ATPA Lesson 1B: Pro Color

DISCLAIMER: The ATPA Lessons are a self-service pyro academy from the days of vPyro. I saved the lessons from the academy back in 2011 before the site went down for good, and feel that they should be accessible again, not just as a historical record of what was, but also for new pyromaniacs to learn the ropes in the same way that many of us did so many years ago. Because of their age, the videos included with the academy are of a lackluster quality, and some of the information in these lessons is outdated. In the name of history, I wish to preserve these lessons as they are, but as a recognition of how out-dated some of the advice can be, I will strikethrough and italicize the text of any information that should be ignored. If you run into questions or issues, leave a reply.

Also, the lessons ask for you to submit a video of your progress. Feel free to reply to the lessons with your submissions! Some of us old vPyro vets would love to see and comment on your progress and creations. 😊

- StickyGum32

1B – Pro Color

This lesson is another one of those lessons that isn't terribly exciting, however, it is absolutely crucial that you complete this and understand the concepts in here. ProColor is the characteristic that makes pyro feel like it's burning. Without it, your effects will feel flat and lifeless. In addition, this lesson will touch on other important features of the AFE and will give you an idea of how to construct a specific glow style.

This is the intended end result.

PROCOLOR THEORY

ProColor derives from a standard of pyro design that breaks stars (the colored part of fireworks) into components.

This model illustrates the components of ProColor:

Core - a flickering white particle that simulates a burning star.
Inner Glow - a flickering colored particle that simulates light being emitted from the burning core.
Outer Glow - a steady particle that simulates overall glow being emitted from the burning core.

Early ProColor was only two components - core and glow - but you will see in this following video that it lacks dimension and depth.

Even with Advanced ProColor there is some refinement to be done (and we will do that in later lessons), but it is a lot deeper and richer than any other type of glow. And it is important to know how to build a star using this system before we tackle any sort of pyro design. Stars are the basis for all pyro and once you have your own specific style template, you can construct any effect.

THE AFE PARTICLE STYLE SHEET

RCT3 Vanilla:

RCT3 Expansions:

Editors Note: Expansion particles in this and future lessons are referenced with parentheses, such that D3 and (A10) are the same flame particle between the two sheets above.

If you haven't seen this matrix yet, open up the Particle Basics window in the AFE and click this:

This is the particle style sheet where you will assign 'personality' to your particles. It may seems daunting at first, but this window will be your best friend in a matter of no time. I've marked this window with alphanumeric indicators so that it's easier to reference. For instance, if I want you to choose a soft, round particle shape, I would refer to C9 or D4 (D1 or C7). To really see the difference between particles, play around with this window when you get a chance. The best way to make a firework your own is to experiment with different particle styles.

COLOR MODIFIER

This checkbox also located within the Particle Basics window is irreplaceable. Color modifier will allow you to change the color within the mixmaster for your shells without having to design 6 differently colored fireworks. When you design an effect or in our case, a glow, that uses color modifier you need to color your particles with a neutral gray so that when the modifier is selected, your fireworks can be tinted any hue (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple and everything in between). There are times when you won't want to use color modifier, but for ProColor, this is an important tool.

CREATING A GLOW

Now we're going to apply all of that theory above.

1. Open the AFE and create a new firework. You'll notice on this emitter it doesn't have all of the options that are available on future emitters. That is because this emitter is the control for two things - lifetime and default color. Setting the lifetime in this emitter will decide how long the effect lasts in the mixmaster time line.
2. Set the lifetime of the first emitter to 10 seconds. Very few stars will ever be 10 seconds long (if any) but it allows enough time for you to see the effect completely before it refreshes.
3. Now add 2 more emitters to the first. They should look like this:

The first emitter is your overall lifetime control. The second emitter is typically your 'launch'. The third emitter will act as your 'launch stop' - which signifies the end of the launch and the beginning of the burst. In this case, we're building a stand for you to craft your glow from without it sinking halfway in the ground. When you start designing real pyro, this emitter combination might be a little different. But the basic elements remain - Control, Launch, Launch Stop.

4. Click the second emitter and add one particle (in Emitter Rate). Set the speed to 50 (in Emitter Speed). Set the lifetime to .05 (in Particle Life).
5. Click on the third emitter and add one particle - set the Start time to 1.00. Set the lifetime to .05. Set the parent controls (Emitter Speed) to 0.00. Now you should have a quick blip of a white particle every 10 seconds.
6. If everything is good so far, go back to the second emitter and make the particle invisible by setting its sizes to 0 (in Particle Basics). Do the same for the third emitter. Now nothing should be showing.
7. Add 3 more emitters so that the total comes to 6. These are the emitters that are going to control the ProColor:

The fourth emitter will act as the Outer Glow, the fifth as the Inner Glow, and the sixth as the Core.

Why Backwards? You may have noticed that this is constructed opposite the ProColor diagram (Core > Inner Glow > Outer Glow). This is true for a very important reason. When you start using these stars for your pyro, they are going to have a lot of physics applied to them, and they are going to want to rip apart from each other (they are 3 independently functioning emitters). If your glow starts to separate from your core, the illusion of a cohesive star is lost. So by constructing ProColor backwards, you save yourself from having to apply multiple versions of the same physics for each emitter. You will see soon how this works to your advantage.

8. Click on the fourth emitter and add one particle. Set the lifetime to 10 seconds (to match the lifetime of the entire effect)
9. Click on the fifth emitter and add 200 particles. Set the lifetime to .15 seconds. This will ensure that when you do start using these stars in moving pyro, that the refresh rate of .15 seconds will keep the inner glow with its outer glow. Thus, the glows stick together and the illusion is created.
10. Click on the sixth emitter and add one particle. Set the lifetime to .10 seconds.
11. Now the fun begins.

(EXPANSION PARTICLE STYLES - D9, D8 & D10)

This is my template for this lesson of ProColor glow - it doesn't have to be followed, but it makes a good starting point. The important things to know are:

- Outer Glow needs to be BIG and dim.
- Inner Glow shouldn't exceed 5.00 size and must be dim - there are 200 particles refreshing on top of one another and if you make the glow too bright, you lose the depth.
- The more randomness you apply to the size, the more intense the flicker.
- Core should be large enough to see - .55 is a nice base number.
- Remember to use the color modifier appropriately, you need to color your particles gray.
- Do not use the color modifier on your core.
- EXPERIMENT EXPERIMENT EXPERIMENT - play with all of the particle styles and mix and match. My combination is not the only combination.

12. Once you have a style that you are happy with - WRITE IT DOWN starting from the 4th emitter (You only need Emitter Rate, Particle Life & Particle Basics). The template above was once on a piece of paper written in pencil, but I spared you the awful chicken-scratch for the easier to access digital version. It does sound silly to ask you to write your formula out, but it's extremely important if you want to keep a consistent style throughout your pyro. We're going to be using these stars for every lesson on, so get used to your formula.

13. Once you have written out your formula for your own safekeeping, give your ProColor template a name by typing one out in the name box. Then save your file - (replace MyGame.dat with your template name) remember that you MUST have .frw at the end of your filename for the game to recognize it as a firework.
14. For submission, create a video with 3 copies of the same stars showing multiple colors to prove that your ProColor works with the color modifier.

And that's ProColor! This was a fairly dry lesson I know, but an essential one that will impact everything you do from here on out. If you can master a beautiful ProColor, you can create some stunning effects right out of the academy.

Next Lesson: Lesson 1C - Pearl Comet

Edited April 21Apr 21 by StickyGum32