Mesh as Flame

[ximrm]

Hi,

I'm planning an engine that has "many" exhausts and ONLY using particles for that doesn't create the desired effect.

It would also need a lot of particles to look nice and slow down the pc.

I thought of a mesh that comes out of the exhaust pipe depending on the amount of thrust.(Or only a specific number of flames)

I would then just add some particles for the smoke.

So I created a quick test mesh with a gradient map and let it spin which looks convincing as an exhaust flame:

The final flame would basically have an emissive map,maybe sliding into it (and a transparency map if a shader supports both).

The polycount would be very low and not react to physics.

My problems are:

a)How do I define the area where it can damage other parts?

b)Adjusting the mesh to come out depending on the amount of thrust?

c)Could there be any problems I haven't thought of yet?

If it's not possible with stock, which plugin could support that, using which module?

btw, please no answers like "why don't you just use particles or increase their density etc." I'd really like to do it that way.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Edited October 28, 2014 by ximrm

[nli2work]

well... I should still state the obvious. You won't have slow downs unless you plan on having many smoke trails while not moving. Flame particles are short lived and takes up little screen space and it's very unlikely to cause frame rate drops in 99% of normal game play.

To do the mesh way you can use KineTechAnimation modules (bundled with B9). I think with a combination of Thrust; AtmosphericDensity or StaticPressure; and maybe one or two other modules; and animated texture offset, you can achieve pretty good effect. It will take quite a bit of inventive unity setup however, as you will probably have to nest multiple transforms for the different modules to control independently.

exhaust damage should still work the same with or without visible FX. I don't think there's any way to define a specific volume for damage, at least not without a plugin.

KSP/Unlit Transparent is probably your best bet for shader.

in the future if/when SmokeScreen adds mesh emitters, this method could get very interesting.

Edited October 28, 2014 by nli2work

[ximrm]

I want to use a mesh because it will have many many exhausts due to an exotic design. I also want to spare the particles for not only smoke but sparks etc. to create a really nice looking effect.

Thx for the tips, I will look into that.

[nli2work]

take everything I said with a fist full of salt. So far my attempts are unsuccessful.

Okay.. just a few grains of salt... I got something working as

.

caveat is KineTech doesn't work well with stock ModuleAnimateHeat.

Edited October 29, 2014 by nli2work

[ximrm]

Thank you.

That's kinda what I look for. Could you please provide a sourcefile so I could take it as an example?

[nli2work]

I'm working on a better sample package. will upload it when I finish setting it up.

[ximrm]

Can't thank you enough.

[nli2work]

not as good as I hoped; can't seem to get multiple KineTech modules to work together... but maybe something for others to build on.

includes Unity assets and KSP part w/ config. needs KineTechAnimation from B9

http://www./download/hst6q4yqz391egz/meshFlameEngine.zip

I suspect it'll be very limited even at best. Unless you have some very exotic engine, you'd be better off with SmokeScreen.

Edited November 3, 2014 by nli2work

[ximrm]

thanks. this will come in handy for my future mod pack.