Toon Effects Maker is a complete framework that allows the easy & creative composition of new effects in Unity3D. The system is compatible with Shuriken and all Unity platforms.
NOTE:The platform must not be webplayer for the sheet maker to work, since i have excluded the parts not compatible with the webplayer for the real time use in demos.
Multiple advanced tools are provided, that allow the creation of sprite sheets from any animated item, motion recording and playback, advanced aura effects & dynamic control, easy exchange of individual properties between particles or inherit from the 200+ effects library & much more.
A complete Toon Ocean system is also included, that allows the easy creation of stunning dynamic oceans or water, ice or lava.
Features:
Effect Maker, for the easy creation of effects, using the extensive included library to copy properties from, the scaling of particle speed & size and the addition of dynamic light, text and sound features.
Projectile system, for automatic handling of physics, collisions and impact effects spawn
Toon Ocean, an advanced ocean creation module, with complete scripted control over the time of day coloration, weather conditions and wave shape & speed.
Sprite Sheet generator, for the easy and automated creation of sprite sheets from any object in the scene.
Motion recorder, for recording paths and playing back at run time, with multiple path combination possibilities.
Aura system, with ground conformation and advanced particle control for radial emission and rotation.
Particle Icons system, for multiple possibilities on the rotation & control of particle icons.
Toon Particle Shaders, special shaders that can give particles a toon like appearence and borders.
Beam system, with reflection handling.
Procedural dome shields, with impact ripples.
Extensive library with more than 200 pre-made effects, ready to use or to copy properties from.
The framework is written in C# code and the source code is provided.
Yes, this is a separate pack and is focused on putting effects together before going into the dynamics with Particle Dynamic Magic. It also contains a big toon oriented library of effects that will grow over time and is made in a way so it is easy to add custom effects to it.
Besides particles there is also the sheet maker that can be used for turning anything into a sprite sheet, the beam reflection system and the ocean which is also a separate module.
Now i am working on the next update that has two priorities, one is to make the sheet maker multithreaded and the other to offer more options for ocean formations. Plus more library items.
Please remember to leave a review for the pack, so i can work on bringing the next updates faster. I always see my packs as an investment developers make and every review increases this investment for everyone and helps me work faster on each update.
This pack as usual is going to get a lot of big updates, most of which will be focus on automating gameplay features.
The projectile creation, with sound, blast and light, text is a tool that shows the direction i have in mind for future automations, which will always be connected to the library of effects for easy customization.
I am also eager to see what other tools and behaviors would be desired to have in the editor. Suggestions are always welcome
This looks good but I think you need to make a few more videos and change it a bit to make its differentiation with dynamic magic more clear. Firstly you should make an automation that can take a particle dynamic magic system and record it as a sprite animation so that you can create particle effects that use hardly any cpu usage if you don’t need them to be dynamic at runtime. I think you also need to create a collectables maker and automation. For example have a system when you can provide a sprite or mesh and then have options to make a particle suitable to play when it is collected. Think a coin dissapearing into stars in mario for example.
For example in dynamic magic you could create a system then would emit particles based on the sprite but would use more cpu than if it was a baked sprite sheet animation.
You also need to demonstrate the text effects this package can produce. I couldn’t see any examples of text effects in the demo.
The automation for creating sprite sheet from PDM effects already exists, it is the same method for every item and is done in a few clicks through the editor. You just select the PDM effect and click the create sheet in the editor. I will upload and attach the manual that shows the procedure.
There is little overlap with PDM in the pack, the only similar things is the script that moves particles over terrain (the lava flow) and the aura system that is also extended for more control over the particle direction.
Everything else, like the effect creator using the library, ocean system, beams system, motion recorder, most of the library effects etc are new and focused on the creation of effects before play - dynamics mode.
The plan is to offer more example and samples related to Partcle Dynamic Magic in the next update and is indeed a great idea to grab expensive effects like turbulence and other spectacular effects and turn them to 2D as samples in the library. Also these could be linked to the actual PDM effect for the PDM owners, so everything is accessible in one place.
The collectibles automation and combination to PDM is an amazing idea and i will try to have it in the next update.
One thing to note is that the platform must not be webplayer for the sheet maker to work, since i have exluded the parts not compatible with the webplayer for the real time use.
Another tip is to set the viewport to a square resolution, so it can be converted to power of two without changing the effect aspect.
Effects created with Particle Dynamic Magic turbulence and Toon Effects Maker sprite sheet generator (video will follow).
Text effects video
A note on the text system. The text needs the parents to be scaled uniformly to show the way it does on the video. Other non uniform scales will create a skew on the text (which could be used to give another look also)
There is also the option to turn the text towards the camera (enabled in the video), so it looks good from every angle. The system uses a main font for the front and a back font for thickness.
I post some issues i came across while testing the sprite sheet maker with objects (and specifically the InfiniTREE asset, for billboard creation)
The Editor has an issue where the start color parameter wont transfer correctly to the sheet maker setup and the default reddish background will be used. This creates an issue when there is similar color in the sprite and needs to change. This can be overcome by manually changing the color and adding the sheet maker setup. I found out this as i was working with maple trees today for the billboards and will be fixed in the next version.
Some transprency exists in the gameobject case, depending on the case. It is usually minor and can be fixed with a image editor by copying the object once over the intial result, but i will be working on having options for this in the next update within the sheet maker.
I will update the notes above as i work more on applying the maker in various situations.
The pics above show the setup and result from a tree (result is duplicated in my image editor and small gaussian blur has been added)
v1.1 has been submitted to the store, with a few fixes and usability enchancements
Fixed an issue with Sprite Sheet Maker initial camera color, that was not setup properly. Now the color is properly set to the chosen one when the Toon Effects Maker editor is used.
Added warning when Webplayer platform is active, since the Sprite Sheet Maker needs a change to another platform to function properly.
For everyone that would like to have a hotfix for the above issue before the pack has passed review (that could take a few days), i can send the corrected script in a PM or email immediately.
Please let me know and i will export a unity package. The major correction is just one small change in one line basically (a static color becomes a variable), so i could simply send the line number and correction as well, so no files are involved.
Toon Effects Maker version 1.1 is now up on the store !!!
This version brings enchancements to the Srite Sheet Creator GUI and a fix for the initial camera color that was not set properly from the Toon Effects Maker editor.
and helps me work faster on each update.
