Ethanon Engine, Game 2D Development Ethanon Engine

ParticleFX Editor

Particle effect editor generates *.par files that may be loaded by the Entity Editor to attach particle systems to entities.

File Menu:

  • Save: saves the current particle system into a .PAR file.
  • Save as...:saves the current particle system as...
  • Open: opens a .PAR file.
  • Load bitmap: loads a different bitmap file to the particle system.
  • Load sound fx: assigns a sound effect to the particle system.
  • Unload sound fx: removes the sound effect from the particle system.
  • Load background: loads and shows a background image.
  • Go to project manager: sends the user back to the project manager where another project can be created or a new one can be started.

Edition:

  • Particles: maximum number of active particles.
  • Repeats: number of particle life-cycles repetitions before stopping. 0 means it will loop forever.
  • Grav X: gravity vector along the X-axis.
  • Grav Y: gravity vector along the Y-axis.
  • Dir X: particle direction along the X-axis.
  • Dir Y: particle direction along the Y-axis.
  • R Dir X: randomization value for the particle direction along the X-axis.
  • R Dir Y: randomization value for the particle direction along the Y-axis.
  • Bounding: a bounding sphere radius which the engine will use to perform bounding sphere visibility test.
  • All at once: 0 if all to particles should be released instantly as the system execution starts or 1 if they should be released one-by-one (smother).
  • Start X: particles start position along the X-axis.
  • Start Y: particles start position along the Y-axis.
  • R Start X: randomization value for the particles start position along the X-axis.
  • R Start Y: randomization value for the particles start position along the Y-axis.
  • Color0.A/R/G/B: starting transparency and RGB color values of every particle.
  • Color1.A/R/G/B: ending transparency and RGB color values of every particle. Every particle will have its color gradually blended from Color0 to Color1 during its life-cycle.
  • Size: particle starting size (radius).
  • Size+: particle growing value. Negative values will reduce particle size.
  • R Size: randomizer for the particle starting radius.
  • Time: the particle cycle lifetime (in milliseconds).
  • R Time: lifetime randomizer (in milliseconds).
  • S Angle: particle starting angle (in degrees).
  • Angle Dir: particle rotating direction. Switch between positive and negative values for clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.
  • R Angle Dir: particle rotation randomizer.
  • R Angle St: particle start angle randomizer (in degrees).
  • Min Size: particle minimum size.
  • Max Size: particle maximum size.
  • Emissive.R/G/B: emissive (self-illumination) color for particles.

Alpha mode/Animation options:

Alpha mode:

  • Pixel: per-pixel alpha channel value (color interpolation based on each pixel's alpha value).
  • Additive: additive pixel color combination, good for bright effects such as fire and flare.
  • Modulate: multiply pixel color combination, good for dark particle effects such as black smoke.

Sprite cut:

  • Sprite columns: number of sprite keyframe columns.
  • Sprite rows: sprite keyframe animation rows.

If either columns or rows is greater than 1, the sprite bitmap will be animated and the following options will show up:

  • Animate: animate sprite frames through the particle's life time from frame 0 to rows * columns.
  • Pick random frame: every time a new particle is released, a random frame will be assigned to it.