Hmm.. Well I think the CoH flamethrower effect is nice... but would easily been done way better!
* fire is not only additive! In the CoH fx I see no grime when the flames dissolve. Look here: youtube.com/D9DkciMTsLI black smoke coming immediately from the flames. * the direction is only forward. But fire rises! And expanding gas decelerates! So there should be some rolling, slowing down and rising flame balls Of course motion is always tricky to fake properly without fluid sim. But It always helps to just add some particles that fake movement like that.
That's all right, but don't forget that the game is pretty old. Sure, for actual high-end-fx you should offer more features like you said. But it's the other way around, i don't see brilliant particle tech (like in CoH) in many games and most engines just cover the basics of particle systems - without any/much advanced technology.
Mike Baks The effects of the original Company of Heroes are some of the best ever! Even today full blown modern first person shooters can't come close to the quality that Relic Entertainment delivered way back in 2006...Such a shame that the effects took a nosedive in quality with it's sequel, Company of Heroes 2. :( :(
Cool effect and article. :) However I'd like to note that there is a clear distinction between how particle data is generated and the way those particles are represented in the game world.
The core of the particle system creates raw data for each particle: position, rotation, size, color and so on. That data can be then used by different kind of renderers to create the final effect. A renderer can produce a lot of things: it could create camera facing quads mentioned in the article but also meshes (like an asteroid field), sound sources or even a crowd of animated characters.
I have a hunch is that the body of the flame above is a particle system too using a quad strip renderer where each division of the strip is a particle: location and size based on the raw particle data.
You're right. I thought especially on speed-dependant particles where you need additional parameter like direction and speed, but in general the renderer can interpret the "simple" paramters in a more complicated way :) But i don't see that very often in games. :(
Certain effects definitely need more data: as you said the velocity vector is an important one, acceleration helps to control motion, a counter for counting collisions, an extra vector to pass down to the shader to be used in whatever manner, and the list goes on. A great way to dissect particle effects is diving into UDK's stock content, but a lot can be learned from it.
That's right! The UDK Tools provide several awesome examples not only for effects but also for interesting shaders/materials :D Unfortunately i never used UDK in a professional way :,(
Heh yeah sorry, I tried to delete it because that "Sharon" account was just an example blog I made for my dad's friend a long time ago, and then the comment didn't delete properly and I said screw it. Anyway, I enjoy your blog and check it regularly, keep it up!
I'm happy that you like the blog :) Feel free to drop you portfolio url or something if you like to let people know what you're doing now :) Would be interesting to see! (at least for me) :)
YAY! Thank you! This is a really great article! Relic has some tremendous effects in their games and it's awesome to see how they do it.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome :)
DeleteHmm.. Well I think the CoH flamethrower effect is nice... but would easily been done way better!
ReplyDelete* fire is not only additive! In the CoH fx I see no grime when the flames dissolve. Look here: youtube.com/D9DkciMTsLI black smoke coming immediately from the flames.
* the direction is only forward. But fire rises! And expanding gas decelerates! So there should be some rolling, slowing down and rising flame balls
Of course motion is always tricky to fake properly without fluid sim. But It always helps to just add some particles that fake movement like that.
That's all right, but don't forget that the game is pretty old. Sure, for actual high-end-fx you should offer more features like you said. But it's the other way around, i don't see brilliant particle tech (like in CoH) in many games and most engines just cover the basics of particle systems - without any/much advanced technology.
DeleteBut awesome gifs as allways!! :D
ReplyDeleteand I ♥ trails!
fix the coh steam server!!! dumbass ... coh2 really sucks
ReplyDeleteI didn't try CoH2 and played CoH only a little. But hopefully i'll find more time to spend into the games. :)
DeleteMike Baks The effects of the original Company of Heroes are some of the best ever! Even today full blown modern first person shooters can't come close to the quality that Relic Entertainment delivered way back in 2006...Such a shame that the effects took a nosedive in quality with it's sequel, Company of Heroes 2. :( :(
ReplyDeleteYes the guys of Relic can be really proud :)
DeleteCool effect and article. :)
ReplyDeleteHowever I'd like to note that there is a clear distinction between how particle data is generated and the way those particles are represented in the game world.
The core of the particle system creates raw data for each particle: position, rotation, size, color and so on. That data can be then used by different kind of renderers to create the final effect. A renderer can produce a lot of things: it could create camera facing quads mentioned in the article but also meshes (like an asteroid field), sound sources or even a crowd of animated characters.
I have a hunch is that the body of the flame above is a particle system too using a quad strip renderer where each division of the strip is a particle: location and size based on the raw particle data.
Thank you for the compliment and the comment!
DeleteYou're right. I thought especially on speed-dependant particles where you need additional parameter like direction and speed, but in general the renderer can interpret the "simple" paramters in a more complicated way :) But i don't see that very often in games. :(
Certain effects definitely need more data: as you said the velocity vector is an important one, acceleration helps to control motion, a counter for counting collisions, an extra vector to pass down to the shader to be used in whatever manner, and the list goes on. A great way to dissect particle effects is diving into UDK's stock content, but a lot can be learned from it.
ReplyDeleteThat's right! The UDK Tools provide several awesome examples not only for effects but also for interesting shaders/materials :D Unfortunately i never used UDK in a professional way :,(
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Sharon, sad that you deleted your post :,( I read it in my mail (which i got from blogger) and was really happy about that you said hello to us :)
DeleteHeh yeah sorry, I tried to delete it because that "Sharon" account was just an example blog I made for my dad's friend a long time ago, and then the comment didn't delete properly and I said screw it.
DeleteAnyway, I enjoy your blog and check it regularly, keep it up!
I'm happy that you like the blog :) Feel free to drop you portfolio url or something if you like to let people know what you're doing now :) Would be interesting to see! (at least for me) :)
Delete