Ultimate VFX - Massive Visual Effects and Particle System Collection

Hi! I am a bit confused about the "Easily convert your Shuriken particle systems into high-resolution spritesheets AND/OR single-texture sprites! "

What does "Shuriken particle systems" mean? Certain particles that only are used by Shuriken can be exported into a spritesheet? If so, does that mean if I buy the addon, and find a cool 3D Skill Effect, and if it's not done with Shuriken, I won't be able to export it as a spritesheet?

I've watched the tutorial, and it seems like it worked with Unity's native particles system (could be wrong), but I'm fairly new to unity but really want to buy some of the effects and get them into spritesheets. They are beautiful

 

Hi Dillybob!

Shuriken is the "code" name of the default/native particle system Unity comes with. Almost all effects are made using Shuriken, including the majority of my entire UVFX package which has hundreds of prefabs.

For offline rendering (outside of play mode), the effects need to be made with Shuriken because I take control of the playback and render it per-frame. However, the latest version that's not yet on the store supports recording in play mode, so basically any effect can be rendered (with the same additive colour loss restriction). It'll be a free update, so you can e-mail me with your invoice if you want to try that version out.

 

Update incoming (v3.5)!

UVFX is currently part of the "Quick Prototyping" bundle where you can get it for 55% off. The bundle includes Amplify Shader Editor ("ASE") and Playmaker, two other assets I own and use. UVFX + ASE make a pretty good combo, especially with the new update which adds in an extended particle shader template for ASE you can use to make your own advanced particle shaders.

NOTE: If you already own UVFX, it'll be automatically excluded from the bundle so you don't buy it again, but you still get the other assets with the discount.

The update also adds in 180+ prefabs as part of the new "Construction Kit" expansion for UVFX which includes modular one shot effects that can be assembled together to create more advanced effects just by dropping them into a single game object together.

Here's a preview of this huge update! The kit is organized into seperate folders for each type of effect so you can easily find and put things together. The best workflow is to drag in the TEMPLATE prefab and then throw in the other prefabs you want to build an effect out of. That way, you can preview them all together really easily.



I'll see if I can make a quick demo video.
I've already submitted this update for Unity 2018.1.6 and higher. I'm just waiting for approval.

 

Love the idea of an update, construction kit, ASE linkage, and pretty much everything you create! Looking forward to it.

 

The new UVFX update (v3.5 for Unity 2018.1.6 and up) with the construction kit expansion is live! I've also submitted an update for Shuriken to Spritesheet (v2.1) that adds in some new display features and support for play mode spritesheets.

This means you can now save anything to a spritesheet if you record during play mode, while still being able to bake particle effects offline. So, as an example, if you want to save a 3D character walk cycle into a spritesheet... you can do that now! Just make sure to set the Render Burst Limit property to 1.

The primary focus is still on particle effects, of course.

Documentation: http://www.mirzabeig.com/products/shuriken-to-spritesheet/.



EDIT: S2S update went live, too. I think this is the fastest any of my asset updates have been approved.

 

HI,
I just updated VFX to 3.5 and I'm afraid realistic explosions prefabs miss the material.

EDIT: Realistic explosion from action xp seems to suffer as well.

 

Hey, I have been planning to try and use UVFX to atleast make some simple prototype effects on my project, so far I have only made some simple ring indicators for player, enemy etc.

So since you specifically warned about updating to 3.5 on existing project, is it only because those existing effects will maybe no longer work or is there something bigger that might cause problems? I wouldnt mind losing only those for 180 new prefabs etc

 

Hi there.

UVFX has some folders moved around and some minor name changes to files here and there. I don't remember exactly what these are, so I don't recommend upgrading because existing effects can break, there can be duplicate files, etc. I may have also moved around or changed some scripts. If you don't care about breaking anything you've already used from your current UVFX version in your project, the best way to upgrade would be to delete the entire Mirza Beig folder and then import v3.5 from the store. This will prevent duplicate files. Even if you do get actual errors, they should be minor and easy to fix. Always keep a backup regardless!

Most of the new 180+ prefabs are from the expansion kit that are simple on their own, but can be mixed and matched to create more complex effects. There are also some new prefabs in the main demo such as the neutron star and logo reveal/dissolve (watch it here).

 

Hi Dr. Internet. I'm looking into this right now. I'm not sure how this would've have happened on a clean install since I remember checking these prefabs. I'll edit this post to let you know what I find.

EDIT: You're absolutely right. The ember sub-system was missing its material. I used the material from my Inferno VFX package. Oddly, I feel like I keep having to make this same fix. I've attached a unity package that will overwrite those prefabs to use the correct material.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Are there any other prefabs you noticed that are missing materials? I'll push a minor update soon with the fixes (although you can use the attached package right now).

 

Yes. The main reason behind my post was broken Realistic explosion from newest construction xp (one shot #126 - #131). I guess I haven't make myself clear because of late night.
I also browse through other demo scenes (those are always fun to look at) and noticed #18 hot fire (one shot) from main showcase is missing some material too. The rest looks fine.

Also a suggestion: maybe add somewhere in demo scenes that you can spam the one shot system by holding RMB. I noticed it today, after year and half...

 

Thanks! I really appreciate it. Here's the fix attached again that includes the original 2 with the correct materials, plus the 7 others you identified.

In case anyone is wondering why this happened: I have some of my other particle system assets in the same project, and while building/editing the effects with the missing materials I accidentally used the materials from the other packs that had almost identical names (for example, I have a working copy of UVFX Vol. 2 which has realistic explosions). Since the assets aren't part of UVFX, the materials aren't exported.

I'm pushing a new update now.

 

What is the situation with using the pack for mobile? Will I have to customize it at all like reducing the texture/sprite resolution or reducing the particle number?

I don't need the effect for constant on screen action, but they look really heavy.

 

All the 180+ construction kit prefabs that were just added are super performant and should work great on mobile. The other prefabs are somewhat of a mixed bag regarding mobile performance, and it's possible to make a pretty good guess as to which ones will work well and which ones won't (especially if you plan on having multiple instances of a particular effect on the screen). It also depends on the target mobile hardware.

You're probably looking at the videos and the Windows demos? If you have a list of prefabs you're concerned about, I can make you an Android APK you can test out on the target devices.

 

So, as I understand correctly: LWRP is not supported?

 

Hi Kareem.

Yes, that's correct.

 

Hi, I bought this over the Thanksgiving sale, And i'm just getting some time to spend with it.

It all looks great, but I notice in many scenes, there's a script missing from the Camera, and I have no idea what it is supposed to be.

Here's an example:


Can you tell me which script is supposed to be there? Thanks.

 

Hi, downloaded the Ultimate VFX the other day and had 2 questions. 1. I am still working with 2018.1.1 so I am guessing that I am working with an older version of the software from reading the 'Important' section? Also, more to my question. There are only a few effects that I need in my project, but when I import just the 1 for example I get pink squares. This from what I understand means the materials and such are missing. How can I import just what I need, or if I import the whole file with many things I do not need in to my project, will everything that I don;t use get compiled in to my game, or just the assets I use in the Game?

Thanks!

 

Hi there! Looks like it's the Global Fog image effect. If you had it in your project during import, it *should* have connected automatically, and I see that you have the post stack working there.

 

Hello!

You can confirm which version of UVFX you're using by going under Mirza Beig/_DOCS/ and checking "README - Ultimate VFX". The latest version on the store is v3.5.1 for Unity 2018.1.6. You most likely have v3.2.0.

I'm assuming you mean you either imported UVFX into another project and then tried to copy over the prefabs you wanted or on the importer screen you only selected some of the prefabs? In both cases, you also need the materials and textures (and even scripts, etc..., if applicable to some effects). The pink means a missing material specifically.

As a general rule, Unity will not include anything that isn't actually used. If you don't have anything from Ultimate VFX in any of your scenes, then nothing will be added during the build from the asset (with the exception of a few very small files in the Resources folder). So you can literally have a Unity project that's 20GB+ but you only use a few MB worth of data and Unity will compress what you use and include just that in the builds.

If you still want to only include a few effects at a time, the recommended workflow is to import UVFX into another Unity project using the same version. If you want to make new effects, you can then build them in any scene and save them as prefabs. Then, all you need to do is right-click the prefab, select dependencies, and export those as a package you can import into your main project.

For more details, check out this post I made: https://forum.unity.com/threads/ult...-system-collection.349411/page-8#post-3103815.

If you have any other questions, let me know.

 

Thanks! Yes I have version 3.2 it seems. I am always worried about the things I need to repair when I update to a new version of Unity. I am guessing that I probably should and just work through the issues to stay up to date.

I also ran a test with importing everything and did a build to test and you are correct, fie size was identical.

 

Oh so the legacy Image effect. They don't even pack those in with the standard assets anymore, so I of course didn't have it. But No problem, as long as I know it's not part of your system that's missing.

 

At the bottom of the documentation describing post effects, I have a link to download both the post stack and the global fog effect from the legacy package directly in a single package (along with links to the official store pages in case you'd rather get them seperately). So if you do still want it, it's conveniently available.

 

While I do personally tend to upgrade my own projects to newer versions so I can get access to the latest features, you should weigh the benefit vs. risks before upgrading (and always backup regardless, of course). As in, is the potential to break things or find bugs from the newer version of Unity worth the trade-off getting cool new features to play with? My current game project is being built in Unity 2018.3 beta!

I leave an older version for UVFX on the store now so people who aren't on the bleeding edge can still get the asset, but those on newer versions can also get the benefits of prefabs that make use of the newest features Unity has been adding to particle systems (and they've been adding a lot since v5.5).

 

Hello @MirzaBeig ,
I used a electric particle effect in judgement or thundershock prefab, but It couldn't rotate correctly with it's parent.
I tried to rotate it's transform, but it wasn't rotate. I tried to change start rotation, but it was still not work correctly.
How can it work correctly with it's parent?

 

Hi there! You may have to set the render mode to billboard and then set the view mode to local. Then you'll be able to rotate it based on the local transform direction.

 

When player throw grenade. I make simple particle system follow mouse to show player where his grenade will drop/hit.
How to make effect more better effect. Like red circles show-up on the surface of the place that mouse hit ?

 

Check out the projector component. You can use it to fit a texture over any surface or surfaces.

 

@MirzaBeig: Do you have any specific particles in Ultimate VFX pack, that work with UGUI? I am looking for something to make the buttons a little bit more interesting.

 

It would probably help if you could find some sort of example - video or pictures - that you could link to. I know I'm having difficulty thinking of particle FX that are used with UI.

 

Here is an example.

On a start menu, clicking on buttons effects, on canvas, background image, etc., I can think of a multitude of places where particles would improve the looks, especially your effects.

 

Has this been tested with 2018.3?

 

It been over two months now. I'm still waiting for bullet trail effect with bullets like that on "bullet time 2".

 

Hi all,

Sorry for the delayed responses. Busy times.

Hey! Sorry, but Ultimate VFX doesn't have anything special to help support UGUI effects, since UGUI doesn't support proper layering with non-UI objects. You'd either have them render before or after the canvas, unless you wanted to make a multi-camera setup with multiple layers. You can still make effects using the included library, but I don't have special shaders for the UI.

Personally, I strongly tend to steer away from particle effects in the UI since it adds too much "noise" to the visuals.

 

Yes! And the next update will likely move over to 2018.3 and higher.

 

Hi Quast,

That was an example of what could be made with UVFX, I didn't plan on releasing it, but I've attached the prefab with the extra content. The rest should link automatically with the latest UVFX.

 

Thanks for answering. I will do some more tests, maybe something will work in the end.

 

I want to buy it but I can see the project is 1GB. I want to use it for mobile games, and keep my games under 100MB, is that possible?

 

Hey!

I have exactly the same issue as someone posted under the Review section on the unity store. I tried to find a solution, but I just can't. Never worked with Unity before.

When I put the pack and drag any prefab in the scene, it just doesn't appear or play. Any other particle system from the Store is fine.

I'd appreciate some help. Thanks!

 

Hi @EGA,

Merely having assets in your project doesn't effect the size of your builds. The actual files have to be included. You can test this simply by building an empty game and looking at the size of the APK. Then importing an asset and building again. The size shouldn't change unless that asset had lots of plugins and files under Resources.

You can reduce the size of the texture in the texture importer to control how much space each one will take to ensure a game under 100mb.

 

Hey @niesypiam666,

Make sure the prefab game object is enabled. I think that's the problem. It may be disabled by default as a prefab, so when you drag it in it has that same state.

 

Thanks, that makes sense! Are all textures in the project included in the build? Or are only the textures that are actually used in my scenes count towards the final build size?

Just bought it and I like the Rainstorm prefabs. Looks amazing, 4.99/5, although I can't seem to see the "ripple effect". I want the ripples to be on the plane, but if I have a cube or "table" above the ground, what would happen to the ripples, would the ripples be invisible (e.g. hidden under the table, which would be a satisfactory case), or visible but not moved (so you can still see it but the Y value of the ripple is the same as the ground, so it would look weird - an unsatisfactory case).

Edit: Oh, it's on Rainstorm 2. Can't really see it in Rainstorm. Really love the other effects. Good job, and simple to use, just drag and drop prefabs. But, I have a really large scene (infinite runner). If I make the rain follow the player, then the ripples look weird (when they follow the player). Is there a neat way to make the ripples stay in place? (sorry for poor wording).

 

Only the textures that are used are included. You can see the build/output log to see the allocation of build size.

I see this question quite often, actually

Here's a common solution that's used in many games. Basically have a world-space setup for particle systems so that the rain and ripples don't move with the transform.

It's the same as what you see here:

 

Thanks, you legend, works nicely. Gonna leave a 5/5 review.

 

Thanks, the more I explore, the more I like it. But I have one issue.

On the Comet Ocean Wallpaper Demo, I import it, then I open the scene.

When I play it, it doesn't work as expected, it looks like this:
http://prntscr.com/ma0v2j

And this is also missing:
https://prnt.sc/ma0tij

Using Unity 2018.3.0f2

Also, which demo scene was YouTube video you've shown me (to fix the rain ripples by using world space)?

Thanks!

 

Hey there!

I believe the missing script is just post-processing (stack v1). The demo scene is "The Last Particle" (stored in its own Unity package) inside the demos in UVFX.

 

Hello,

I was following this tutorial

but I can't seem to find the textures used in the video. Are they named something else or am I missing something? the only alpha blended realistic fire does not look like the one in the video. Sorry if I overlooked something. Thank you!

 

Very nice asset, I was wondering related a bit with this if is possible somehow with your prefabs to have "Power up, new XP level acquired, new island discover, contra completed...." kinda effects (see the first seconds of the video bellow as a reference) I guess the right solution would be to add these effects on your UI, but if is not possible... any ideas ?

 

@BabouDev

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, and I apologize for the confusion.

I renamed the texture (from realFire -> solarFlare) as I added better realistic fire to prevent a mix up, but forgot that my old tutorials referenced these names. I'll update the video description.

In UVFX, you can find the "silentHillTutorial" prefab (search the inspector) which is the saved end result of the tutorial in case you want to reference that.

 

@GorkaChampion

Hey, thanks for the reference video.

The effects you reference look like they are purely sprite and UI-based, with some additional stuff rendered on the character and in world space to augment the UI notification (character glowing, some "fractal" particles, etc.). Unity doesn't properly support particles and their UI by default.

 

Hey, this is shaders, not particles, but maybe something like this is what you might be looking for? It just went on 70% off sale. There are other packs like this, I believe.

2DxFX: 2D Sprite FX

This one is free.

My apologies to Mirza for posting about other plugins in his thread. But perhaps this sort of thing (shaders) can be used for UI FX while UVFX - which is a particles pack - cannot.