Toon Effects Maker [DEMO]- Effect library, Toon Ocean, Sprite sheet creator, path record

This pack is focused on the advanced creation of particle and ocean effects, with a very big collection of toon focused effects ready to use or copy properties from. The tools included allow the easy copy of properties among particles and the library samples, scaling and addition of dynamic effects with Text, Light and Sound. Many advanced shaders will give a the toon look to particles and provide spectacular fast oceans with fluid motion and complete wave shape and motion control.

Demo released !!!!
Toon Effects Maker Main DEMO
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/Toon Effects Maker/Demo v1.0/TEM DEMO v1.0 WEB.html

Let me know what you think of the effects. I will post a effect creation video as soon as i upload it.

Webplayer demo #2 - Sprite Sheet Creator (WIP)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/Toon Effects Maker/Ocean/SHEET MAKER DEMO RC1.html

Multiple Advanced tools will be included in the pack, for the creation and control of particle effects.

- Sprite Sheet Maker, for the creation of sprite animation sheets or icons from any particle effect or 3D item & character in the game.
- Aura Maker, for cool aura like effects over terrain
- Toon Effect Maker for customization, scaling and composition of new particle effects
- Mouse Path Recorder & Player, for artistic freedom in particle path creation
- Audio, Light & Text controls, for easy creation of complete dynamic effects.
- Dynamic energy shields with procedural and reactive ripple effects.
- Toon Ocean, with dynamic water wave effects, in shader and script based varieties.
- Toon Beams with Reflection system
- Projectiles module, integrated in the Effect Maker


A small sample of the effects and shader possibilies



A WIP demo will arrive soon.

As with all my packs, this will be updated regularly with new features and libraries. Also if there is a demand, i may extend it with more Toon related effects and systems, outside particles.

 

UPDATE:

Particle Scaler v1.0 has been added to the pack and will enable easy scaling of particle systems.

The Prefab Manager will hold the full effects library, ready for instantiation and will integrate the scaler.

The pack will also include a Magic Aura system, that will apply the particles in a controllable way over the terrain (same system found in Particle Dynamic Magic asset). A library of cartoon auras is in the making.

 

Original Particle


Sprite Sheet


UPDATE:

New feature added !!!

Particles can now be turned to a sprite sheet and play independently from the initial particle system. The same system can be used to create any kind of sprite sheet as well, not just particles.

The new module can save individual frames and also combine them to a sprite sheet, using the standard Unity method. Another custom method will also be provided later for even better control of the arrangement of sprites in the sheet.

The system will not require Unity Pro, it is made to work without render textures.

 

UPDATE:

A sample of the various ambient creatures and organisms in Creature category. All creatures and small organisms will be animated.

The categories for the effects are

- Fire (smoke)
- Water (Ice)
- Air (Lightning)
- Ground
- Nature (Creatures)
- Effects (Auras)
- Parts

 

UPDATE:

Mouse path recorder tool has been added. This system will allow the easy recording of a mouse path and loopable playback at any point.

Playback speed can be controlled and there is an option to playback in local or global space.

 

UPDATE:

The Toon Effect Maker system will enable parametrized instantiation of the prefab manager effects into a compound effect. This will allow the easy creation of various combined effects or new effects from individual elements. A new prefab category with various building blocks will also be introduced for that purpose.

Another option will be the copy of individual parameters from one particle to another or transfer of the prefab parameters to the selected particle system.

 

Original particle based effect

Sprite sheet created from the particle used in another particle system.
Sprite sheet created from the original particle effect


UPDATE:

The Sprite Sheet Maker has been finilized and is production ready.

The procedure to grab the sample pics above:

1. Create any kind of particle effect, even an extremely complex and heavy one, it wont matter after it is converted to sprite sheet.
2. Grab the effect in a sprite sheet using the Sprite Sheet Maker module
3. Attach the sheet to a particle system and play as in the original or instantiate it as multiple particles or use as sprite, the sky is the limit

This system is great for using heavy or a huge number of cool particle effects at once, especially for 2D games that having the original particle may not be required at all.

Another possible use is the creation of icons or sprite sheers for any 3D (or 2D) object in the scene. Sprite sheet creation from animated 3D characters is also possible.

Also the creation of animated (or not) icons for spells and items.

 

UPDATE:

Multiple path combination and debug in the Mouse Path Recorder & Player.

 

Using with gravity

UPDATE:

The Mouse Path Recorder & Player is now finilized and ready for release. It is possible to combine two paths in varying ways for even more control over the effect.

 

UPDATE:

The particle editor is half way done, i have the most important aspects almost ready, like the serialized parameters handlers and copy mechanism. They need only a few more check and polish to be ready for production.

This thread has helped immensly, a big thanks to everyone that posted the tips for the hidden parameters.
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/le...le-system-find-hidden-properties-name.171467/

The editor will support a big part of these parameters for the first release and all parameters are planned for support for later updates. Custom curve editing and transfer is also possible for some of the various parameters that support them.

 

UPDATE:

The particle editor is nearly finished, all the per property copy functions are now working properly and so the hardest part is done.

The Toon Effect Maker system will allow to:
- Copy selected properties from one particle to another
- Copy selected properties from a library sample particle to another
- Add library effects to an existing or new effect
- Scale particles
- Pass custom curves and properties directly to the effects
and more

Also added a Dynamic Text Effects module, that makes easy to customize various effect text appearence and sychronization to the main effect.

 

UPDATE:

WIP of the Toon Ocean system, this can also be used for more realistic projects.

 

Toon Waves system has been added to the Toon Ocean module !!!!

And they will be totally controlled. Now i am working on splashes and more effects for the effect.

I have the splash rendering down and is a matter of organizing them with a script. A demo should come soon.

 

I will post this question here also, just in case anyone knows, so i can implement boyancy with shader support.

Is it possible to get back data for a specific vertex from a shader ?

I have come across this problem twice, in two major systems i am working on.

I would like to find the color or height in world space of a specific vertex that a shader is applied to.

Is it possible to have one public shader value (vector3) and when i am in the vertex of interest (also an issue of how to identify that vertex) assign a property directly from the vertex shader code to that public value and read it in script ?

Thanks in advance for any help

 

I'm no shader expert nasos but that must be possible because of packages like vertexemotion existing. It uses compute shaders and can handle collisions between objects. If you want accurate boyancy you would really need a fluid simulator though because you have to bear in mind that the objects floating need to effect the water as well for it to look accurate.

 

Hi Ian, thanks for the input. This ocean is targeted at cartoon like games, so a simple up/down motion with maybe some mild rotation would be nice as an addition to the ocean. I wont go into fluid dynamics for this pack, but i am trying various other ways to show the cartoonish dynamics, like local ripples and particles.

The shader nature of the motion is an obstacle though, since i have to know how the water is below the object to move it and add effects accordingly.

I was looking for a get back from shader option for the IBL in Sky Master too, like do a raycast sweep for the slow changing sky and do a color querry to the shader for the hit vertices/fragments, then adjust the IBL based on that.

If the shader idea fails, i will try to synch the shader / script simulation of the waves and grab the height from the script. I would like to avoid doing the sim in script though.

 

Some more Toon Ocean formations and possibilities. I use the standard Unity plane for these, but any plane can be used instead for controllable resolution and height possibilities.

I will provide more detailed planes in the pack as well, so there will be less visible spikes in the curved formations.

I am now working on the interface between the shader and script, so the ocean can be real time controlled easilly.

Also a splash system will be available, the shader is already working and now i am trying to limit it to the tile of interest. I have found a way to control it through checking the world space position of the vertices inside the shader in relation to the splash start.

I have noticed that this look can work as caustics as well, so i will provide a complete sea system, with various effects when all is done. Maybe a part of that system will come in an update though, since i have already overloaded the pack for the first release.

 

Manual sheets WIP


Text system


UPDATE:

The Dynamic Text System is now ready and is it possible to add custom animated text effects to any particle with a few clicks, from the Toon Effect Maker window.

The manual is almost ready as well and the release will be sometime next week.

About the Toon Ocean system, two different options will be provide. The shader based GPU one will have the speed and more controls advantage, but wont update the collider or scene mesh and the other will be script based and have complete control of the mesh from script, with collider update and other scripting options.

There are also plans to integrate the system with Particle Dynamic Magic after the initial release and offer many more options and samples for the owners of the Particle Dynamic Magic system specifically. Probably a whole new effect category will be added for that purpose, since the possibilities with PDM are endless.

 

UPDATE:

The text system gave me the idea to expand the tool for similar functionality with lights and sound (the sound part may come in an update though)

I am currently working on the Dynamic Light System, that will make it easy to add light with animated parameters to the effects, for more options when creating a new effect

 

UPDATE:

The light and text modules are now finilized and i will start working on the audio.

A lot more functionality is also now available in the editor, with live preview of the library effects, integration of the Sprite Sheet Maker for ease of use and much more.

 

Projectile effects


The system is almost ready for release !!!, i would love to see comments on the coming systems and suggestions for more things and effects to come to the pack.

The Prefab Manager is now handled a lot better too and is far more versatile, which enables the possibility to add a feature that will allow the automatic creation of prefabs and insertion in the library. This will be a priority for the first update of the pack.

The Automated Audio Module is also finilized and allows the easy addition and synchronization of sound in the effects. Start, traveling and collision sounds are supported.

All the particle shaders have also been further optimized.

 

I already have Particle Dynamic Magic, but this is looking pretty awesome.
I don't have any particular suggestions right at the moment, but I can see myself tinkering with most, if not all of the features.

 

Toon Effect Maker editor WIP

Particle Toon Shader

Thanks a lot

This pack is not just about toons, it is more like a "Particle Creation Magic", focusing on the making phase before dynamic effects are applied, so it is designed to be a complement to PDM, plus offer some tools and shaders that are toon oriented.

Cant wait to see it put to good use and feedback to make it as good as possible.

 

Some of the new effects for the library, bats and toon energy shield/ripples. I used the shiled as a moon here, looked rather nice with the bats.

 

Dual wave shader applied to a high res plane


UPDATE:

A new dual wave mode and a controller for the shader are now ready and will be in the first release. I have also added a script to create planes of any detail to use with this new dual wave shader option (this one requires a single plane, since the randomization breaks the tile seams in a tiling arrangement).

 

Playing with some of the artistic possibilities with the ocean

Ocean videos

 

Sprite Sheet Maker in action, the initial particle has played, was recorded and atlased, then applied to a material in the quad to the right and as animated particles to the left.

A real time demo of the Sprite Sheet Maker is ready.
The system grabs the playing particle to a sprite sheet and applies it in a material on a quad and on a particle system.

I dont know if this will go public, but anyone that wants to play with it i can provide a link later tomorrow.

 

UPDATE:

The Toon Ocean samples and controls are almost ready and a WIP demo will come later today.

 

Playing with various artistic possibilities in Toon Ocean





Webplayer demo #1 - Toon Ocean
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/Toon Effects Maker/Ocean/WAVES DEMO RC1.html

This demo uses the heaviest mesh, so would be interesting to see the performance in other systems. The last scene in the demo uses a lighter mesh version.

The controls in the demo are just a small sample of the possibilities in shaping the ocean.

I am sure the Sprite Sheet Maker can also be used with the water and would allow to setup cool 2D games with dynamic water laters easilly. I will try to create such a sample scene after release and the whole setup how to make it as tutorial.

Another plan is to create some Dynamic Image Effects to apply to the sprites before they are created, like motion blur and more, which would give extra nice results in things like explosions.

 

The second demo is ready, it needs only a few more things for the final look. This system will record the particle, create an atlas and assign it to a texture and animated it in a particle system. It uses the default options, but there are a lot of choices to control the effect and the background/transparency etc.

Webplayer demo #2 - Sprite Sheet Creator (WIP)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/Toon Effects Maker/Ocean/SHEET MAKER DEMO RC1.html

.

 

UPDATE:

I have decided to make the Toon Ocean controller so that will be easy to setup day time transitions and weather conditions. This way will be easy to integrate with the Sky Master system.

The next step is to add to the shader the new Sky Master volumetric scatter fog system and have this variety available too (if it works ok of course). This will come in a later update.

Another thing i will add is a lightning emulation on the water surface, this looks very cool to not have in

 

Flame Dagger


UPDATE:

The day/night transitions have been implemented in the Toon Ocean and a "lightning storm" weather type is also done and provides dynamic lightning effects on the water surface. A new demo with these will arrive soon.

 

Some of the icon style particle effects, these can be customized with Shuriken for various effects. I will include many samples and possibilities for each.

I have also create "latency in tail" systems and will apply them to the bats formations etc, a sample is the rotating glowball in the pic.

 

Original Toon Ocean

Toon Ocean for 2D games, using Sprite Sheet Maker to grab the 3D ocean to 2D sprite animation.


Sprite animation setup of the 2D ocean

Sample of using Sprite Sheet Maker with the Toon Ocean, for easy creation of 2D animated water planes. These planes can be further adjusted and painted on with a picture editing tool, for any number of extra artistic features.

Making such effects takes only a few clicks using the Toon Effect Maker interface.

These planes can also have any number of other in between effects and animations or particles, to further enchance the look with things like foam, other waves etc

 

Fire and Ice Wall spells

 

Some more pics from the wall spells and energy shiled base (with dynamic procedural ripple on impact)

 

UPDATE:

The pack will offer a lot of new controls for particle direction. The aura effects have been augmented with radial velocity adjustement option, and various orientation arranegments, like radial towards tanget, towards or away from center etc.

Scripts have also been created to control particle axis of rotation, for things like rotating heart systems etc

 

UPDATE:

I am currently adding Undo functionality for the scaling and modifications parts, so it is easy to restore particles to their previous state after a change.

 

The undo is now working nicely and i have started creating the effect library interface.

The procedure is rather automatic, i just create a prefab of the effect and a similar name icon in the prefabs and icons directories and the Prefab Manager will find them and display correctly in the GUI, so it should be very easy to add your own effects and have them all in one place.

A sample of the library WIP in the pic above, from the Fire effects category.

 

Toon Effects Maker - Fire effects library WIP, includes smoke, blast, magma, lava ocean, lava rivers, fire auras and much more.

UPDATE:

I am close to finilizing the fire category, i also added a lava effect using the Toon Ocean module. There will be 80+ effects in the fire section alone.

I will post the total effect number for the first version when i am have finished all categories.

I am now working the water-ice category and the remaining are special effects (icons etc), nature (creatures, bats, butterflies, swarms, ground etc), air-lightning-cloud effects and more

 

UPDATE:

The final look of theToon Ocean, underwater scene. I am nearly finished with the water-ice category and moving to earth and air after a few more additions.

 

Dome auras


UPDATE:

Layers required are now automatically added to the project at start. If another tag is in the search space, it will produce a Log with info on what layer is required.

Also added dome aura effects to the fire section.

 

UPDATE:

The Beam & Reflections module is also done and all programming has been finilized. The pack is almost ready for release, after i finilize the effect library.

 

UPDATE:

The Toon Beams & Reflection Maker is finilized and working great. There are both static and dynamic options to cast the beams.

These are all lines reflected from a single source.

 

Another sample scene using the Toon Ocean and a few of the particles in the pack.

The fire category has been finilized and now contains 90 effects. The ice-water section has 40 effects implemented and is the current WIP.

 

UPDATE:

Projectile cast and destruction scripts have been added, for the creation of extra cool demolition effects, point and radial based.

I am now working on a prefab that will use the Beams system to destroy walls.

It seems that the fire category alone will have more than 100 ready to use effects .

I am also using the particle scaler, property copy tools, sound tools etc to create the effects and is really a new feeling in handling complete effects, everything has become so easy to manipulate.

 

UPDATE:

Water and ice effects category WIP

 

UPDATE:

The Effect Maker is now complete, there is a brand new Projectiles module with full automation and options to handle the system directly in the editor. It is now easy to add parametric projectile motion, input control, collision handling and effect spawning on impact etc

The pic is from a composite effect that combines multiple library effects, sound, light and projectile handling, created with only a few clicks.

The individual particles that make the above system were also created using systems from the Fire effects library and the Copy Properties module to grab the ice effects / materials and some properties from the Ice effects library.

 

UPDATE:

After extensive testing and creating effects for the library, i am close to finalizing polishing the systems and the manual is almost done as well.

The release will be sometime next week, with a submission this weekend.
.
I also plan to record some mini tutorials for the basic effect creation procedure, to showcase the ability to create complex systems ready to be used in game. A step by step guide with images for the same procedure will also be included in the manual.

 

Icons category is beeing populated. Also the categories are now finilized, there is one that will hold user created content (the Building Blocks one).

Including custom prefabs in the library is as easy as adding a uniquely named prefab in the wizard prefabs folder and an icon with the same name in the "icons" folder.

Then these prefabs are ready to work in the general scheme, and it is possible to copy individual properties from them or turn them to full effects with sound, light, projectile handling etc or make a sprite sheet out of them with a few clicks.