Waterfalls.

[Wrapscallion]

I can't even get anything to show up in the editor, so how do i know what's going on in it?

Anyway...I'm trying to make a cascading effect, so I can use it as a waterfall in my game.....not asking for the complete process, just wanting to know how to get something to show up in the fx editor.

[grubert]

If there's none new bug, you create an FX container, then inside of it an FX emitter, then inside of it an FX particle (choose "Emit FX" in the container parameters).
Then you set the gravity vector downwards, choose your sprite under "texture" and tweak the settings.

[grubert]

Remember to play with the emitter setings also.

[Wrapscallion]

Still can't get anything to show up in the fx editor.

[Tiles]

Mmh, have you tried to open the space invader game? You can open the flame of the spaceship in the fx editor. That might be a starting point ...

[Squat]

I'm not sure about the FX editor yet because I haven't tried the new one. The last one I couldn't ever see any effects that I tried to load from the samples, nor create anything new because my camera appeared to be locked at the origin and as soon as I moved it, it seemed to shoot off into infinity so I didn't bother. I am, however, quite a master of the particle effects so I plan to get into it and start maybe 30 or 80 discussions on particularly specific effects. Waterfalls aren't something I'm going to 'exactly' need for my game, but I have a similar need for faucets, bathtubs and an entire flooding bathroom sequence.

The main thing about a waterfall as that the "meat" of it is going to be a formed mesh using UV translation on the normal maps and other layering of the materials. There is a shiningly beautiful sequence in the beginning of Bioshock illustrating this and GC just made this acheivement easier than ever with the new surface editor. You can make a waterfall surface look great maybe in 15 minutes with about 200 usable variations not considering the texture creation time, which is most of the time spent.

I highly suggest you try to avoid using a particle system for the main volume of the water, but it is good to have one layered on top of a mesh. The problem with a formed mesh is that from the side it can look flat if you don't have the view obstructed. You can layer in multiple meshes and curve them towards the cliff-face to alleviate this but particles dropping down hide it just as nicely so that's another way.

I got a crash on trying vertex (wave) deformations on non-planar surfaces btw. However, you could fake that with bone animation and UV animation and being able to have multiple directions and speeds on multiple surfaces just gives us literally everything we need for great water. The only real thing that I haven't seen yet and that may be missing is refraction and distortion effects.

You will need particles for the splashes, no question on that. It too will rely mostly on the quality of the textures to get a decent effect. If you make separate emitter objects, you can place in other parts, it'd be easier to set up scenes where the waterfalls are bouncing off rocks and whatnot.

EDIT: I just tried to open the new FX editor and it's exactly the same thing. I can sorta see the fireball effect from the spaceshooter if I really fight hard with the viewport, but I cannot see it from any angle and distance I choose. I can't use that thing yet.

[zknack]

My next model I'm working on after my main character rework is done is a waterfall. Once I have it in, I'll gladly post it for
download on here :-)

I'm sure that soon thereafter someone will trump it, but that's the fun part :-)

Thus far I'm going to utilize a few layered, low polygon meshes with transparent, animated textures on the meshes & some
FX- though, much as the rest of you I'm a bit lost on the FX editor.

I'm half-way wondering if it'd be best to use the FX scaled dramatically up, get it working, then scale it down and go
back through the steps in the editor after to ensure that it looks right.. I'm hoping that this approach (get it working
in a large scale to be able to see it) will work.

[pixel_legolas]

I suggest you use the new UV animation that we have. And have you looked at the caustic program i found? Don't have the address. But you can probably have a plane that animates a texture and have some splashing fx to it

[zknack]

I will have to look into the caustics program pixel, otherwise my tablet and I will have some good ole fun ;-)

That's much the same idea as I had really, as I think a few planes would be best- might also be a good idea
to import them with some bones (not for animation) to attach the FX to easier for splashing.

Most of my work focuses on having a library of sorts of models and assets, so I will likely make a small, med,
and large width as well as length waterfall set in 2-3 styles so that later throughout my projects I'll just be
able to plop what I need in and tweak as necessary.

I will release at least 1 of the waterfalls, and quite possible the sets as I complete them, depending on the
interest level(s).

Thanks for the tip(s) :-)

[gekido]

The old BV FX editor had absolute paths for things like textures & sounds used by the effects - this has been corrected (a while ago) so FX can be transfered from one machine to another (ie be included properly in a release), so they should behave much better.

simple fx editor tutorial:

1) add an emitter - emitters emit particles
2) add a particle - specify a texture to use
3) tweak values
4) profit?

[Wrapscallion]

thank you , gekido, heh.At least we're tryin' these things out......

[gekido]

indeed - part of the fun is experimenting with the tools - the fx editor is pretty powerful and can do quite a few cool things once you get a handle on how the emitters work.