Fan Character - Jet Fire

[flashawd]

Hi - I have no idea what I am doing, but the fire tutorial and a couple hours of playing around got me to the point of having the jet engine fire for my fan character I'm working on. It didn't come out half bad, but and suggestions to make it better would be more than welcome.

 

http://www.flashanimationwebsitedesign.com...urningFan3.html

 

My question is- I have a choreograph scene that I put my character in and also the object "smoke" which has the "fireMaterial" dropped on it. That is what I rendered 5 seconds of at the above link. I used the "smoke.mdl" and images for the sprites that goes along with the fire tutorial.

 

The idea is to have the character sitting there and the jet fire lifts him up and sets him back down or flies him around and sets back down. How do I acomplish this?? Do I make an "action" of the jet engine and at the point in the chor drop it in right before the character lifts up? If so do I have to put a bone on the "smoke" object and also a bone on the bottom of the "character - and put a constraint of them - to keep the jet fire attached to him while he moves around?

 

Anyway, thank you you for any suggestions - little lost here. -Eric

[johnl3d]

Why do you need a bone object?? make a group on the bottom and add the smoke material. then in the chor control the % of emitting as needed..at the beginning 0 then 100 then 0 ....you could even control it with a pose slider

 

Just a thought

 

did a real quick demo

 

flight.mov

[flashawd]

Hey John - what a great idea, and thanks for taking the time to make the demo - much appreciated I will try it in the AM.

[flashawd]

Hi John - I did what you suggested and it worked perfectly. The only thing I couldn't figure out is setting it as a pose slider that you mentioned. I had the percent of emission set at "0" for fire and smoke before I set up a pose slider and then set it to "100" for the smoke and "500" for the fire at 100% on the pose slider, but it seems to keep the fire and smoke all the way on when the pose slider is at 0% or 100%. I created a new action, and the smoke and fire were at 100% and the pose slider wouldn't work. Am I doing something wrong. It doesn't really matter if I have a pose slider, but it would be nice to be able to control it that way.

 

Thanks again - Eric

[flashawd]

Hi - having a little trouble here - how did you get it to turn off and on in the chor? For example lets have him sitting there w/o jet fire for 30 frames. Then at 60 frames have him start to raise up and the have the jet fire come on - go up for a second come back down and turn off the jet fire. At frame 60 when I set the emission at 100 for the jet fire is sets it a 100 from frame 1 not 60 like I need it to. I can't really force a keyframe because it isn't an object like a bone that I can click on. Anyway - what am I not getting here??... something obvious I am sure.

[johnl3d]

In the chor goto to the model then group then material then sprite system set emission % to 0 then 1 frame before you want it to start set it to 0 again then next frame set it at 100 or whatever looks right then depending when you want it to stop set frame before to 10 then next to 0 and the sprites will stop emitting but will survive until their life time runs out..thats can be set in same area. Now again this is in chor area of project work space not by the model or material higher up.

 

 

Hope this verbal tut helps

[flashawd]

Hi - that is what I was trying to do and where the I think the problem is - the version of the fan in the chor "shortcut to fan" - does not show any parts of the mesh (groups) just "Model Bone" and "User Properties" that's why I cannot group it - am I looking in the wrong place? Or is there a setting that I do not have clicked on, that shows all that? Thanks again- Eric

[flashawd]

When you create an "object" (character) and you create a chor and drop the character in it gives you a "shortcut to object" under the chor section. When I click on the "+" to expand the sub options of the character in the chor section all I am getting is "model bone" and "user properties". I am looking for everything else (the groups of splines that make up the character". Is there a setting that I need to set to allow me to see these - or is it just something I am not getting?

 

Thanks - Eric

[johnl3d]

tools options check all as shown here especially the last two show items

 

 

 

 

Now if you don't want to use sprites (smoke) here is an alternative using a volumetric light

 

lite_engine.mov

 

 

v13s project file since I'm not sure which version you are using

 

lite_engine.zip

 

..got a little carried away with the demo skin moves on character

[flashawd]

Hi John - I got it! .... finally. I had all the boxes marked on the diagram you put up, but there are 4 small icons next to the "copy of object" in the "chor" - it was "x"ed over so I deselected it and then is showed everything. I was then able to do what you suggested in it came out pretty good. Thank you very much for all your help it is much appreciated.

 

Here is a link to the test anim of the fan charaters movements if you wanted to see how it turned out.

 

http://www.flashanimationwebsitedesign.com...urningFan4.html

 

Thanks again - Eric

[johnl3d]

Glad you got it to work nice character..now add fan force so he can blow when he twirls

[flashawd]

That's a great idea... how do I do it??

[johnl3d]

right click on model add force ..setup and use....

 

something like this...1.98 special

 

fanforce.mov

 

 

 

fanf.zip V13s project

 

 

Set up fan added pose slider to control "mouth" opening and fan speed

 

"grass" is simple hair

 

Now add some sprites on lips or cloth leaves and have fun...

 

This ends the tutorial

[flashawd]

Hi John - thanks for the mini Tut, like you don't have anything better to do. That is perfect, I'll check it out tomorrow.

Have a great weekend - Eric