Particle Effects

BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Beginners Area/Particle Effects

TwoCorin517 (Posted 2009) [#1]

Although I *could* use an existing particle effect engine, it probably wouldn't do exactly what I want. I searched through the forums and didn't really find anything on creating a particle engine, although I could look at a C++ page or whatever, it'd be much more convenient to learn it in BMax and it'd make sure that I got a 2d rather than 3d particle effect...

grable (Posted 2009) [#2]

Theres really nothing special about particles, they are just sprites with a few extra variables. Getting them to look and act good is the hard part ;) But if you need an example to get you going, take a look at this (took me a few minutes, so its far from perfect) SuperStrict Graphics 800,600,0 Type TParticle Global Gravity:Float = 0.3 Global Dampening:Float = 0.9 Field X:Float,Y:Float Field VX:Float,VY:Float Field Speed:Float Field Size:Float Field Color:Int[] Field Timer:Int Field IsDead:Int Method Create:TParticle( x:Float,y:Float, speed:Float, size:Float, direction:Float, timing:Int) Self.X = x Self.Y = y Self.Speed = speed Self.Size = size Self.Timer = MilliSecs() + timing Self.VX = Sin(direction) * speed Self.VX = Cos(direction) * speed Self.Color = [ Rand(255),Rand(255),Rand(255) ] Return Self EndMethod Method Update() Local ms:Int = MilliSecs() ' are we dead yet? If ms >= Timer Then IsDead = True Else ' move particle one step VY :+ Gravity X :+ (VX * Dampening) Y :+ (VY * Dampening) ' size down over time Local coef:Float = Float(Timer - ms) / 3000.0 If coef > 0 And Size > 2+coef Then Size :- coef ' border bouncing If y < (Size/2) Or Y > GraphicsHeight() - (Size/2) Then VY = -VY If X < (Size/2) Or X > GraphicsWidth() - (Size/2) Then VX = - VX EndIf EndMethod Method Render() If IsDead Then Return Local hs:Float = Size / 2 SetColor Color[0], Color[1], Color[2] DrawOval X-hs,Y-hs, Size,Size EndMethod EndType Global particles:TList = New TList Repeat SetColor 255,255,255 DrawText "particle count=" + particles.Count(), 0,0 If MouseDown(1) Then particles.AddLast( New TParticle.Create( MouseX(),MouseY(), Rnd(1,3), Rnd(20,35), Rnd(0,359), Rand(500,2000))) EndIf Local n:TLink = particles.FirstLink() While n Local p:TParticle = TParticle(n.Value()) p.Update() If p.IsDead Then ' remove from list Local tmp:TLink = n.NextLink() n.Remove() n = tmp Else p.Render() n = n.NextLink() EndIf Wend Flip Cls Until KeyHit(KEY_ESCAPE) Or AppTerminate() End

Wiebo (Posted 2009) [#3]

You could check out the open source engine I am developing: http://code.google.com/p/particlesmax/ Even when it doesn't do what you need, you can alter it! :) (or request a feature ofc)