Search Unity

  1. Megacity Metro Demo now available. Download now.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Unity support for visionOS is now available. Learn more in our blog post.
    Dismiss Notice

Rocket Smoke particle trails

Discussion in 'Works In Progress - Archive' started by Alesk, Feb 24, 2012.

  1. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    Hi,

    Some months ago, I replied to this thread : http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/88796-Rocket-Smoke-Trails
    Since then, I've been stuck on some more important work, but now I'll have more free time to work again on this.
    The goal here is to get a convincing smoke trail, properly lit by the main light in the scene.

    27 August 2013 update :
    Current demo : http://www.alesk.fr/PuffySmoke/


    Previous look :


    Current look :


    If you have any comment, I'll be happy to read them too ;)
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2013
  2. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    Hi !

    Nobody seems interested until now ^_^;
    Anyway, I've improved the framerate, and fixed some major bugs.
    Now the light can be animated and the particles are lighted properly according to it :)
    I have now to find a solution to get a faster mesh update, not sure if this is possible...
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2012
  3. Hedgehog-Team

    Hedgehog-Team

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2011
    Posts:
    1,155
    Nice rendering.

    Do you have a screenshot or a webplayer if the parent is in motion ?

    @+
    Icarex
     
  4. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    Not yet, I'm still working on cleaning and optimizing the code for performances.
    I'll try to do a demo with a moving parent this week end
     
  5. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    I've found some time to work on it, I've also added some more optimizations ;)

    Test here : http://www.alesk.fr/demo/smoke/v3/

    This version let see the smoke trail behind a homing missile
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2012
  6. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    New update !

    From now, the new url for the next updates will be here : http://www.alesk.fr/demo/smoke/
    (first post updated)

    In this version I've added some life time and fading options on the particles :)
     
  7. jedy

    jedy

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2010
    Posts:
    579
    Looks interesting.

    I see you're building a mesh - I suppose you're not using the unity particle system?
     
  8. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    yep, I don't use it since I need a precise control of what is displayed on each particle.
    but I didn't look in details into shuriken, maybe I could use it to do that
     
  9. jedy

    jedy

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2010
    Posts:
    579
    I suppose you can use the positions and spawn particle systems for each "cloud" with the "prewarm" feature on.

    But the current results look pretty good, and the only thing that could possibly give to them is modifying the clouds a bit easier.
     
  10. gninjagnome

    gninjagnome

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2011
    Posts:
    51
    Really cool, You could make a first person view Missile Command.
     
  11. HarvesteR

    HarvesteR

    Joined:
    May 22, 2009
    Posts:
    531
    This is awesome mate! Nice job!

    Do plan on releasing it as an asset pack? I'd definitely be interested. :)

    Cheers
     
  12. Andrew_atl

    Andrew_atl

    Joined:
    Sep 21, 2010
    Posts:
    103
    That looks pretty cool.
     
  13. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    Yes I'll release it on the asset store, but I have still some work to do to add everything I want ;)
     
  14. stefmen

    stefmen

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2009
    Posts:
    791
    looking good but what are the drawcalls?
     
  15. Dantus

    Dantus

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Posts:
    5,667
    I like it!
     
  16. ZJP

    ZJP

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2010
    Posts:
    2,649
    Sure.. It's a nice addon for KSP . Nice work btw ;)

    Bon courage.

    JP
     
  17. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    AFAIK, one, but not sure of this. How could I measure it for sure ?

    [EDIT] ok, I've found how, I've removed the rendering of everything else, and since I use a single mesh for it, I get 1 drawcall for the full smoke :)
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2012
  18. Meltdown

    Meltdown

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2010
    Posts:
    5,816
    Looks good well done.
     
  19. yahodahan

    yahodahan

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2009
    Posts:
    1,380
    Ach, I could watch that rocket trail for hours, so lovely! Can't imagine how you've done it (magic!), but here's one buyer ready to go. One issue- could there be an option for more variance? ie choppier, more scattered, rougher.
     
  20. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    Thanks ^^

    Of course I can add many options to vary the global shape of the smoke, but I'm stuck on a smooth and circular shape on the texture to keep this volumetric effect, so if the particles are too far away from each others, it will just looks odd :/
    I'm working on it !
     
  21. yahodahan

    yahodahan

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2009
    Posts:
    1,380
    Awesome, looking forward to it :D
     
  22. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    New update !

    I've found a way to add some details in the smoke. It's not perfect, but that's a good start ^^
    Demo link updated in the first post of this thread.
     

    Attached Files:

  23. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    Another update :)

    - now the smoke can have a different color for the light and shadow areas (here I've just put more blue in the shadowed parts)
    - the smoke particles have more velocity
    - you can use the P key to toggle the particles aging process
    - the camera can now move freely around, even flying in the air ;)
     
  24. stefmen

    stefmen

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2009
    Posts:
    791
    webplayer ? :)
     
  25. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
  26. Slem

    Slem

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2009
    Posts:
    191
    Very nice. I will definately buy this.
     
  27. CrashKonijn

    CrashKonijn

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2010
    Posts:
    245
    This looks amazing!
     
  28. WalterEspinar

    WalterEspinar

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2011
    Posts:
    83
    WebPlayer error?
     
  29. Tinus

    Tinus

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2009
    Posts:
    437
    Looks excellent! I'll have a need for this effect pretty soon, and if I can't pull it off using Shuriken I'll know where to go. :)
     
  30. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    Hi,

    I was stuck on another poject, so no update these last days. But now I'll have more time to continue working on it :)

    About Shuriken : it's not possible to get the same effect with it... But I'll try to let my class be plugged on top of Shuriken, I just need to find a way to read the particles informations from it.
     
  31. lazygunn

    lazygunn

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2011
    Posts:
    2,749
    This looks very good, it's a pity it probably wont be available for my deadline but keep up the good work
     
  32. flim

    flim

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2008
    Posts:
    326
    Looks very good +1
     
  33. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    when is your deadline ?
     
  34. yahodahan

    yahodahan

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2009
    Posts:
    1,380
    Loving the new addition of some detail/variance to the smoke!

    Ach, I can't wait for this to come out. You could set up a pre-order- if we pay now can we get a discount and possibly speed up development? Possibly even access to a "beta" so we could start implementing it early?
     
  35. lazygunn

    lazygunn

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2011
    Posts:
    2,749
    Well, my absolute deadline is the 18th of april but at the moment i need everything like, instantly, or i cant visualise everything, however i think you'd like to perfect your work and it looks beautiful and i probably cant pay you enough for it to be worth compromising your obviously high standards so i'll endeavour to find elsewhere (although secretly i would like you to make it available right away aha) but in future i WILL pay for this if it's on the asset store and i think many others would too, it looks incredible
     
  36. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    ah yes... it'll be difficult for me to finish it before that deadline, sorry :/

    I'm working on this on my spare time, so I can't work faster unfortunately, even if paid ^^
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2012
  37. fivearchers

    fivearchers

    Joined:
    Apr 17, 2009
    Posts:
    716
    Looks really cool!
     
  38. yahodahan

    yahodahan

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2009
    Posts:
    1,380
    That's a bummer, but I'll be waiting! Really great work :)
     
  39. MikeUpchat

    MikeUpchat

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2010
    Posts:
    1,056
    Can you say a little more about how it works, are you building a load of billboards and aligning them with the camera each frame etc? And how is the lighting done? It really does look fantastic.
    Mike
     
  40. robocognito

    robocognito

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2010
    Posts:
    23
    I too would love to learn more about this. Heck, I'd love to sit through a tutorial on it if you bundle it with your product :D
     
  41. maawaa

    maawaa

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2012
    Posts:
    16
    that looks really impressive! +1
     
  42. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    You're right, I'm creating aligned billboards, like usual particles. The trick for the lighting is in the texture wich contains different illuminations. The right one is selected for each particle depending on the light orientation and the camera position.
     
  43. tachyonix

    tachyonix

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2012
    Posts:
    6
    Yeey...chemtrails...exactly what i was looking for. Do you think you could put it on asset store and then make updates. I would really love to play with it.
     
  44. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    Hi,

    Yes, I think I'll put it on the asset store almost as it is now (I still have some final tweaks to do)
    I want to make it "pluggable" on top of shuriken, but it needs more work and I don't have all the details on how to get data from shuriken (like particle position, age, velocity, etc...), so I think this option will be for another release.
    If anyone have a direct link to some documentation about that, it would be helpful to me ;)

    EDIT : ok, I've found it in the unity documentation ^^, I thought only the old particle system was documented...
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2012
  45. yahodahan

    yahodahan

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2009
    Posts:
    1,380
    Excited! :D
     
  46. devMidgard

    devMidgard

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2012
    Posts:
    7
    I like the previous look!
     
  47. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    The look can be fully customized with textures and/or shaders, to get the previous look back, you just have to disable the "details" texture ;)
     
  48. reissgrant

    reissgrant

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2009
    Posts:
    726
    These smoke trails look really good, if I needed some I would definitely use these.
     
  49. yahodahan

    yahodahan

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2009
    Posts:
    1,380
    Anything new here? Was really looking forward to this! :D
     
  50. Alesk

    Alesk

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2010
    Posts:
    339
    sorry... in standby again, I'm working on priority projects... to pay the bills -_-