Advanced particle entity for the Serious Sam - The Second Encounter 1.07
This is a collection of a few new entities, that are handy during mapping.
With customizable particles, you can add special effects and a chef's touch to your map!
Waterfalls, smoke, sparkles, clouds, fire, ambient particles, dusty air, fireflies and much more - your imagination is the limit!
- Download an archive from the latest release page.
- Extract this archive to the root directory of Serious Sam - The Second Encounter 1.07
- Launch Serious Editor and add all new classes to the virtual tree. Note: gif might not show all available classes.
Particles are implemented with 7 new entities.
To quickly check them out and see some examples, you can startup a Parametric Particles - Demo Level level from within the game.
As a short intro on how to use these entities, you can watch a video below.
This is the main entity, that defines all parameters of the particles.
When this entity is Active, it spawnes between Spawn count min and Spawn count max particles every Spawn interval (seconds) seconds. Each particle is defined by a set of properties, starting from the Particle word - like Particle color. Initial particle position is determined by a Spawner shape entity, or, if not specified, is taken from the current entity's location.
Following events can be sent to this entity:
- Activate event - this event activates the entity, so that new particles will be spawned.
- Deactivate event - this event stops new particles from spawning, but existing particles will continue to exist (until they expire).
- Stop event - this event stops new particles from spawning and kills all alive particles.
- Active - if TRUE, new particles are spawned each Spawn interval (seconds).
- Alive particles max count - defines how many particles can be alive at any given moment.
- Background - if TRUE, particles will be rendered as a part of a background. This is useful when making clouds or flying birds etc.
- Blend type - defines the blending mode of particle's texture on screen.
- Clipping box size X (for rendering only) - this property defines the stretch of this entity, change it only if you experience problems with clipping (i.e. particles disappear sooner than they should when camera is turned away from them).
- Clipping box size Y - same as above, but for Y axis.
- Clipping box size Z - same as above, but for Z axis.
- Flat type - determines how particles are oriented relative to the viewer.
- Height maps (chained) - optional pointer to a chain of AutoHeightMap entities, that can change particle's alpha channel depending on current elevation.
- Online Help... - opens up this github page.
- Orient towards velocity - if set to TRUE, particle's Y+ axis will be aligned with moving direction. Further rotation from other properties (like Particle rotation min/max etc) will be applied on top of it.
- Particle alpha... - edits a graph of relative alpha value during its lifetime. Graph editing is implemented with an external executable Graph.exe that is called from the Serious Editor.
With this utility you can edit values of various parameters in time.
If X axis is relative time, then this means that X=1 is the end of a particle's lifetime, X=0.75 is a 75% of particle's lifetime and so on.
If X axis is seconds, then X=3 is 3 seconds into particle's lifetime, etc.
Greyed out areas of a graph mean that values within them will have no impact on this property in runtime (for example, when X is < 0, then particle does not exist yet).
- Particle color base - base color of particles. Note: alpha value here is discarded! Use Particle alpha... instead!
- Particle color animation file - animation file with color keyframes.
- Particle color animation - determines which animation from Particle color animation file will be used. Color will be multiplied with Particle color base, while alpha value will be taken from Particle alpha....
- Particle lifetime max - longest possible lifetime of a particle.
- Particle lifetime min - shortest possible lifetime of a particle.
- Particle placement - if this property is set to Relative, then particles act as if they were parented to this entity. Only meaningful when this entity is moving (i.e. parented to a MovingBrush etc).
- Particle rotation force (chained) - optional pointer to a chain of ParticleRotation entities, that can change particle's rotation during its lifetime.
- Particle rotation max - maximum possible initial particle rotation.
- Particle rotation min - minimum possible initial particle rotation.
- Particle size X max - maximum possible initial width of a particle.
- Particle size X min - minimum possible initial width of a particle.
- Particle size Y max - maximum possible initial height of a particle.
- Particle size Y min - minimum possible initial height of a particle.
- Particle size uniform - if set to FALSE, then particle's X and Y sizes are chosen independently. If TRUE, then if X size is picked at 30% between X min and X max, then Y shall also be 30% between Y min and Y max, etc.
- Particle stretch X... - edits a graph of particle's Width stretch multiplier during its lifetime.
- Particle stretch Y... - edits a graph of particle's Height stretch multiplier during its lifetime.
- Particle velocity force (chained) - optional pointer to a chain of ParticleVelocity entities, that can change particle's velocity during its lifetime.
- Particle visibility fall-off - distance at which particles are no longer visible.
- Particle visibility hot-spot - distance at which particles start to disappear.
- Presimulate time span - number of seconds to presimulate particles.
- Spawn count max - maximum possible count of particles that are spawned each Spawn interval (seconds)
- Spawn count min - minimum possible count of particles that are spawned each Spawn interval (seconds)
- Spawn interval (seconds) - determines how often new particles are spawned. For example, a value of 2 means that new particles are spawned every 2 seconds.
- Spawner shape (chained) - optional pointer to a chain of entities, that define custom spawn area (SpawnShapeBox / SpawnShapeCylinder / SpawnShapeSphere).
- Texture - texture to be used for every particle.
- Texture animation - selection of a possible predefined texture animation.
- Texture animation FPS - defines how quickly texture tiles are changed, not related to Texture animation! Valid only if Texture type is set to Animated tiles.
- Texture columns - how many tiles the texture has horizontally.
- Texture rows - how many tiles the texture has vertically.
- Texture tiles count - total number of tiles. Usually this is a product of Texture columns and Texture rows, but if some last tiles are not used, you can exclude them with this property.
- Texture type - defines which tile of a Texture is rendered for particles. Random tile picks 1 tile and it does not change during particle's lifetime. Animated tiles playes back tiles from first to last (looping) using previous properties.
This is an additional entity, representing a dynamic rotation speed, that can affect particles.
This entity is helpful when you want to rotate particles during their lifetime.
Multiple rotation forces can be used by bulding up a chain of ParticleRotation entities.
Note - order or these entities in chain is not important, they all act simultaniously.
- Next rotation force (chained) - a pointer to another ParticleRotation entity, that should also be used (order is not important, all entities act simultaniously). Loops in chains are not allowed.
- Probability of this rotation - probability from 0 to 1. For example, value of 0.77 means that each particle has a 77% probability of being affected by this rotation. Does not affect other rotations in the chain.
- Rotation speed max - maximum possible initial speed for this rotation.
- Rotation speed min - minimum possible initial speed for this rotation.
- Rotation speed stretch... - edits a graph of this rotation speed stretch factor during particle's lifetime. Can also have negative values to invert the rotation.
- Loop speed stretch graph - if TRUE, then graph of this rotation's speed stretch is looped.
This is an additional entity, representing a dynamic velocity, that can affect particles. Direction of velocity is defined by this entity's orientation.
This entity is helpful when you want to move particles during their lifetime.
Multiple velocities can be used by building up a chain of ParticleVelocity entities.
Note - order of these entities in chain is not important, they all act simultaniously.
- Next velocity force (chained) - a pointer to another ParticleVelocity entity, that should also be used (order is not important, all entities act simultaniously). Loops in chains are not allowed.
- Probability of this velocity - probability from 0 to 1. For example, value of 0.88 means that each particle has a 88% probability of being affect by this velocity. Does not affect other velocities in the chain.
- Velocity random heading max - maximum possible initial heading deviation for this velocity's direction (which is defined by this entity's orientation).
- Velocity random heading min - minimum possible initial heading deviation for this velocity's direction (which is defined by this entity's orientation).
- Velocity random pitch max - maximum possible initial pitch deviation for this velocity's direction (which is defined by this entity's orientation).
- Velocity random pitch min - maximum possible initial pitch deviation for this velocity's direction (which is defined by this entity's orientation).
- Velocity speed stretch... - edits a graph of this velocity speed stretch factor during particle's lifetime. Can also have negative values to invert the velocity.
- Loop speed stretch graph - if TRUE, then graph of this velocity's speed stretch is looped.
This is an additional entity, representing a box-shaped spawn volume. Particles are spawned uniformly within it.
Multiple spawn shapes of different kind can be used by building up a chain of such entities (SpawnShapeBox / SpawnShapeCylinder / SpawnShapeSphere).
- Size X - X size of this box.
- Size Y - Y size of this box.
- Size Z - Z size of this box.
- Inner Size X - X size of inner part of this box, where particles are not allowed to spawn.
- Inner Size Y - Y size of inner part of this box, where particles are not allowed to spawn.
- Inner Size Z - Z size of inner part of this box, where particles are not allowed to spawn.
- Next spawner shape (chained) - a pointer to another spawn shape entity, that should also be used (order is not important, particles are distributed uniformly across all spawn shapes). Loops in chains are not allowed.
This is an additional entity, representing a cylinder-shaped spawn volume. Particles are spawned uniformly within it.
Multiple spawn shapes of different kind can be used by building up a chain of such entities (SpawnShapeBox / SpawnShapeCylinder / SpawnShapeSphere).
- Diameter - diameter of this cylinder.
- Height - height of this cylinder.
- Inner Diameter - diameter of inner part of this cylinder, where particles are not allowed to spawn.
- Inner Height - height of inner part of this cylinder, where particles are not allowed to spawn.
- Next spawner shape (chained) - a pointer to another spawn shape entity, that should also be used (order is not important, particles are distributed uniformly across all spawn shapes). Loops in chains are not allowed.
This is an additional entity, representing a sphere-shaped spawn volume. Particles are spawned uniformly within it.
Multiple spawn shapes of different kind can be used by building up a chain of such entities (SpawnShapeBox / SpawnShapeCylinder / SpawnShapeSphere).
- Diameter - diameter of this sphere.
- Inner Diameter - diameter of inner part of this sphere, where particles are not allowed to spawn.
- Next spawner shape (chained) - a pointer to another spawn shape entity, that should also be used (order is not important, particles are distributed uniformly across all spawn shapes). Loops in chains are not allowed.
This entity automatically generates heightmap for given area (orientation can be arbitrary). Particles below heightmap area will have 0 alpha channel. Particles above and outside of heightmap area will have their alpha channel intact.
Multiple heightmaps can be used for single particle entity by building up a chain of AutoHeightMap entities.
- Fixed - if set to TRUE, size and step properties will be locked and recalculation will be forbidden.
- Next height map (chained) - a pointer to another AutoHeightMap entity, that should also be used. Loops in chains are not allowed.
- Recalculate - a shortcut for discarding old heightmap and calculating a new one.
- Size X - X size of volume for this heightmap.
- Size Y - Y size of volume for this heightmap.
- Size Z - Z size of volume for this heightmap.
- Step in meters - interval at which height values are sampled. Lower number means higher resolution.
- Visible - if set to TRUE, calculated heightmap is visualized in Serious Editor in form of transparent yellow particles.
This entity draws an outline effect around the targeted entities. Any targetable entity can have an outline - i.e. moving brushes, models, enemies, weapons, items etc.
Outline can be heavily customized and be either based on contour (expensive) or on a convex hull (cheap). Outline can have multiple ways of calculating its depth and thickness - from real world coordinates to screen based.
With a proper outline effect, it is possible to simulate a wide range of effects - from a simple glowing contour to a smooth volumetric lighting.
Following events can be sent to this entity:
- Activate event - this event enables outline rendering.
- Deactivate event - this event disables outline rendering.
- Active - if TRUE, outline is rendered.
- Background - if TRUE, outline will be rendered as a part of a background.
- Blend type - defines the blending mode of outline's texture on screen.
- Color - color used for mixed blending of outline's texture on screen.
- Color alpha scale... - edits a looped graph of outline's alpha value multiplier. Useful for making various blinking effects.
- Color animation file - animation file with color keyframes.
- Color animation - determines which animation fomr Color animation file will be used.
- Depth offset - defines the distance which will be added to the outline's depth during rendering. Useful when outline should be shifted to the foreground or to the background of the surrounding scene. Applicable only if Type property has average or fixed depth and Depth testing is set to TRUE.
- Depth testing - if FALSE, particle will be visible through walls (and other entities). TIP: if you want an outline to always be visible from any sector, place this entity in the background viewer room (but do NOT check the Background property).
- Online help... - opens up this github page at this particular section.
- Outline entitiy XX - a list of pointers to entities which should have a combined outline. Any kind and mixture of targetable entities is supported - even editor entities and touch fields.
- Outline visibility fall-off - distance at which outline is no longer visible.
- Outline visibility hot-spot - distance at which outline starts to disappear.
- Texture - texture to be used for this outline.
- Texture animation - selection of a possible predefined texture animation.
- Thickness - defines the thickness of outline in either world coordinates or in screen space (depends on the Type property).
- Thickness scale... - edits a looped graph of outline's thickness value multiplier. Useful for making growing/shrinking/vibrating effects.
- Type - defines how outline's shape and depth is calculated. Contour outlines are the prettiest but also the most expensive CPU-wise. Convex outline is much cheaper and is the preferred type for convex shapes and glowing effects, like volumetric lighting, godrays etc.
- UV Aspect ratio - a multiplier for the aspect ratio of selected Texture.
- UV X Continuous - defines whether texture should be rendered continuously through the outline's length. Useful when outline texture is animated and moving around.
- UV X offset... - edits a looped graph of UV X coordinate offset. Useful for animating horizontal movement of Texture along the outline, i.e. scrolling dashed contour effect etc.
- UV Y offset... - edits a looped graph of UV Y coordinate offset. Useful for animating vertical (to-from entity) movement of Texture along the outline, i.e. radiation or absorption effects etc.