DPS905 Kaitlyn ParticleEffects

**************************************************************************************************
**   Particles                                                                                   *
**************************************************************************************************
*    April 2011
*    By Kaitlyn Callow ( KaitlynCallow.com | dacallow@learn.senecac.on.ca )
*    For DPS905, Professor Chris Szalwinski
**************************************************************************************************

Contents:

• [A] INSTALLATION
• [B] HOW TO USE

[A] - INSTALLATION

1) Add the following files to your project:

• Particle.cpp
• Particle.h
• ParticleGenerator.cpp
• ParticleGenerator.h
• ParticleVertexList.cpp
• ParticleVertexList.h
• Optionally, you can get a simple texture for you to try making particle effects with here: bubble.tga

2) Append onto the bottom of your existing Effects.fx file the contents of the following file:

• Effects.fx

3) Modify iObject.h:

• Add to Class iObject...

 //added for particle effects / animations
 virtual void update(int now) = 0;

• At the bottom of the file iObject.h add...

extern "C"
iObject* CreateParticleGenerator(float _generatorlifespan, float _particlelifespan, float _particlespawnrate, float _spawnpositiondispersion,
float _theta, float _startingspeed, Colour _startcolour, Colour _endcolour, float _frequencycolour, float _startsize,
float _endsize, float _frequencysize, Vector _startgravity, Vector _endgravity, float _frequencygravityvertical,
float _frequencygravityhorizontal, float _startalpha, float _endalpha, float _frequencyalpha, Colour* c, float* p);

4) Modify Object.h

• Add to Class Object...

void update(int now) { /* do nothing, added for particle effects & animations */ }

5) Modify Display.cpp

• Inside of method: bool Display::setup(void* hwnd)

near line 360 (beneath the comment "// setup successful") add...

ParticleVertex::device = d3dd;
ParticleVertexList::connectDevice(d3dd);

6) Modify Configuration.h

• Adding into the existing typedef enum Category (line 375) a new type of:

PARTICLES

7) Modify Object.cpp

• Updating the Object::Object(category, colour, iGraphic*, int, int) method..

Change from..

// store reflectivity, shininess, and texture pointers
material = new Colour[nSubsets];
shine    = new float[nSubsets];
texture  = new iTexture**[nSubsets];
for (int i = 0; i < nSubsets; i++) {
  material[i] = c[i];
  if (p && p[i])
    shine[i] = p[i];
  else
    shine[i] = DEFAULT_SHININESS;
  if (material[i].a != 1.0f)
    category = TRANSLUCENT_OBJECT;
  texture[i] = new iTexture*[nStages];
  for (int j = 0; j < nStages; j++)
    texture[i][j] = NULL;
}

And change it to..:

// store reflectivity, shininess, and texture pointers
material = new Colour[nSubsets];
shine    = new float[nSubsets];
texture  = new iTexture**[nSubsets];
for (int i = 0; i < nSubsets; i++) {
  material[i] = c[i];
  if (p && p[i])
    shine[i] = p[i];
  else
    shine[i] = DEFAULT_SHININESS;
  if (material[i].a != 1.0f && category != PARTICLES)
    category = TRANSLUCENT_OBJECT;
  texture[i] = new iTexture*[nStages];
  for (int j = 0; j < nStages; j++)
    texture[i][j] = NULL;
}

8) Modify DeviceTexture.cpp

• Inside the method ( void DeviceTexture::create(iScene* scene, const Matrix& view, const Matrix& projection, const Vector& viewpoint) )

Near line 190...

Change from:

d3dd->BeginScene();
scene->draw(SKYBOX);
scene->draw(OPAQUE_OBJECT);   
scene->draw(TRANSLUCENT_OBJECT);
d3dd->EndScene();

And change it to..:

d3dd->BeginScene();
scene->draw(SKYBOX);
scene->draw(OPAQUE_OBJECT);   
scene->draw(TRANSLUCENT_OBJECT);
scene->draw(PARTICLES);
d3dd->EndScene();

9) Modify Design.cpp

• Modify void Design::draw()

Changing from:

scene->draw(MIRROR);
scene->draw(SKYBOX);
scene->draw(OPAQUE_OBJECT);
scene->draw(TRANSLUCENT_OBJECT);
hud->draw(HUD_ALPHA);

Changing to:

scene->draw(MIRROR);
scene->draw(SKYBOX);
scene->draw(OPAQUE_OBJECT);
scene->draw(TRANSLUCENT_OBJECT);
scene->draw(PARTICLES);
hud->draw(HUD_ALPHA);

[B] - HOW TO USE

To create a particle:

1) Include in ParticleGenerator.h

2) Use the following suggested code:

   //VARIABLES
   float generatorlifespan        = 0.0f;                          // how long for the generator to run for (0.0f is forever) in seconds
   float particlelifespan         = 3.0f;                          // how long particles live for
   float particlespawnrate        = 180.0f;                        // how many particles can spawn, per second, up to the MAX_PARTICLES limit
   float spawndispersion          = 6.0f;                          // how varied are the spawn positions (0.0f means spawn on the same exact positon initially)
   float theta                    = 80.0f;                         // how varied is the initial velocities, 180.0f is a full sphere, 90.0f is a hemisphere, 40.0f is a cone, etc
   float startingspeed            = 110.0f;                        // initial speed applied to the velocities
   Colour startcolour             = Colour(2.0f,0.0f,0.0f);
   Colour endcolour               = Colour(0.0f,0.0f,1.0f);
   float frequencycolour          = 0.0f;   
   float startsize                = 5.0f;
   float endsize                  = 0.0f;
   float frequencysize            = 0.0f;
   Vector startgravity            = Vector(0.0f, -29.8f, 0.0f);
   Vector endgravity              = Vector(0.0f, -199.8f, 0.0f);
   float frequencygravityvertical   = 0.0f;
   float frequencygravityhorizontal = 0.0f;
   float startalpha               = 1.0f;
   float endalpha                 = 0.0f;
   float frequencyalpha           = 0.0f;
   Colour c                       = Colour(1.0f,0.0f,0.0f);        //for object (material type)... not actually used
   float p                        = 0.5f;                          //for object (reflectivity)... not actually used


   iObject* particleEffect1 = CreateParticleGenerator(generatorlifespan, particlelifespan, particlespawnrate, spawndispersion, theta,
     startingspeed, startcolour, endcolour, frequencycolour, startsize, endsize, frequencysize, startgravity, endgravity, frequencygravityvertical,
     frequencygravityhorizontal, startalpha, endalpha, frequencyalpha, &c, &p);

   //Add your desired texture on
   iTexture* particle_texture = CreateTexture(L"bubble.tga");
   particleEffect1->attach(particle_texture,0);

   //Position your particle generator
   particleEffect1->translate(250,70,250);

   //Optionally particles may be set to attract to other objects or positions in the world
   //((ParticleGenerator*)particleEffect1)->AttractTo(someObject,250.0f);
   //((ParticleGenerator*)particleEffect1)->AttractTo(&Vector(50,50,50),250.0f);

3) Add in to the Design::Update(int now) method your particle generator's update method being called.

particleEffect1->update(now);

PLEASE NOTE: The following is not working / implemented at this time: frequency, alpha transparency