Particle Effect Editor - Grab it while it's hot!
by Simon Love · 06/07/2014 (10:18 pm) · 10 comments
After 1 week of hard work, it's finally here!
A feature-complete Particle FX editor for T2D MIT.
And here's a brief walkthrough so you can get your bearings!
Grab the Editor here! Note that the executable is Windows only.
Before you do anything though, READ THE WIKI. Once you're done reading the wiki, READ THE WIKI!!!
If you plan on githubbin' it instead, you can find the scripts in my Github repo
Using your own executables? Just make sure to grab the latest T2D 3.0 development branch, which contains bugfixes required to run the editor. You can grab that here.
This was made in the context of Ludum Dare's MiniLD 51 challenge.
Usually, the goal is to make a game in 48 hours but this challenge's goal was to make a game dev tool instead.
As such, my personal goal was to make it fully functional; Not pretty.
In 48 hours (which gives us about 12-16 hours of work time) I had managed to get as far as my last blog entry.
The editor that you have today is the result of about 48 real hours of work.
I had some issues with the GuiRollout controls and obviously, I'm just one man to test everything.
Since the editor is up on Github, You can help!
Feel free to submit either bugfixes, enhancements or particle Effects that you have made yourself via pull requests. Hell, make your own, make it better and sell it for money even!
As always, feel free to comment, ask questions or chime in with your own ideas!
Bonus Tip
Drop the Sandbox ToyAssets in the project for looooots of images, ready to go!
A feature-complete Particle FX editor for T2D MIT.
And here's a brief walkthrough so you can get your bearings!
Grab the Editor here! Note that the executable is Windows only.
Before you do anything though, READ THE WIKI. Once you're done reading the wiki, READ THE WIKI!!!
If you plan on githubbin' it instead, you can find the scripts in my Github repo
Using your own executables? Just make sure to grab the latest T2D 3.0 development branch, which contains bugfixes required to run the editor. You can grab that here.
Why is it so clunky? / disclaimer
This was made in the context of Ludum Dare's MiniLD 51 challenge.
Usually, the goal is to make a game in 48 hours but this challenge's goal was to make a game dev tool instead.
As such, my personal goal was to make it fully functional; Not pretty.
In 48 hours (which gives us about 12-16 hours of work time) I had managed to get as far as my last blog entry.
The editor that you have today is the result of about 48 real hours of work.
I had some issues with the GuiRollout controls and obviously, I'm just one man to test everything.
Since the editor is up on Github, You can help!
Feel free to submit either bugfixes, enhancements or particle Effects that you have made yourself via pull requests. Hell, make your own, make it better and sell it for money even!
As always, feel free to comment, ask questions or chime in with your own ideas!
Bonus Tip
Drop the Sandbox ToyAssets in the project for looooots of images, ready to go!
About the author
I am here to help. I've worked at every imaginable position in game development, having entered the field originally as an audio guy.
#2
@practicing01 - The error is what we discovered during one of our IRC chats. It's an escape code problem, specifically newline. The quick fix is to delete the newlines and re-enter them.
06/08/2014 (5:07 am)
SWEET! The first T2D Editor folks! Well done and much thanks Simon. This helps validate that I'm on the right path with the framework, even if it's incomplete.@practicing01 - The error is what we discovered during one of our IRC chats. It's an escape code problem, specifically newline. The quick fix is to delete the newlines and re-enter them.
#3
Ran into the same issue as practicing on OSX, after fixing that I stared at the black window for a while wondering why nothing was appearing on the Canvas. Only after digging through the scripts and a bunch of restarts did I finally notice that there is a Particle Effects drop down from the OSX menu bar at the top of the screen.
Creating a new effect seems to work fine. I can't load any effects though, I'm not able to select any .asset.taml files to open. In any case, it's a very promising start to our eventual goal of a full editor suite for T2D!
06/08/2014 (6:42 am)
Awesome work Simon!Ran into the same issue as practicing on OSX, after fixing that I stared at the black window for a while wondering why nothing was appearing on the Canvas. Only after digging through the scripts and a bunch of restarts did I finally notice that there is a Particle Effects drop down from the OSX menu bar at the top of the screen.
Creating a new effect seems to work fine. I can't load any effects though, I'm not able to select any .asset.taml files to open. In any case, it's a very promising start to our eventual goal of a full editor suite for T2D!
#4
If it's OK with you, Simon, I'd like to pull your Particle Editor into my fork as well. The more editors I have, the more I can improve the base.
06/08/2014 (7:56 am)
I'll make a pass on all the scripts to take care of the newline problem, in my fork. My wife is going to be out of town for a few days next week, which frees up multiple nights to work on whatever I want. I'll add some more core framework stuff, fix a couple of controls that are broken (thanks to Simon for reporting), and even add a couple of basic editors to vet the work. I'm thinking a project manager, ImageAsset editor, and AnimationAsset editor.If it's OK with you, Simon, I'd like to pull your Particle Editor into my fork as well. The more editors I have, the more I can improve the base.
#5
@Mike: Totally harshing my buzz, man! heheheh Weird for the loading problem, as both the New Effect and Load Effect menus obey the same basic logic. LoadFileDLG should be platform-independent but I know there were some bugs that were fixed in the windows platform dialogs a few months back. It's all in Emitters.cs by the way.
Didn't think about OSX's embedding the menu into the app's. I'm Windows-biased, obviously, where new menus stick out like sore thumbs! :)
That being said, I did think about a separate gui window with a dropdown, listing all declared assets. Would make it a lot friendlier to cross-platform.
@Mich : You go ahead, it's everyone's now and everyone includes you!
Just bear in mind that the PFX editor uses only the buildmenu functionality, aside from that it's pretty much a standalone thang.
Everyone : I think that this is a great example of how to find bugs and fix things : by making stuff and sharing. Don't keep projects to yourself; Share!
06/08/2014 (8:20 am)
Practicing01 : Thanks! You've been around long enough to be one of the most vocal members of the community, you should totally change your name to "mastering01". :)@Mike: Totally harshing my buzz, man! heheheh Weird for the loading problem, as both the New Effect and Load Effect menus obey the same basic logic. LoadFileDLG should be platform-independent but I know there were some bugs that were fixed in the windows platform dialogs a few months back. It's all in Emitters.cs by the way.
Didn't think about OSX's embedding the menu into the app's. I'm Windows-biased, obviously, where new menus stick out like sore thumbs! :)
That being said, I did think about a separate gui window with a dropdown, listing all declared assets. Would make it a lot friendlier to cross-platform.
@Mich : You go ahead, it's everyone's now and everyone includes you!
Just bear in mind that the PFX editor uses only the buildmenu functionality, aside from that it's pretty much a standalone thang.
Everyone : I think that this is a great example of how to find bugs and fix things : by making stuff and sharing. Don't keep projects to yourself; Share!
#6
06/08/2014 (3:08 pm)
Awesome! thanks Simon.
#7
I've uncovered a file saving bug as well but I don't want to kill your buzz. :) It might be all related to the platform layer menus in OSX, so it's not something you would have discovered using just Windows. It is amusing having files automatically named something like: test.asset.taml.asset.asset.taml :)
06/11/2014 (12:19 pm)
The development branch has merged in all the necessary changes needed to use this editor now. Thanks for all the fixes Simon!I've uncovered a file saving bug as well but I don't want to kill your buzz. :) It might be all related to the platform layer menus in OSX, so it's not something you would have discovered using just Windows. It is amusing having files automatically named something like: test.asset.taml.asset.asset.taml :)
#8
The SaveFile Dialog and Loadfile dialog are broken in so many ways but I didn't encounter this dual extension naming issue.
06/11/2014 (12:27 pm)
Thanks for your prompt work MASTER Lilligreen.The SaveFile Dialog and Loadfile dialog are broken in so many ways but I didn't encounter this dual extension naming issue.
#9
Will
06/16/2014 (12:11 pm)
Looks good, one questions and sorry if its a stupid question but I'm wondering... can it be used for Torque 3D 3.5.x projects? I'm using the latest build of Torque 3d and the part-fx are too complex for my blood. I'm locking horns with the PEs alot and since it feels so buggy and unfriendly inside Torque 3D, I thought maybe I could use this to make new particles for the game I'm working on in it. Please let me know if it is possible. Still if not, it is a very nice job and congrats!Will
#10
Thanks for the kind words!
06/16/2014 (12:52 pm)
Sorry Will, this is custom-tailored for the Particle Effects in T2D which have nothing in common with T3D's systems.Thanks for the kind words!
Torque Owner practicing01
MourningDoveSoft