ATPA Lesson 1C: Pearl Comet

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age, the videos included with the academy are of a lackluster quality, and some of the information in these lessons is outdated.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

1C –Pearl Comet

We are finally on to a real firework! *yay*

The Pearl Comet is the easiest firework to make. It is quite simply, a ball of fire projected into the air. So in this lesson, we will apply our new glow style to particle movement and introduce physics to give the firework a realistic launch.

Here is a preview of what we're going to do. You may notice the core is lagging a bit behind - don't worry, we will fix this in later lessons.

1. Create a new firework and add another emitter to the control. This new emitter will be our launch. Because this is a comet and it has no second stage, additional emitters are not needed.
2. Set the control to 3.00 seconds. Set the emitter's life to 2.75 seconds and add 1 particle to the emitter. Go to the Emitter Speed panel and experiment with different speeds for different heights. We will apply physics soon, but just get an idea of how high you want the comet to launch. If you want to add some realism, add a little bit of sphere to randomize the launch pattern.
3. Go to the Particle Motion panel and apply some drag (degree of resistance) and gravity (degree of downforce). Drag should be anywhere between 1.40 and 2.00. Gravity should be anywhere between 0.30 and 0.60. My formula for drag/grav is 1.40/0.40. Once you find a formula you like, go back to the Emitter Speed panel and adjust it accordingly (if needed). The drag should have reduced the flight path of the comet - fix that so that the original launch height is restored.
4. Now apply your formula for ProColor - starting with the launch emitter as your Outer Glow, add 2 more emitters for Inner Glow and Core:

I changed the labels on these to show the difference in particle characteristic. C is the control emitter. 1 used to be the launch emitter, now it's both the launch and the Outer Glow of your ProColor. 2 is Inner Glow. 3 is Core.

You may notice that your Inner Glow is a little strong - since your formula for ProColor was designed for a 10 second interval, the 200 particles used in Inner Glow might be way too much. Experiment with lowering the particle count - for a 2.75 second effect, 80 particles might work better.

If you're unfamiliar with ProColor, I suggest referencing Lesson 1B - ProColor.
http://forums.vpyro....on-1b-procolor/
https://parkcrafters.com/topic/1623-atpa-lesson-1b-pro-color/

5. Now that you have a pretty good looking comet, it's time to apply some randomness. Open the launch emitter (1 in the diagram) and select the Particle Life panel. Right now the life is set at 2.75 seconds, but the random is set at 0%. Let's give it about a 25% random factor (0.25) - this means that it may go as much as 25% over or under 2.75 seconds. This helps your effects from looking like a rigid particle engine. Experiment with randomness - it can provide many different effects.
6. Name your firework, save and close! Submit a video with multiple comet colors.

See? I told you this one was easy!

Next Lesson: Lesson 2 - Mines

Edited April 22Apr 22 by StickyGum32