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Snow particles needed - please help!

Posted: 15 Aug 2012, 23:16
by Soom
Hi All
Not sure where to ask this.
I've got to do some 2D commercial and I need a lot of snow there.
I did animate some snow on cycle that just falls down and it's ok.
But I have a couple of scenes, where wind starts blowing, and the snow has to fly around with it. I tried to create something with Particles Generator, but no success - don't understand anything there... I could take my time and learn and experiment, but the problem is that I need it very urgent and there is no time at all (as always - needs to be done yesterday :))...
Does anybody have already some simple Snow Particles setting to share, or/and can explain me some of the basics?
Thanks

Re: Snow particles needed - please help!

Posted: 16 Aug 2012, 07:44
by Elodie
To resume the particles, this effects works in 3 parts : World, Emitter and Particle.

To compare them to our own universe :
• World : is like our own world. You will manage the gravity (the more the gravity is high, the more your particle will be attracted by the ground), the wind (its strength and its direction) etc... You can also activate an "Alpha collision", for example if you want you snow stay on a house's roof.
• Emitter : it is the element that emits your particle. It may be a line (in case of snow, rain etc...), a circle (to create a circle of fire, for example), a point (for a cigarette or a pommel of shower) or a rectangle (like err... I don't know, but maybe someone could need it).
• Particle : it is the element emitted. If you need snow fall, the particle will be a snow flake. You need a heavy rain ? the particle will be a simple drop. It can be anything else : the animation of a smoke, sand, flowers etc...

In your case, I advise you to create an Emitter "line". You can create the particle by default (it is a white rounded shape).

My advise is always to modify Particles and World (I rarely modify the emitter, because it's nonsense for me).

In World, modify :
• the gravity
• the strength of the wind and its direction.

In Particles, you have the possibility to modify :
• the number (is it snowing a little or a lot ?)
• its life (if it's very cold, the snow flake may live 10 sec for example. It the weather is hot, it will disappear before touching the ground and will live only 0,2 sec)
• its size (big or not)
• its velocity (will it fall quickly or not)
• its weight (if your snow flake is very heavy, it will fall faster than if it is light... The speed also depends on the gravity you chosen in the World parameters)
• its opacity (change the litte graphic if you want that snow flake gradually disappear -- or not)

In Emitter > Current, you can change anyway the pre-render (if you need for example to start your shot with the snow fall visible, and not a snow fall that start to fall).

Just try to modify these parameters and you will see the difference.

Re: Snow particles needed - please help!

Posted: 16 Aug 2012, 10:40
by Paul Fierlinger
Does anybody have already some simple Snow Particles setting to share
Send me via PM your e-mail and I will send you what snow I already have from Tulip. I will send it as TVP projects and you can make all sorts of combinations of layers.

Re: Snow particles needed - please help!

Posted: 17 Aug 2012, 19:47
by Soom
Thank you Elodie for the simple explanation! I will try to play with it again.
Thanks Paul - I've sent you a PM, I'm eager to see it work :)

Re: Snow particles needed - please help!

Posted: 17 Aug 2012, 19:57
by Paul Fierlinger
You are welcome. I'm sending it via WeTransfer. If you won't see it in your in-box within a few minutes, look into your junk mail folder.

Re: Snow particles needed - please help!

Posted: 20 Aug 2012, 07:35
by Elodie
You are very welcome Soom :)

Re: Snow particles needed - please help!

Posted: 03 Sep 2012, 15:17
by D.T. Nethery
Paul Fierlinger wrote:
Does anybody have already some simple Snow Particles setting to share
Send me via PM your e-mail and I will send you what snow I already have from Tulip. I will send it as TVP projects and you can make all sorts of combinations of layers.
Would it be possible to have these examples of snow particles included in the "Contents & Examples" folder ?

Re: Snow particles needed - please help!

Posted: 03 Sep 2012, 15:43
by Paul Fierlinger
I've been trying to upload a zip file with the samples here but it gets stuck on "Sending request to http://www.tvpaint.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;