Using Particles in Animations

Overview

Particles can be associated with animations. Using the Character Editor, you can time Particles precisely within an animation.

Setting Up Particles in an Animation

  • Select the particular animation you would like to attach Particles to by opening a .cdf file within the Character Editor (see The Character Editor tutorial for more information).
  • Go to the Animation Control tab.
  • The play button cycles the animation allowing you to choose the moment you would like a particular Particle event to play.
  • Move the slider to that time position. For fine tuning press the Shift and/or Ctrl keys while sliding.
  • Click New Event to create an event at this animation point.
  • Open the Particles tab in the Database View window, open the desired library, and select the desired effect.
  • In the Character Editor, click Use Selected Effect.
  • Play the animation to see the Particles.
  • Timing can then be adjusted by clicking on the event in the list box and adjusting the slider. The time field will update automatically. You can also type in a value in the time field if you wish.
  • Precise positions on the Particles can be achieved by attaching the Particles to a particular bone in the object. Click in the Bone column in the event list box to bring up a dialog window for selecting the bone.
  • Click Save. This creates an .animevent file which is stored with the .cdf file.

Additional Notes

There are some addition notes to keep in mind while using this system.

  • The animation event for particle effects should always be called "effect". If you rename the event it won't work!
  • When a specific effect is already playing on a skeleton you cannot trigger it again. To be more precise: It will not play if it's already playing. This is a feature of the effects-on-skeleton system. With the console command ca_DebugSkeletonEffects 1 you can get feedback about this in the console.
  • Also, be careful with the animation slider, it will always change the time of the current event, so if you accidentally have an event selected it will change its time...