Tools

TOOLS

Particle Tool

The particle tool allows for the creation of FXF files.

Core Concepts

The three main elements of the particle system are:

Particle Definition

This describes individual particles, and how they change over their lifetime. You can set the lifespan of a particle and how its speed, appearance, etc change. Particles have a maximum lifespan of 255 ticks (so about 8.5 seconds). Editing of the particle attributes is done via sliders or curves, depending upon the type of parameter.

Emitters

And emitter defines which particles are emitted from given points on a model. The points are identified by an index which is extracted from special naming of model frames (e.g. !3 denotes this frame is emitter index 3). You can use these points by emitting from the position of an emitter frame, along a line between two emitter frames, or you can emiter particles randomly from the surface of the emitter frame (assuming it has a mesh associated with it). You turn on mesh emission by clicking down the second emitter frame index below zero so it denotes mesh emission.

Effects

An effect is a set of emitters which can (optionally) be turned on and off during playback via the timings dialog. The game can trigger effects using the animation and scripting systems.

Coordinate Types

The checkboxes above the particle attribute area control how particles are emitted and move relative to their emission frame.

[ detailed docs TBD ]

The Import Tool

Allows import and conversion from FBX files into the game-specific S4F format.

Details