I've been playing with the new Particle Emitter and really love it. But when I tried using a bulb light with a lense flare activated as a particle shape, it wouldn't work... just the original bulb appears, but not as particles. Just curious if anyone could make this work or if it's possible.

Chuck

Hi, Chuck. I don't think it is possible. Ringo

I would tend to think a light is a special kind of object, one that doesn't have any geometry. As such, I agree with Ringo... I don't think it's possible. On a similar note... has anyone been successful with using bone animation on an object that is then 'particalized'? I've tried it and the object won't emit unless it's not boned.

Have you tried grouping the bones and the character or object. Set it up the same way as a Poser import file that brings in bones and it should work. Ringo

Hi Chuck, i don't have C5, but probably it works if you create a cube (or another figure), make it invisible, link the bulb to it then apply to the particles. I have use this method in the past to create dynamic lights with pshysics... Let me know if this can help:-) -TOXE

Hey Davide,

A good idea but it doesn't work. It appears the particle emitter is based on geometry as bluetone suggested. When I tried your solution, it used the geometry of the invisible object as particles and not the light attached. Oh well... that would be a cool feature to look into adding though - lights as particles!

Chuck

Ufffff... :-) -TOXE

What you could do is use Anything Glows connected to the object you want as your light particle, then drag this object onto the particle emitter and make sure you have "objects" selected as the particle type. It should work I think , dont know about the lens flares though. Hope this helps and works for you.

Thanks Mike... I wasn't really needing the effect for anything in particular - just playing with the C5 Beta and seeing what was possible. :-) Chuck

Skinned figures do work as Particles. As Ringo said they need to be within a group containing the mesh and the skeleton. Seems to work best to group, then skin the figure, then drag the group onto the particle emitter. wayne k guam usa there are a few samples here: http://fosterj.com/modules/xoopsgallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album03&page=13

It still doesn't seem to work for me. I grouped a simple vertex 'bird' with a simple skeleton. Then I parented the group to a particle emitter. I set the emitter to 'object' type, and a medium size to see. I immediatly get the 'light mesh' in the assembly room, and when I render I get this:

Then I skinned the 'bird' to the skeleton and I still have the same 'light mesh' in the assembly room, but when I render I get this:

And here is a screen capture of the setup: What am I doing wrong? I haven't even given the skeleton any animation. I'm not getting any image of the 'birds' so I don't see what I can animate. Help!

select the partical emitter object and the enter the editing room (or just double click the emitter)...you need to set it to emit "objects" and they also must be emitted in the correct direction and at a slow enough speed to be visible. fwiw, I have found several things that you can not do with the particle engine (eg: you cant nest partical emiters..such as emit particle generators from a particle generator which is kinda sad because you could do so much more with it if you didnt have to duplicate an animation/generator that you can create so easily with a single generator...)...but in general, its a kick arse kinda tool. :) BT

I DO have it set to 'object' (see post #11) They ARE emitting in the correct direction. (see post#13 showing 'light mesh' in front of the camera, just like the camera view in post #11.) Fast/slow/medium speed... no difference. As stated... the particles show as 'light mesh' in the assembly room, identical to how they show in the render BEFORE skinning, but they dissapear in the render. I am still stumpted. Here's my file, if anyone wants to play, as a .txt... just change the extension to .car and have at it. Thanx in advance to the one with the solution!

Good news everybody! Pascal who's created the new Particle Engine has been keeping an eye on the Yahoo list, and I mentioned the issues with volumetrics and lights as particles while asking another question. Apparently, volumetrics as particles should make the final release (though he suspects that they won't work as well as we'd hope, due to appearance issues where volumetric clouds overlap). And the inability to use lights as particles is a bug, which he's now looking into. Just thought I'd relay the info. However, bear in mind all the usual cautions regarding development schedules - it'll be lovely if these features do make the release, but I won't be holding it against Eovia if they don't...

Hey hotsteppa,

Thanks for following up on this with Pascal... that's great news.

Chuck

Message edited on: 11/02/2005 03:51

Thanx for the update hotsteppa... anyone have any insight as to why my file doesn't render boned particles?

I am wondering if this new particles have collision detection? Can metaball be applied with it?

I am wondering if this new particles have collision detection? Can metaball be applied with it? yes and yes wayne k guam usa

Kewl!

Can you pour particle (water) into a cup? =)