ATPA Lesson 6B: Glitter (Moderate)

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age, the videos included with the academy are of a lackluster quality, and some of the information in these lessons is outdated.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

6B – Glitter (Moderate)

Now that you understand the fundamentals of glitter, it's time to introduce some familiar and some not-so-familiar concepts to get the glitter to feel like it's being affected by the elements.

It's hard to see from these videos, but the glitter does feel like it gets picked up by the wind a bit more.

1. We're going to continue from the 6A effect, using the exact same emitter setup, particle styles and particle counts. In this lesson, we're going to tackle the Emitter Rotation window once again, and we're going to apply a drift effect to the glitter just like we did in Lesson 3B. By simply fiddling with the speed and rotation of the invisible tail and the visible glitter tail, you can provide a much more realistic effect.
2. Start with the first emitter of the glitter tail (the invisible one) open the Emitter Speed panel and increase the speed to 0.55 - also increase the sphere to 0.40 - this will provide some directional movement for the changes to the emitter's rotation we're about to perform.
3. Open the Emitter Rotation panel and fiddle with the settings until you get a slight 'whip' from the tail particles. This is easier said than done, so I've provided a picture of a possible jumping off point for you:

Just like the other settings I'm having you experiment on - there are some guidelines:

* Keep Particle Relative checked.
* Experiment with positive and negative spinrate values.
* Avoid anything over 5.00 or -5.00.
* SpinOffset values help to direct how the tail 'spins'
* Make sure the effect is SUBTLE - you're not trying to create a twister tail...yet.

4. You might notice that your tail gets stuck in the air as the comet starts dropping - this isn't attractive for this kind of effect, so go to the Emitter Rate panel on the first glitter tail emitter (the one you've been working on) and change the End Time to 0.65 - this should stop the tail just as its cresting and dropping. If not, experiment with the end time until it looks correct.
5. Select the second emitter for the glitter tail and open the Emitter Speed panel. Now that your glitter tail's movement is being controlled by the first emitter, you can set the sphere down to 0.20. We're going to set up this emitter to have some drift to it, so add some speed (around 1.00) so that the drifting glitter has a direction to go. Now open the Emitter Rotation panel and set the SpinOffsetZ rate to 4.71 and uncheck Particle Relative. If you used a different formula for your drift smoke (other than 4.71) use it instead - this is your universal 'wind direction'.

If your tail is crooked, slightly irregular or just barely twisting, you've done everything right. Slight irregularity will transform your effects from made by a particle engine to wow, that looks real!

6. Name your effect, save your effect (don't forget .frw!) and submit your lesson by providing a video containing comets with different colors.

You're almost done with the glitter gauntlet. Lesson 6C will provide the final icing on this shimmering cake.

Next Lesson: Lesson 6C - Glitter (Complex)

Edited April 22Apr 22 by StickyGum32