2
$\begingroup$

I parented a particle emitter to a character's armature (a bone in the armature). The idea is to create a continuous trail of particles that the characters leaves behind as he flies by. If I parent the emitter to a bone in the armature, the trail becomes 'patchy' and 'stepped', like the emmitter is not considering subframes, only whole frames.

I tested animating the emitter directly, in the same speed as the character, and the trail is continuous (as I need it to be) and not stepped like it is when parented to a bone. But I need to parent it, because I want it to be precise and follow exactly the same path as the character.

Why does parenting to the armature make the emission not continuous? Is there a way to fix this? Edit: added a screenshot below: The trail becomes a 'dotted' line as the character gains speed, instead of being a continuous trail. The trail becomes a 'dotted' line as the character gains speed, instead of being a continuous trail.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
5
  • $\begingroup$ There's probably a better way but the fastest solution is to just double your particle count. $\endgroup$
    – Nascent Space
    Apr 21, 2021 at 5:22
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Interesting ... If none I will check that later ... Try Constraint Location instead of parenting? BTW @NascentSpace doubled amount will just generates doubled count in steps. $\endgroup$
    – vklidu
    Apr 21, 2021 at 6:15
  • $\begingroup$ Oh yeah my bad, hmm. Only other idea I have is to add a second object that somehow trails behind the first particle emitter itself but at such a distance that it fills in extra particles behind it. Not sure how else this could be done. $\endgroup$
    – Nascent Space
    Apr 21, 2021 at 10:46
  • $\begingroup$ Turning up particle count doesn't solve it, it creates more particles but they are all being emited at the same intervals, so they are clumped together creating a dashed line instead of a continuous stream. I'll try using the constraint location instead of parenting. $\endgroup$
    – Alexandre Marcati
    Apr 21, 2021 at 14:49
  • $\begingroup$ Unfortunately the issue still happens even with location constraint instead of parenting. I also tried the 'child of' constraint and also did not work. I wonder if armatures don't consider subframes or if it's something else. I don't know what it could be. $\endgroup$
    – Alexandre Marcati
    Apr 21, 2021 at 16:39

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1
$\begingroup$

The only one way I found is to use Output Properties > Dimensions > Time Remapping

enter image description here

enter image description here

Top row are particles emitted from animated Plane.
Bottom row are particles emitted from Plane parented to Bone.

Notes:

  • Subframes doesn't help because issue is related to a Bone that jumps to next frame (same as anim Plane, but there (for some reason) it works as expected.
  • For that I tried to add Step Modifier, that let you add steps even in between two frames (or negative), but even steps were visible on Timeline, zero influence for particles as well.

enter image description here

  • Constraint didn't work (parented Plane to Armature as well)

  • I didnt post this answer almost week ago, just because when I tried it I probably didn't refresh cache to see influence ... the only one way to refresh cache that works for me is to change Number of particles every time I do same change in setup.

Edit

According to this closed bug report from 2014 it is marked by Sergey as known limitation planned to be fixed with new particle system. Lukas created already fix at the same year, but wasn't published and was moved on TO DO list

But check blend file attached on bug report link. You have two other options

  • Bake Action
  • Constraint > Follow Path
Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the answer. The time remap workaround indeed seems to be the best option at the moment. In my case I just ended up animating the emitter independently (it was a short animation so it wasn't that difficult), but it might be useful for future projects. Hope they fix this soon, though (it seems like a design flaw to me). $\endgroup$
    – Alexandre Marcati
    Apr 29, 2021 at 13:38
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Little edit with a few options. $\endgroup$
    – vklidu
    Apr 29, 2021 at 19:23

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .