Eclectic 01   ::pe TG::

The Eclectic 01 library by Tom Granberg contains 14 different explosions, 4 smoke emitters, 5 "Space" emitters including wormholes, and 7 "Abstract" emitters. Tom is the master of particleIllusion realism, and his explosion emitters are some of the best available.

The main thing to know about Tom is that he makes complex emitters. They often use large animated particle shapes, have several particle types (sometimes 6 or more), and can create a large number of particles. Therefore, performance may be an issue with some emitters. The results are worth the slowdown though.

FireBall 01

A burst of "fire" that seems to "implode" leaving a cloud of smoke that also implodes.

All of the explosion emitters in particleIllusion use the emitter "number" graph to stop particle creation after some small number of frames. Adjust those data points to change the time during which particles are created.

If you want any explosion to die out faster (or linger for a longer time), change the emitter "life" property. Note that this may not always work, especially with large changes, but for small changes it should be sufficient. Also note that changing "life" may require a change in "number" to balance out the particle "density". Since the emitter "number" graph has multiple data points, you should use the "scale" function to change them all (r-click in the graph window and select "scale").

FireBall 02

A variation of the first emitter, this one creates more smoke that lingers for a longer time.

Complex emitters that use several particle types have good points and bad points. One of the good points is that it is often quite simple to create a variation of the emitter that is quite different from the original just by turning off one or more particle types (you can turn a particle type off by clicking on its icon in the hierarchy).

With this emitter, turn off the "Smoke Center" and "Smoke Rim" particle types, and you have a new emitter. Now make adjustments to the individual particle type "visibility" and "number" properties and you can get even more variations with very little work.

FireBall 03

Another fireball, this one seems to have more internal "force", and also some sparks.

The sparks can be easily removed (as explained above), or more can be added for more impact.

This emitter looks great zoomed up very large. The emitter "zoom" property graph shows that the zoom starts out small (50%) then grows to a maximum of 75%. This means that the first particles created will be zoomed smaller than the ones created last, and you can see this happening. Drag the first "zoom" data point to about 200% instead and leave the second one alone -- the burst now fills the stage at first, then gets smaller at the end. Very dramatic.

Torpedohit

Similar to the fireball emitters, but smaller, "explodes" for a longer time, and has "light rays" coming out of it.

You may want to increase the "zoom" of this one too, as it's smaller than the rest. Remember that to change the amount of time that particles are created, use the emitter "number" graph.

One key to creating a good explosion is to use good particle shapes -- this one uses several different shapes that when combined create a convincing effect. Look at each particle type in this emitter alone, then see how it contributes to the overall effect.

Ground Hit

An explosion that simulates dirt and debris being thrown up into the air.

There are several particle types for the debris in this emitter -- you may want to delete or turn off some of them, reduce their "visibility", or shorten their "life" values so they don't fall through the "ground". A deflector may stop the debris from penetrating the "ground" when it falls, but deflectors aren't perfect and they will reduce performance.

Adding some "spin" to the "Sticks" particle type would be a good tweak.

Grenade Hit

What do you get when you take the "Ground Hit" emitter and add some "fire" to it? You get this (an emitter with 13 particle types).

You can make the explosion "spread" more by changing the "emission range" property graph. It starts with a data point at about 5 degrees, with the second data point at 120 degrees. Scale the graph by 200%, and you'll see a much larger "spread" -- you may want to increase the "size" of the "dust high" and "dust high 2" particle types to help cover the spread.

As with the previous emitter, you can always remove the debris particle types, or decrease their "life" if you think they're too prominent.

Aerial Explosion 01

A mid-air burst with large sparks or embers at the start, trailing arms of smoke, and many tiny sparks at the end.

The number of "arms" that this explosion has is controlled by the "f-number" property. If you reduce it substantially, you'll probably want to increase the "number" (the "number" below the "f-" properties in the hierarchy) to keep the particle density constant; similarly if you increase the "f-number" you may want to decrease "number" a bit.

Aerial Explosion 02

A second mid-air burst without sparks, a "hotter" center, and clouds that have more highlights.

This explosion lacks the large central "cloud" that most of the explosions have, which makes it a nice variation. It's also fairly simple to give it a larger center if wanted. The "initial 1" particle type provides the main "hot" particles, so select its "size" property. We want to make the first particles created to be larger, but the later particles to have the size they do now, so jump to frame 7 or so, type "N" and press Enter (Return) to create a data key there. Now jump back to frame 1 and create a data key with a value of 220 or so. This creates a center that is a bit too hot (it's almost pure white) for my tastes, so to cool it off a little, decrease the "visibility" of the "initial 1" particle type to 30% or lower, or you can decrease the particle type "number".

BigBadaboom 01

A large-scale explosion, with many small fiery projectiles at first, and smokey "arms" that linger for a long time while rising.

This is a great "ground-based" explosion (as all of the "arms" move upward). To change it to an "aerial" explosion where the arms go in all directions (including down), change the super emitter "emission range" to 360, but then you'll also need to change the "initial rays" particle type particle angle "random" range from 120 to 360 as well (in the "behavior" page of the "particles" page of the emitter properties dialog). You may also want to increase the "f-number" property somewhat as well to maintain the particle density.

BigBadaboom 02

Another large-scale explosion, with glowing embers at the front of each smoke "arm", darker smoke than the previous emitter, and no falling "debris" sparks.

A nice variation that produces a tighter and taller explosion is to decrease the super emitter "emission angle" property value to about 70 degrees, then increase "f-life" to 150 or more.

If you want to make the smoke rise more slowly, you'll have to adjust the "weight" value of 3 different particle types: "smoke rim", "dark smoke", and "smoke". I suggest using the "scale" function to easily change each one by the same amount.

Flash Boom

A quick explosion that produces a nice initial "flash" of gases, with the smoke fading out after about 90 frames.

A simple change that adds more "punch" to this emitter is to accent what makes it different: the "flash" of gases. The "big flash" particle type adds this detail, so scale the "number" property graph for it by 200% or more.

The free emitters of this super emitter live quite a long time, even though they stop doing anything pretty quickly. To increase performance (and conserve memory) you may want to decrease the "f-life" property to 30 or so. It seems to me that this makes the effect smaller as well, so you may want to increase the super emitter "zoom" property to compensate.

Flak Hit

A small "burst" explosion with a "starburst" center, and slowly fading smoke -- makes a "puff" of smoke.

This emitter looks best when using many copies of it, exploding at different times (few frames between them) at different positions. When used this way though, the "roundness" of the smoke puff can be repetetive, so you can add some irregularity by either overlapping two copies of the emitter, exploding at a 1 or 2 frame interval, or change some of the emitters to "line" emitters. Do this by r-clicking the emitter in the stage and selecting "make line". You will then need to decrease the emitter "number" property for this emitter, as line emitters add more particles than point emitters. It also helps to vary the "zoom" property value for each copy somewhat.

Medium Explode 01

A nice "burst" explosion with a few sparks and no trailing smoke.

This emitter uses a little trick with a small (5 frames) "preload" value to get a better "burst". This is a super emitter that creates a few short-lived free emitters that spread the particles out over a larger area. Change the amount of "spread" using the "f-velocity" property -- decrease it to centralize this explosion more, although that makes it more "round" and not as interesting.

Increse the amount of explosion (make it more severe) by increasing the "f-number" property, and "f-velocity". You may also want to increase "f-velocity variation" somewhat to keep more particles near the center of the explosion.

Medium Explode 02

An explosion with the "fire" portion lasting longer, and a sort of "imploding" effect.

Give it more "spread" by increasing "f-velocity". Even more non-uniform spread can be achieved by changing this to a line emitter (r-click and "make line") then lengthening the line. May need to increase the "f-number" property, because super emitters that are lines do not add more free emitters than point super emitters (unlike non-super emitters).

Smoke Hades

A red-colored smoke trail, with lava fire and sparks falling from it.

A complex smoke trail emitter that might look more impressive zoomed up a little bit. If the complexity is more than you need -- for instance you don't want the lava falls -- just turn off the particle type or delete it from the emitter.

If you want to remove the red color from the smoke, you need to modify several of the particle type color gradients -- tint color was not used to get the red hue here.

Locomotive I

A fairly simple white smoke similar to locomotive smoke, with very nice wispy details.

This emitter needs to move to be most effective, or a Force object should be used to blow the smoke sideways.

You can increase "tint strenght" to darken the smoke a little, or adjust the individual particle type color gradients. The second choice gives you more control, and allows you to leave some particle types different colors -- using tint "washes out" details if "tint strength" is too high.

Oilfire II

Flames, sparks, and rising smoke.

A great "fire with smoke" emitter, the movement of the smoke off of the fire is especially effective.

CityOfTheLostChildren

Green long-lived smoke with good lighting hilights and green sparks.

An imaginitive smoke trail emitter with a great 3D look. Removing the green color takes a little work, because (like the "Smoke Hades" emitter) the color is in the particle type color gradients, not in "tint". So you'll need to adjust each gradient to change the colors.

A few of the particle types use a multi-frame shape, but have the frame speed slider (on the "particles" page of the emitter properties dialog) set to something lower than full-speed. To create more "motion" in the smoke, slide the frame speed slider far right for all of the particle types.

Wormhole 01

Bluish-orange clouds collapse inward with thin rays of light in a "wormhole" effect.

The "wormhole" effects are typically created with large particles that shrink over time (via the "size over life" property), but this emitter has a twist: the "Ion Waves" and "Particle Waves" particle types (that create the "rays of light") have a "size y over life" that shrinks over time as expected, but the "size x over life" starts at 0 and grows over time. For this reason, the rays of light don't become visible immediately, which requires a preload value of 100 or so -- resulting in the delay when working with this emitter.

You may be able to increase performance by reducing the emitter "number" property value.

Wormhole 02

A more complex wormhole effect, it adds a more pronounced "tunnel" of clouds, and more lights.

To change the colors, you can use "tint" as long as you keep the "tint strength" below 50% or so. If that doesn't give you the color you want, you'll need to edit the particle color gradients.

If you zoom this emitter up too much and look at a still frame, you may notice that the "shockwaves" particle type particles show some aliasing ("jaggies"). This isn't noticeable when things are moving though.

VBloom

A complex wispy dust cloud in space, with growing tendrils of white and blue dust.

A beautiful nebulous effect, but a bit of a performance killer. One simple variation that looks great is to turn off (or delete) the "central" particle type -- which adds the "purple" colors to the overall effect.

Another nice variation that gives a completely different look is to change the "central" particle shape to the "energy3" shape, and possibly turn off the "preserve color" option. Also experiment with "size", and "visibility" values.

VBloom Fizzy

A variation of VBloom that looks bubbly, as if it's the surface of water where something is submerged.

You can create a great variation of this emitter by changing the "intense" particle type shape to the "energy" shape. Another shape that works for the "intense" particle type is the "Halfdome_0000". Also try "energyblop_00000" -- amazing.

VBloom Murky

A variation that appears more "solid", with denser, darker clouds, and not as many tendrils.

If you want more "tendrils" or more "spread", increase the "f-velocity" or "f-velocity variation". Also try reducing the "visibility" of different particle types to accent certain features.

RapidScan

A fast-moving abstract effect that looks like bars shaking horizontally.

This effect is achieved by using short particle life values and sharply increasing the particle "size x over life" from 0 to 200%. Although this particle type uses an animated shape of bars moving, it actually does not contribute significantly to the effect.

If you want the bars to appear, do a few wipes, then disappear (for use as a transition for instance), step the emitter "number" property graph to 0 near the frame you want the particles to end at. The easiest way is to jump to the frame, type "N" and hit Enter (Return) to create a data key of the current value. Then move one frame to the right (right arrow is easiest), type "N" again, type "0" and press Enter (Return).

Data Swirls

A horizontal column of "roots" surrounded by spirals of outward-expanding dots.

A nice effect that takes a while to develop, but can start dragging performance down if you let it go too long. This is a line emitter that needs to be placed horizontally to give the correct effect. If you want the line to be at a different angle (vertical for instance), you should use the Layer "Angle" property to rotate the entire layer, instead of the emitter "angle" property.

You can increase the size or "radius" of the spirals by moving the particle shape reference point further from the center.

1994

A combination of flashing digits, boxes, streaks, and dots.

This emitter contains 6 particle types, any one of them can be used alone as a nice element itself, so experiment with different combinations by turning one or more off, changing the "size" property of different particle types, and changing "visibility" and "number" for different combinations. Colors too.

This emitter has a non-zero "number variation" in the particle types to vary the rate at which particles are added, resulting in times where few particles will be added, and other times when many more particles will be added. If "number variation" is non-zero for ANY particle type of an emitter, ALL of the particle types in that emitter will use the same number variation. This is due to a long-standing bug in the particleIllusion engine.

HAL

An array of flashing digits, blurs, and dots.

Use the "emit at points" values to change the number of copies in the array. Change the "tint color" to adjust the color of the effect.

As with the previous emitter, there are several particle types that can be used in any combination -- experiment with "size" and "visibility" for each particle type.

Spinner 01

Large concentric rings, spinning dials, rotating lines and numbers combine to form a striking effect.

The colors are set by the particle type color gradients (so some particles can be different colors), which means that the gradients must be edited to change the colors.

This emitter contains even more (12) particle types, so experiment as with the previous 2 emitters.

Spinner 02

A grid of smaller, modified versions of Spinner 01 -- spinning rings, flashing numbers, rotating dials.

Tint color is used for the color here, so color changes are easy. Change the number of copies by changing the "emit at points" values, and note that you may want to increase the emitter "width" and "height" values.

Slow Data Scan

A slow-moving glowing vertical "scan line" moves left to right, trailing digits as it goes.

You can make this emitter move left to right by setting the emitter "angle" to 180. You can make it move top to bottom (or bottom to top) by setting it to 90 (or -90), but you may need to change the particle angle for a few of the particle types.

You can increase the speed at which the bar scans across by increasing the "f-velocity" value, but after increasing the scan speed you may want the particles to die out faster -- do this by decreasing the individual particle type "life" values instead of the emitter "life" value, because you don't want to decrease the life of the "glow bar" and "glow bar 2" particle types.