VFX Tutorial

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VFX Tutorial #1 version 1 – The Basics

This tutorial is to get you started in creating your own visual effects to be used in the DA toolset. Tutorial #1 will cover the basics of creating, editing, and implementing the visual effect.

To create a new VFX, right click on the palette window and select “NEW > VFX”

New VFX.jpg

The VFX Editor will open up showing a square grid and a “Select VFX” window in the middle. For this tutorial we will be doing a Placeable effect, so select “Placeable” and click “OK”.

On the top left, you should see a little globe called “VFXRoot” and in the Object Inspector you should see the properties of VFXRoot. At this point, save your work by selecting “File > Save As” or clicking the Save Icon in the upper left. You will be prompted for a file name. I like to keep all of my VFX files in one place so in My Documents/Bioware/Dragon Age folder I created a VFX folder to save my files.

For this tutorial we will be creating a Bon Fire type of effect and to stay with Dragon Age naming convention, we will use a 3 letter prefix, underscore, and then the file name. Name the file “fxp_bonfire_jp” The “fxp” is for “Visual Effect Placeable” (all VFX files start with fx*) “bonfire” tells me what the effect is, and the “jp” on the end lets me know that it is my effect and not someone else’s, you can add whatever suffix you want. Click “Save” when done.

You can close the toolset at any time and return to this tutorial. You can open your effect again later by selecting “File > Open” and navigate to and select the file you just saved.

T1 root obj inspector.jpg

VFXRoot Properties: I’ll just cover the ones that we will be using.

Name: This is the resource name and is what will be used when we Post to Local. Change it to match the file name.

Impact Length: Time in seconds for the stating phase of the effect. Example, a Runner starting off from the start line reaching max speed.

Duration Length: Time in seconds for the duration of the effect. Example, the time it takes the runner to reach the finish line after reaching max speed.

Cessation Length: Time in seconds for the ending of the effect. Example, the runner slowing down after crossing the finish line.

We are making a bon fire effect, so we want the fire to start off small, grow in size, then burn it’s self out. So set the Impact Length to 3 seconds, this will start the fire and grown to it’s max size. Set the Duration Length to 3 seconds. This will allow us plenty of time to vary the coloration of the flames. Set the Cessation time to 3 seconds as well, as the fire burns out.

You may be thinking that 9 seconds is a very short fire. When the effect is set in a script, the duration time is set within the function ApplyEffect*. This duration time causes the duration time of the animation to loop over and over. So for example, if this bon fire effect is applied to an object for 6 min, the duration part of the effect will loop 120 times, 3 second duration * 120 loops = 360 seconds = 6 minutes. Then the Cessation time plays and the effect is done.

After setting these times, you should now see a time line something like this, More on this in part 2. T1 time line.jpg

Next we need an emitter. Right click on the window and select “Insert > Insert Emitter”. You should get a pulsating white capsule in the center of the grid and a “NewEmitter” object added to the list on the left. T1 emitter.jpg

Select the NewEmitter object and you will see the properties in the Object inspector window. T1 op properties.jpg

Properties Window:

Name: Change the name of the emitter to “Base” this will be the main base of the fire. Naming the emitter will help sort them out when building an effect with several emitters.

Material Library: This is the library that we will be selecting our particle material from. The DA Effect Libraries start with the prefix fx_*Click on the Material Library box to open the resource window. Select the fx_firelibrary and click OK.

Material Object: This is the martial that we will use from the above selected Library. For this select “FireFlipbook”. Before we continue, save your work and let’s talk about Flipbooks.