A Guide to VFX by Celeress (BACKUP)

Quick Note:

Some pieces of the class' abilities are not changed in Popcorn, but are actually blueprints that you change just like any other costume/mount/item whatever.
These are:

Candy Barbarian Power up candies:
powerup_candy_health.blueprint
powerup_candy_rage.blueprint

Candy Barbarian Ice Cream Cone:
C_P_ice_crom_cone.blueprint

Ice Sage:
C_P_ice_chunk.blueprint

Dracolyte Bombs:
C_P_dracolyte_bomb_01.blueprint

Shadow Hunter Traps:
C_P_shadowhunter_bomb_01.blueprint

Note from Ocgineer:

 

Originally Posted by Ocgineer

I would suggest to mention if you have a particle spawned that DOES NOT change size or color over time, to define these in the "Spawner Script" (like the confetti) to increase overall performance. If they want to change color or size over time then they should use the CParticleEvolver_Field.

Alpha fade can be done like the confetti or with a CParticleEvolver_Field ColorCoeff (must be added to fields if it isn't present, maybe also show how) and use the CparticleEvolver_Script to fade out the particle: Color = Color * ColorCoeff; .

Also they can create backdrop glows by adding a 2nd CParticleRenderer billboard but they should define in Fields color2 and Size2 and set these variable in the CParticleRenderer so the renderer knows what variable it needs to look for to set the color and size.

Wings:

Check out Yeronix's guide on making these!
http://forums.trovegame.com/showthre...de-Basic-wings.

Not gonna waste any time, Just gonna jump straight into the steps and what not:

Trove's VFX/Particles or whatever you want to call them are made in PopcornFX, you can download it here: http://www.popcornfx.com/download/

You can either click "Latest Build" Or just find the most recent version:


Once you've completed the Installation, open up the program. You should get a window that looks like this:



Click "Add"



Another window will pop up. Navigate to Trove's "live" folder



Once here, go into the folder called "particles" and then in the folder called "VFX." You should see a file called "PopcornProject." Open this



Now once you've done this, you should see a project come up in the "Projects" section of the previous window: (Don't worry about "Test Particles," thats for me)



And now, cilck "Ok" in the bottom right of the window to open up the Project



Now, another window should come up. If you did it right (Added Trove's Popcorn Project) then you should see all of Trove's VFX listed here. Mine MAY look a little different than yours but thats only because I have a lot of the edited VFX in extra folders etc.



Now, lets use the Search bar to the right and search for a particle to edit. We'll start with something simple so search for "Pinata." Find the particle called "item_pinata_trail_01" double click it.



Another new window will come up. This will be the window that you do all the editing in. It might look a little scary at first but as long as you know where you're looking, its pretty easy trust me! So just make sure to follow along.

Lets begin by shifting our attention to the bottom left corner, the "Particles Treeview." Start by expanding the Particle Layer "Confetti_1." It has a red icon next to it, just click the little white arrow to open it up. Once you expand the Confetti layer, find the CParticleRenderer and click on it. Once you click on it, move your attention to the top left portion of the window.. the "Node Properties."



Once you do this, find the "Diffuse" section where the texture is seen.



Now click on the texture called "Texture/vfx_square_.dds" and a window should appear. If the window that comes up isn't the Trove's Textures folder, navigate to it. Trove > live > particles > VFX > Textures. Once you're there, open the "vfx_burst_01" texture.



Once done, you will notice the Particle has changed in the Particle viewport:



You just changed the Confetti texture! But it looks a little small doesn't it.. maybe we should increase it's size. To do so, go back to the "Particles Treeview" and go back to the "Confetti_1" layer. On "State_0," right click it and click "New Evolver" and find the "CParticleEvolver_Field." Add one of these!



Once you add the CParticleEvolver_Field, on the drop down menu next to it, add "Size2." If it is still highlighted Red when you do this, delete the CParticleEvolver_Field and add another one and repeat the step. Once you do it correctly, it should not be highlighted in Red.



You might notice the Particles in the Particles Viewport disappeared. Thats ok, it's because of the Size field you just added. It defaults to 0. Click on the CParticleEvolver_Field you just created and you will notice a Graph come up in the bottom right portion of the window. Here, you will notice 2 lines, a Red line and a Green line. You can highlight both lines and drag them around to increase the particles size! Note: The particles will follow these lines throughout their life span, meaning that if you start the lines out low and end them high, the particles will gradually get larger until they disappear and vice versa, try playing around with it a bit!



Now that you know how to change the size and you can see this new texture you added, maybe you're not too sure about the colors.. so lets change them! Go back to "State_0" and add another "CParticleEvolver_Field," except this time instead of setting it to "Size2," set it to "Color."



Once you've added the Color field, click on it and you'll see another Graph come up in the bottom right portion of the window. This time, you have 4 lines instead of 2. A Red line for Red, Green for Green, Blue for Blue, and White for Black/White. Try experimenting a bit by dragging the lines around. If you only want to drag 1 or 2 lines around, try unselecting the line in the upper left portion of the Graph. You should notice that while doing this, the colors of your Particles will change!



And thats pretty much the basics of creating VFX! To save it, click "File" on the top left and click "Save As." I recommend creating a new folder inside the "Particles" folder to keep all your edited VFX just so you have them all in 1 place.

If you have any questions feel free to ask, I'll do my best to answer them and I'll add on to this guide depending on what people want/need help with! (Also, sorry if it felt rushed >.<, I'll tidy up a bit later)