Best practice for FX

RemDust

Hi there, :party:
I was wondering how you guys like to implement your 2D fx !

-Animated in Spine ?
If so, does it belong to the animation it is related or do you have only fx animations played runtime on higher track ?
-Spawned by the game engine at runtime ?

I suppose there is not a "right answer" but if you can tell me some cons et pros it would be appreciated 😉

God bless coffee :coffee:

Wow, not a single response ? xD

Come on guys ! Is this so obvious ? I feel like crap right now 😃

Nate

::sacrifices a puppy to summon a great shiu::

RemDust

Nate schrieb
::sacrifices a puppy to summon a great shiu::

:wonder: is this a legal method here ?

well... whatever works ! :x

Søren

For FX only used for a specific skeleton, I recommend keeping it in the same skeleton since this allows you make the FX "sit" better because you can draw the FX both in front and behind other assets.

Here's an example of the above, where FX is drawn both in front and behind along with the new clipping feature.
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This project will be made available very soon.

FX that is used on multiple skeletons at runtime is best created as a separate skeleton.

If you have examples of the type of FX you're after, then maybe I can give you a few more tips.

Nate

Ha! Silly Shiu, the puppy is fine! (he hates puppies because he's dead inside)

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RemDust

Hi Shiu !
This effect looks awesome !!
Cant wait to see how it is made 😉

It' s actually a nice exemple as I do want a "teleportation" FX ^^

Right now i was thinking about the classical "hit" kinda stuff, impacts, footseps, jump etc

Oh and Nate u just killed me here ! Haha

Pharan

You generally want most effects sprites separate.

That's assuming:

You don't want to have to go back to Spine and re-export your main skeleton every time you see something a little wrong with the effect, like it's in the wrong place or shape, or there's not enough of it.
You don't want to have to change all your different skeletons every time you need to change and re-animate the effect if many different skeletons need to share the same effects, or in case you decide that those effects can be shared.
You don't want to have to manage calculating inverse transform positions if you want them to look detached from the position of your skeleton.
You don't want to clutter up the Spine atlas with extra images.
You don't want to clutter up your Spine skeleton hierarchy and animation list with every effect you need.

Only make them part of the skeleton if you think the effect is unique and best attached to the skeleton and the animation is heavily intertwined with the skeleton.

Erika

Nate schrieb
Ha! Silly Shiu, the puppy is fine! (he hates puppies because he's dead inside)

Loading Image

The puppy even dines at table and looks so polite lol

By the way here at work they make me place bones in specific places, such as the head for the "stun" animation, the chest for blood, the feet for some dust, to spawn fx generated in Unity or by our VFX artist.
I think we'll consider Shiu's solution for some very specific animations though, interesting topic!

RemDust

Pharan schrieb
You generally want most effects sprites separate.

That's assuming:

You don't want to have to go back to Spine and re-export your main skeleton every time you see something a little wrong with the effect, like it's in the wrong place or shape, or there's not enough of it.

You don't want to have to change all your different skeletons every time you need to change and re-animate the effect if many different skeletons need to share the same effects, or in case you decide that those effects can be shared.

You don't want to have to manage calculating inverse transform positions if you want them to look detached from the position of your skeleton.

You don't want to clutter up the Spine atlas with extra images.

You don't want to clutter up your Spine skeleton hierarchy and animation list with every effect you need.

Only make them part of the skeleton if you think the effect is unique and best attached to the skeleton and the animation is heavily intertwined with the skeleton.

This global idea that some fx may be shared for different characters/skeleton is interesting, as I'm currently working on a multiplayer game that involves skins more than actual different skeletons I hadn't seen this 🙂

Erikari schrieb
By the way here at work they make me place bones in specific places, such as the head for the "stun" animation, the chest for blood, the feet for some dust, to spawn fx generated in Unity or by our VFX artist.
I think we'll consider Shiu's solution for some very specific animations though, interesting topic!

This is actually the kind of stuff I was thinking about : as far as I went with my research I'm considering using the Unity particle system emitting "animated sprite sheet" (flash-like) to match the 2d look of the global visual aspect.

But from a 2D animation standpoint, I came to ask myself what would really be the benefits of using the Particle System at all when what you're spawning is just a frame by frame animation ? Wouldn't it be better to animate it inside of Spine ?
I guess in Spine it would be more easy to sync it exactly how you want in terms of timing but as Pharan mentioned you would have to duplicate the all stuff for another skeleton when you could just spawn the same particle system...

Erika

RemDust schrieb
But from a 2D animation standpoint, I came to ask myself what would really be the benefits of using the Particle System at all when what you're spawning is just a frame by frame animation ? Wouldn't it be better to animate it inside of Spine ?
I guess in Spine it would be more easy to sync it exactly how you want in terms of timing but as Pharan mentioned you would have to duplicate the all stuff for another skeleton when you could just spawn the same particle system...

Well here's one: we spawn dust where the feet touches the ground when it does it (combining events with a bone we select as spawner) and then the character can continue to move where it wants while the dust does its animation in that place. Even if it's frame by frame.

RemDust

Erikari schrieb
Well here's one: we spawn dust where the feet touches the ground when it does it (combining events with a bone we select as spawner) and then the character can continue to move where it wants while the dust does its animation in that place. Even if it's frame by frame.

It totally makes sense ! Don't know how I couldn't think of it by myself :no:

Søren

In the newest Spineboy project I've also included some dust being kicked up when he is running. This particular effect could easily have been placed in a different skeleton. Erikari got the right idea 🙂

But I love Moo!

RemDust

Shiu schrieb
In the newest Spineboy project I've also included some dust being kicked up when he is running. This particular effect could easily have been placed in a different skeleton. Erikari got the right idea 🙂

But I love Moo!

Yeah this is a pretty common effect and I'm gonna need one of those ^^

I got to say that I don't know much about multiple skeletons set up, some example would be great ! :think:

Syneos

Søren schrieb
For FX only used for a specific skeleton, I recommend keeping it in the same skeleton since this allows you make the FX "sit" better because you can draw the FX both in front and behind other assets.

Here's an example of the above, where FX is drawn both in front and behind along with the new clipping feature.
Loading Image
This project will be made available very soon.

FX that is used on multiple skeletons at runtime is best created as a separate skeleton.

If you have examples of the type of FX you're after, then maybe I can give you a few more tips.

Hello! Could you do a tutorial to understand how you did this teleportation portal effect please?

Nate

We actually have that already, check out the spineboy example project page:
Spineboy example: Portal

And all the example project pages:
Spine: Example Projects