CSL Particle Parameter Utility V2

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

*****updated v2.1*****

Full Size

This utility is, in essence, a particle effect editor that allows you to edit

the 55 or so parameters associated with particle effects with a series of

dialogs, and see the results first hand in real time.

This comes in the form of an ingame single mission. It's not a mission in the

true sense however. The scripts inside are not meant to be imported into your

own mission and there is no enemy to fight.

It's goal is simply to let you manipulate particle effects to enable you, as an

addon maker or mission designer, to acheive the desired effect quickly, and use

the settings you came up with in your mission/addon/script/whatever.

Compatibility:

- Tested in ARMA 1.05. V2.01 has not been tested in ARMA v1.02.

Multiplayer:

- Not a true mission, just a tool. Multiplayer is irrelevant.

Features:

- Full manual. It includes notes about the controls and how my utility handles them, where

appropriate. In addition, it includes information as to what the parameters

actually do, and a tip here and there. It is recommended that advanced

scripters read this as well for information pertaining to the dialogs and how

specific things are handled.

- You manipulate the parameters of the particleParams, particleCircles,

dropInterval, and particleRandom commands through a series of dialogs

accessable through the action menu.

- You can import and export code via a copy+paste functions.

- You can edit up to 5 particle effects at the same time to enable you to

more easilly manage more complex effects.

-Both PBO versions and an non PBO versions are included. Unless you want

to edit something (like for example, you wish to do your edits directly on

an addon vehicle or something, you can drop it in. Totally unsupported.),

stick with the PBOs.

-A version for both the intro island and Sahrani are included in order to

minimise load times for the end user.

-A very simple usage demo mission is included to help set people who are

new to particle effects on the right path.

Known issues:

- When importing code, do not use single quotes ( ' ). It *will* cause an

error. This issue, is for all practicle purposes at the time of this

release, unfixable. Double quotes are fine however.

- The import function may fail if you use a character that is not

accepted.

Small warning:

- This tool does not check for valid parameters beyond what the game

engine checks for itself. You can set parameters for some particle

effects that will cause the game to crash. The few I've seen have all

been related to setting shapeName 0 and shapeName 1 - 3 to an invalid

combination. I consider this problem to be minor at worst.

- There is also very little validity checking on the import feature. Make

sure your code is valid. Only numbers and exactly correct text is

accepted. Ran is not.

There are only 4 parameters you cannot set:

- Animation Name: There isn't enough concrete information for me to figure

out what options to give the editor.

- On Timer: Executes a script, therefore beyond the scope of this tool.

- Before Destroy: Executes a script, therefore beyond the scope of this

tool.

- Object: Sets the target object of the script. Not relevent for the

purposes of this utility.

Installation:

- The PBOs go in:

(yourArmaDirectory)\missions\

- The Non PBOs (whole folder) and usage demo go in:

(Your arma user directory)\(your user name)\missions

Home Thread:

This Thread .

Hosting:

You can host this anywhere you want, but if you let me know via PM on the

BIS forums, I'll add a link in the download thread and let you know if I

patch it. I'd also prefer if you included a link back to this thread, as

this is where I'll be posting updates, answering questions etc.

Acknowledgements:

A big thank you goes out to Sanctuary of the BIS forums for inspiring the

copy and paste method and to bk1276 of the BIS forums for suggesting

multiple particle effects.

Another one goes to Mandoble of the ofpec forums for suggesting adding the

ability to attach a particle effect to your squadmate and for pointing out

that I had done all the render parameters wrong.

A HUGE thank you aimed at Kegetys, Kronzky, & T_D (apologies if I missed

someone) for their efforts in putting together a working method of

manipulating strings. The whole import function would not have been

possible had it not been for these people.

Also, to those who have helped support this project by hosting the files,

including: Old Bear, El nino Foxhound, Big, Stavanger and Imutep.

Apologies if I missed somebody, too many to keep easilly track of .

Version History:

V2.1:

- Render parameters reworked to support 10 of each; size, color, and

animation phase

- Ability to attach the particle effect to the squadmate, or any vehicle

the squadmate is in

- Added the manual

- Fixed a small bug when importing a drop interval of 2 or more.

V2.0:

- Squadmate, HMMWV, and MH-6 added to facilitate viewing the effect from

different angles, positions, etc.

- Moveable Dialogs

- Dialogs Cleaned up and made very consistant with the arma dialog look.

The BIS ARMA UI gradients and settings are actually used now.

- Internal Script Reorganization (subfolders and such)

- Problem with Chance of Dialogs Automatically Closing Under Certain

Conditions Fixed

- Particle Effect Imports

- Multiple Particle Effects

- Intro Island Version Added. Identical to the full island version,

except for location.

- Simple Example Particle Effect Usage Mission

V1.1:

- Code Export Added.

- Small Bug fixed.

V1.0:

Release

License:

Unlimited rights (including editing and rereleasing) so long as it's non-

commercial and adheres to the BIS terms of use. Any derivitive work

cannot be more restrictive than this with respect to what rights an end

user has.

Note:

Have you made a great particle effect you would like to share with the

world? Please do! Add your custom particle effects to the Bohemia

Interactive Community Wiki's Particle Effects page found at:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ParticleTemplates

Download:

V2.1

armaholic.com

DOWNLOAD CSL Particle Parameter Utility v2.1 [152 kB] from FTP#1 (armedassault.info)

Stavanger´s Militaria (German)

putfile.putstuff.com (will expire)

V2.0

ofp.4players.de (German)

putfile.putstuff.com (will expire)

Some More Screen Shots:

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[Average Joe 0]

Very nice, just been reading all about it. Does this mean possibly that we can edit the particles to create a larger explosion then a satchel size? possibly one that resembles the impact of a 500lb bomb perhaps?

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

I don't see why you couldn't. Well, you'd have to work with and around the game engine limitations, whatever those are.

You're going to have difficulty truly simulating a 500lb bomb without any real method of terrain modification though. Those things should leave a 20 ft crater...

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

Small update.

Thanks to these people, V2 has a few more permanent homes.

Big and El nino Foxhound of Armaholic.com.

Old Bear of armedassault.info.

Stavanger of Stavanger´s Militaria.

Imutep of ofp.4players.de.

Thank you guys.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

Just a quick post again. I thought some of you would like to know what's planned, so:

Planned features/changes so far in order of likelyhood:

Ability to attach the particle effect to the squadmate, or any vehicle the squadmate is in. (Easy as pie to do)

Render parameters (size, color, AnimationPhase) reworked, as of now, they are too inflexible. This will require a bit of work and creative thought and will probably take longer to do than everything else in this list combined. (very likely)

When the user changes shapename0, shapename1-shapename3 automatically fill in with reccomended default values. (likely)

Moving away from the apply buttons with some kind of auto-update feature (maybe).

I'm also open to further suggestions. I'm not planning on working with this utility much more (it's taking up time I should be using for paying work), so probably the next version, or the version after will be the final, short of bug fixes.

Basically, wether any ideas you suggest get in or not is going to depend on:

A: If it's a major feature that *really* should be present. For example, the planned Render Parameters rework.

B: It's a minor feature that could be implemented easilly. For example, the bit about attaching the effect to your squadmate.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

I would like to create a smoke addon that I can light up. It has to be of a rather bigger size so if I place it inside a city centre it looks like a couple of buildings are burning. Is there any solution for me to quickly turn my settings (made with your addon) into a simple addon?

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

First a v2.1 status update:

Attaching the particle effect to your squadmate is done (easy as I thought it would be).

Reworking the dialog to support up to 10 of each; size, color, and animation phase is done. Reworking the import/export functions to support it isn't. Export should be easy, as it's just a simple modification of the code used to display the numbers in the dialog. The import function I'm expecting to be a bit of a pain...

Automatically filling in shapename1-shapename3 with reccomended default values when the user changes shapename0 is unstarted, and likely to be tabled in favor of a small tutorial on how to use some of the more difficult to understand parameters.

The idea of moving away from the apply buttons to some kind of auto-update feature is likely to be tabled too.

@Albert Schweizer

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking. Looking at how I put together my Burning Buildings Script may be usefull to you. By what you said, it may even do what you're wanting to do already.

If that doesn't help you, please try to rephrase the question. As I said above, I'm not sure what you're meaning is.

[swtx 42]

I wonder if it would be possible to convert Vitja3000's great effects addon from OFP ? Lots of good smoke and burning effects.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

You probably could pretty easilly. The biggest change as far as particle arrays go, off the top of my head, is the ShapeName parameter.

In ofp, it was a simple string, in arma, it is defined as an array. This should be the particle shape name, followed by three integers.

Example: ["\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\SmokeAnim.p3d", 8, 5, 0]

1. Anim Divisor (1 for a 1x1, 8 for a 8x8, etc)

2. Anim Starting Row

3. Number of Frames to Play

You would also want to change the drop bs from drop to:

createParticleSource

and

setParticleParams

Also, there's a few new particle effects, some of which will look better when used then the old stuff. Some of the effects with the same name may look different, and need some tweaking to look right.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

V2.1 Status Update:

Due to be released pretty soon, maybe late tonight, maybe tomorrow.

Details on that:

Attaching the particle effect to your squadmate is done (not new news).

Reworking the dialog to support up to 10 of each; size, color, and animation phase is done, in addition to all other code that has to interface with the new multidimensional arrays (including import, export, the effect refresher, etc).

The mentioned small tutorial on how to use some of the more difficult to understand parameters has been tabled in favor of something better: A full manual on using the utility, this manual will also contain a wealth of info on particle effects in general as well. This is now about 50%-75% done (I type fast, and know what I'm talking about) .

The idea of moving away from the apply buttons to some kind of auto-update feature is confirmed to be scrapped. I just feel that the way it is now works well enough, and I'm lazy.

So, to sum up, the only thing y'all are waiting on is the manual. Short of a major feature oversite that I just can't live with, or bug fixes, this version will be final.

[swtx 42]

I can't wait for this I would like to learn as much as possible about particle effects and how to incorporate some of Vitja's and Goldmember's great work over to Arma

[Scrub 0]

Just a quick question, What p3d will work with the 3D (aka not billboard) type particle?

I was wondering what was missing about the default ArmA effects. There is just something that did not impress, and it was the fact there is only a 3D dispersion of 2D billboards that makes everything 'get bigger' instead of getting closer. I'd like to get a subtle shockwave in explosions, and see if there can be more of a 'pop'.

Very well layed out, love the copy/paste functions, and fun to play with. Good job!

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

Any of them will work, but there's only one that will work as intended straight out of the box really. "\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\Pstone\Pstone.p3d" is meant to be a 3d type.

I used it in the rock shower here:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ParticleTemplates#Rock_Shower

You *may* be able to use any 3d model you want, dunno on that bit. It would be interesting to try and use a missile/tank/man/truck/whatever model for it, you may be able to create some cool effects doing something like that.

Of course, that's not actually supported by my dialog if it actually does work like that. To add another usable model, you would have to edit the variable ValidShapeNamesArray in init.sqf on line 29 (in v2.1 anyways, dunno about the older stuff).

Basically, you would have to alter:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">

//Valid shapenames, straight from the wiki

ValidShapeNamesArray =

[

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\Blood\Blood.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\Cl_basic.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\Cl_fire",

"\Ca\Data\Cl_fired",

"\Ca\Data\Cl_water",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\CloudletSand\CloudletSand.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\CloudletWater\CloudletWater.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\FireAnim.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\kouleSvetlo",

"\Ca\Data\krater_po_kulce",

"\Ca\Data\missileSmoke",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\Pstone\Pstone.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\RainDrop",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\RocketSmoke\RocketSmoke.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\SmokeAnim.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\SparksEffect\SparksEffect.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\Watereffects\WaterEffects.p3d"

];

to be (don't forget the comma ):

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">

//Valid shapenames, straight from the wiki

ValidShapeNamesArray =

[

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\Blood\Blood.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\Cl_basic.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\Cl_fire",

"\Ca\Data\Cl_fired",

"\Ca\Data\Cl_water",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\CloudletSand\CloudletSand.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\CloudletWater\CloudletWater.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\FireAnim.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\kouleSvetlo",

"\Ca\Data\krater_po_kulce",

"\Ca\Data\missileSmoke",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\Pstone\Pstone.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\RainDrop",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\RocketSmoke\RocketSmoke.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\FireAndSmokeAnim\SmokeAnim.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\SparksEffect\SparksEffect.p3d",

"\Ca\Data\ParticleEffects\Watereffects\WaterEffects.p3d",

"\Model'sPath\ModelName.p3d"

];

Anyways, I have a few min here, so I'm gonna see about polishing that manual off .

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

Updated V2.1.

See the features list, version history and acknowledgements section of the original post for complete details.

Again, short of a major feature oversite that I just can't live without or bug fixes, this version will be final.

[Scrub 0]

Thank you.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

For anyone interested, I updated all the old smoke effects I put on the Biki's Particle Template Page with significantly improved versions.

The all look much better now than they used to.

@scrub, no problem man.

[Sentry 0]

I like your scripting, and its very useful.. but i got a little question.

all your particle effects are going up to sky, how i could do them that they are on ground in a radius? like gas what has got more mass than air, so it is still on ground and floating there around...

could you help me in this? or could you update your utility with that option?

thx

Sentry

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

It's already there, and doing it is pretty simple.

To do it:

1: In the Particle Random Dialog, set MoveVelocity 2 to 0.

2: In the Particle Params Dialog, set MoveVelocity 2 to 0.

3: In the Particle Params Dialog, adjust the Weight and Volume parameters. If the weight is 1.275, and the volume is 1, the particle will not rise or sink.

Also, Read the manual if you haven't yet, it discusses most the parameters in depth.

Also, just as a note, most anything you can do with the following commands can be done inside my dialog:

setParticleCircle

setParticleParams

setParticleRandom

The list of things that can't:

More than 10 of each render parameter (Size, Color, and Animation Phase in the Particle Params Dialog). The game supports more than 10 of each, but the dialog system is too rigid to easilly enable me to support that. (technical problem on my end)

The following parameters aren't editable because they're way beyond the scope of what the project is aimed at (all in the Particle Params Dialog): Animation Name, On Timer, Before Destroy.

You can only edit the target object in as much as attached to the squadmate's vehicle, or fixed position. This could be done otherwise, but I didn't feel it was worth the effort to try and rig something up.

Everything else I can think of is supported fully.

[Sentry 0]

Ok thanks you!

I will try it out, its for the tiberium

Sentry

[mattxr 9]

Any chance you can create low lying fog?

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

You probably could do something like that.

There would be problems though.

Supposing you want to blanket an area, it's going to take a lot of particles. Too many, and you're going to have problems with general lagginess.

The place to start though is the answer immediatly above. Give the particles no up/down velocity and set their weight to neither sink or float.

[dmarkwick 261]

I'm having problems getting my smoke effects to work in MP.

I use the setParticleEtc commands rather than Drop. I'd prefer to continue using setParticleEtc commands, but if they're the problem then I'll have to consider switching. I've used both CreateVehicle and CreateVehicleLocal to make the particle emitters but both have the same effect, which is no MP effects.

I use a combination of default smoke textures and custom animated smoke textures.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

I haven't tried this myself since I do not do multiplayer scripting so be warned...

From what I have heard, particle sources and the like must be run locally on each player's machine,not the server. The various BIS particle related special effects use the particlesource stuff, so it *should* work if you do it right. Aside from the comment above, I can't really give any advice on how to get them working in MP myself. If that doesn't point you in the right direction, maybe a comment by someone else will .

Note:

The main reason I do not do MP scripting in any fashion is that I do not have 2 machines capable of running arma.

[dmarkwick 261]

Yeah, particles would seriously bog down an MP network, but I kind of thought that setting the particle sources' settings would flow down the network.

You're suggesting that there's some sort of method of "sending" the settings to execute on player's machines?

[Scrub 0]

Would a larger, more 'foglike' particle model(s) and texture help the situation? Then there would not need to be as many to cover an area.