Particles looking repetative.

[laggy]

Hi,

Don't know if I'm being way too picky or if this is really a problem you can fix.
In the following script I have an object creating smoke in the sky, but I think the shape of the smokeclouds are quite repetative. I understand the size thing, but wonder if there is a way to change the "pattern" of the Billboard? If that makes any sense.

Is it "fixable"

Code: [Select]

#loop

drop [["\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\SmokeAnim.p3d", 8, 0, 1], "", "Billboard", 3, 2 + random 2, [0,0,0], [random 5,random 5,random 5], random 8, 0.1 + random 0.2, 5, 1, [20 + random 10, 30 + random 20, 50 + random 20], [[1, 0.5, 0.5 , 1], [0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5], [0, 0, 0, 0]], [10, 10], 1, 0, "", "", _obj];
drop [["\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\SmokeAnim.p3d", 8, 0, 1], "", "Billboard", 3, 3 + random 3, [0,0,0], [random 5,random 5,random 5], random 8, 0.1 + random 0.2, 5, 1, [30 + random 20, 40 + random 30, 70 + random 30], [[0, 0, 0 ,0.6], [0.2, 0.2, 0.2, 0.3], [0.4, 0.4, 0.4, 0]], [10, 10], 1, 0, "", "", _obj];
drop [["\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\SmokeAnim.p3d", 8, 4, 1], "", "Billboard", 3, 0.2 + random 0.2, [0,0,0], [random 5,random 5,random 5], random 8, 0.1 + random 0.2, 0.1, 1, [20 + random 10,30 + random 20, 50 + random 20], [[1, 0.5, 0.5 ,1], [1, 0.5, 0.5 ,0.5], [1, 1, 1, 0]], [10, 10], 1, 0, "", "", _obj];

~ 0.03

goto "loop"


In this script you can see the smokecloud patterns as "clones" in the sky, not in size, but in "shape". 
Does anyone have some advice?

Cheers!

Laggy

[Spooner]

Try animating them through the full 8 frames available for each animation, rather than using static images:

Code: [Select]

drop [["\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\SmokeAnim.p3d", 8, 0, 8], etc
drop [["\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\SmokeAnim.p3d", 8, 4, 8], etc


[laggy]

Thanks for the quick reply Spooner,

That actually looks worse, since it speeds up the animation somehow and makes the smoke look "neurotic"  , flickering rapidly.

The pattern or shape is still as repetative 

Question:

What does the 8, 0, 8 or 8, 4, 8 sequence stand for really?
Don't understand the "frame" thing.

Code: [Select]

drop [["\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\SmokeAnim.p3d", 8, 0, 8], etc
drop [["\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\SmokeAnim.p3d", 8, 4, 8], etc

Laggy

[Spooner]

What you are giving to drop is a particleArray. Particularly, look at AnimationPhase parameter, since this affects how fast the animation changes.

Hmm, BIKI has a better description of the animation part of particleArrays.

[laggy]

Thanks,

Will have a look at that again... Haven't really found a really instructive "particle tutorial" yet though.
What I mean by that is something that REALLY explains what the particle settings do and how they affect the particles over time.

Looked at Vektorborson's old tutorial, but it doesn't really explain more than the COMREF.

Does everyone that is an expert in "particle knowledge" have to figure things out by trial and error?

Laggy

[hoz]

ColSanderslite  developed a similar dialog thingy which allows you to tinker with the drop settings. Have a look see here. It should go into the ED.

[Spooner]

It should indeed be in the editors depot, but Mandoble asked CSL to fix some critical bugs in it six months ago (very easy to crash ArmA with it), since one of the requirements for submission is that it doesn't crash or produce error reports.

I have to say, nevertheless, that I found it fantastically useful when learning about particles and what the parameters actually mean. The text descriptions are really no substitute for seeing the effect of tweaking a value in real-time.