create this by deriving from an accessory product, specify the bone on the avatar body which you want the particle to align to, put in the coordinates referencing to the 'T' pose, then just put it on or take it off when you're in the dance action.


oh ic..ok i'll try it right away..thx alot for the information, this is exactly what i need
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