Particle Editor Tool

WIP games, tools & toy projects
#21

Here is video tut…never done one before so bare with me. :persecutioncomplex: And oh my God do I sound ridiculous! I sound like I have a lisp. Maybe I should not have had my head on my knee.

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Here is the basic rundown on how to use it.

  1. Import the SystemX.jar into your project.

  2. In your update method, call, “SystemX.update(delta)” You can pass in 1 if you do not have a variable time loop.

  3. In you render method between SpriteBatch.begin() and SpriteBatch.end(), call, “SystemX.render(SpriteBatch batch)” This will render all particles at once. If you want to only render say certain effects, you can pass in the layer that effects are on and it will only render the particles on that layer.

  4. After you create your super cool effect, press File->Export->Libgdx and give it a name. In exports folder you will see your file with “Fx” in front. Copy the file into your project. Add in the name of the package you put the file into. There is a missing semicolon on one of the imports. Guess I uploaded a wrong version because I remember fixing it >:(

  5. Create the effect and add it to SystemX by calling, “SystemX.addEffect(effect)” This will return the index of this effect in SystemX. You can then retrieve this effect with that index and tell it to do things. Only do this for continuous effects that you want to ‘stop’ being continuous. The constructor takes the location and then a TextureRegion[] for each emitter in the effect.

The editor options are very straight forward. Point vel will point the particles in the direction they are traveling in. Friction values will be low. (.01f is good starting). If you make it them negative it will instead speed the particles up instead of slow them down. Rotation is the rate of rotation. So between 0-3 should be good starting point. “K” to kill all particles. “P” to pause.

I know that many other systems will have an .xml file that has all of the properties of the effect you are loading instead of giving you a class file. This is nice as it allows for a much easier time when updating effects but I really do not like .xml. Its probably because I have never had a huge need to use it.

I am not trying to sell this or compete with other Particle Systems out there. It is free to use for w/e you want, commercial or non. Tell me if it is too much work, bugs, things that would be better, or anything you think would be easier or nicer. I like the UI right now but some may not like it.

#22

Smooth… XD
“This video is private.
Sorry about that.”

#23

Not sure if you are trying to be rude or not. :cranky:

Fixed. I guess the default is private.

#24

Fixed few bugs and added animated particles ;D Took all of 30 minutes.

Here is the link

http://www.mediafire.com/?9gfnoscwubya8n2

Edit: I am looking into a better system for exporting and loading effects for projects. Probably going to try out json.

@cheatsguy
The actual library for libgdx is 16 kbs. The editor has lots of fluff.

#25

This is really amazing, but I was wondering how you did the additive blending option? Thanks!

#26

So an update is coming soon and here is some previews of what it will give people.

Exporting into sprite sheets so you can have power of particle system in a sprite based work! Working on a way of making seamless looping effects. That is, an animation that you could loop endlessly.

One thing I really want to do is redo the whole editor in libgdx but I would have to create all UI Art from hand so…we will see.

#27

When can we get our hands on this! I think I need it XD congrats, its really well done so far!

#28

exporting as a spritesheet is a really good idea ! and seamless looping would be a nice option as well. It’s quite difficult to find a nice tool to do this kind of thing with enough control ( I have tried some but they were very limited … ), so I’m glad you’re making this one :slight_smile:

Keep up the good work !

#29

So here is a new screen showing some more animation export options. Right now I finally got a seamless looping algorithm. I had tried a good 7 different methods all of which had options you could change and all looked like crap. Then I got an algorithm that did not have anything you could change and it worked.

I am trying to get the UI of the animation exporter a little more polished then I will give you guys a version to try out. This is not going to be as boss as programs like particles illusion but it is free ;D

Gif: Not sure if it plays repeatedly.

Due to the large size I will not post image here but instead link it

That is if you want to look at the sheet.

#30

I like the idea of this, but I think I’m doing something wrong. Do I need to provide my own images for particles? When I punch in the same details you have in your screenshots I just just large squares being pumped out. Also, the options under the “Example” menu don’t seem to have any effect.

#31

Yes you need to give your own images via “loadimage”

The examples do nothing as of right now. When I get most of the features working I will include a bunch of resources and have the examples use those.

One thing to keep in mind is that this will not magically make good looking effects if you are using bad graphics. One basic texture that works really well is the simply “glow” you can make in gimp or PS pain.

Can’t see it so well but it works rather well for simple effects.

#32

Ah, that makes more sense. I’m playing around with some effects in GIMP to load - should be interesting.