| SAMPLES |
| These are very simple samples to get you started. They were created on a default cylinder, in Scanline rendering modem, with the animations rendered to a size of 320x240. Some use UV space, some use the Object Co-Ordinates. A sample MPG animation is included in the Samples folder using some of these materials (with Simple Gradient used for the colour). 1. UV Streaks This uses UV space, and uses the Noise Frequency parameter to stretch the particles in the direction of motion. 2. UV Rings UV Rings works in much the same way as UV Streaks, except the Noise Frequency is used to stretch the noise around the cylinder, producing rings that move along the cylinder’s height. 3. Steam This shader uses Object Co-ords rather than UV space. The Squares processing is turned off, as is the Threshold processing. This results in “ordinary” noise, which can be animated. In this instance, the noise moves up the height of the cylinder, but at the same time, slight changes in the x and y direction are added too. The “steam” fades away as it moves up the cylinder (the movement set by the third part of the Frame Change parameter), but it also swirls a little through the first and second parts of the Frame Change value being non-zero. 4. Sparkly An accidental material, created when developing the fifth example material! The Frame Change parameter is set very low, and in place of moving particles, a twinkling effect is produced. Object Co-ordinates are used. 5. Slow Dense Trail The Threshold value is set to zero, to give the maximum number of particles. The Squares and Noise parameters aren’t set too high, in order to give quite large particles, and the movement is set to be fairly slow. Object co-ordinates are used. WHERE TO GO FROM HERE The above samples are extremely basic, but can act as great starting points for more dramatic effects. The first step would be to introduce a Colour shader in place of the Plain one used above - Simple Gradient will allow the particles to change colour across the UV space of the object, for instance, and The Logic Foundry Flame shader works well with shader too. You could also use a Reflectance shader other than Constant. There is no reason why your particles can’t catch the light with a high shininess, or pick up on a glow with a diffuse setting. The shader will also cast shadows in raycast mode, so in Double Sided rendering, one side of the effect can be in shadow from the other side. A certain level of ambient is recommended, though, to ensure that the effect show up clearly. You can also layer several objects one inside the other, to avoid the effect looking like it is simply painted on the surface of an object (which, of course, it is!). Don’t forget that you may need to modify your object’s UV space, or change the shader to use Object Co-ords, depending on what you need. Unusual results can be obtained by using World Co-ordinates, as then the effect doesn’t follow the surface of the object (try it with a low Squares value, to give large squares, and then tilt the object to a 45 degree angle for example - you’ll find that the object surface is “slicing through” the 3D noise space used by the shader). |
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