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Question Particle System to support more than 4 meshes

Discussion in 'General Graphics' started by DabittoLucky, Mar 15, 2023.

  1. DabittoLucky

    DabittoLucky

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2023
    Posts:
    6
    Hello,

    I'd like to talk about the 4 meshes limit that Particle Systems have. I'm a seasoned VFX artist and I love that all 4 meshes spawned from a single emitter batch together. Using custom shaders along with complex geometry, it's possible to spawn a variety of different VFX using a single emitter.

    Right now I'm working on a certain effect where we would like to be able to spawn many different meshes from the same emitter. As soon as we go over 4 different meshes however, we have to use a different emitter which in turn makes that effect not batch with the others.

    I'm just curious as to why the limit is 4 meshes and if it would be possible in the future to give users the option to increase that number.
     
    DabittoLucky, Mar 15, 2023
    #1

  2. richardkettlewell

    richardkettlewell

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2015
    Posts:
    2,285
    Hi,

    I agree it can be a frustrating limitation.
    I did begin work on removing it in the past, but it proved a bit trickier than it may seem from the outside, and never got completed.

    Unfortunately, we don't devote many resources to improving the Particle System beyond bugfixing, so it's unlikely this work will get finished. Most of our effort goes into the Visual Effect Graph package instead.

    Sorry for the bad news!
     
    richardkettlewell, Mar 16, 2023
    #2

  3. DabittoLucky

    DabittoLucky

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2023
    Posts:
    6
    That's too bad. Well thanks for that info.

    Now on a similar note, VFX Graph doesn't allow spawning different meshes in a single batch does it?
     
    DabittoLucky, Mar 17, 2023
    #3

  4. funkyCoty

    funkyCoty

    Joined:
    May 22, 2018
    Posts:
    727
    Does this limitation not exist in VFX graph..?
     
    funkyCoty, Oct 13, 2023
    #4