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enter image description here

enter image description here

I want to recreate the above images for an animation. How do I go about it? I tried using particle systems and smoke simulators but to no avail. Also, I want to model a sparkler, but more akin to a sparkling point or sphere that emits in all directions.

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  • $\begingroup$ Check this one: youtube.com/watch?v=QCMyvcc3ZaU $\endgroup$
    – cgslav
    Jan 21, 2017 at 15:53
  • $\begingroup$ @LukeD yes, I'm familiar with that tutorial, but i ended up making my 'model' into amalgam of satanic lines, I tried every possible combination for the particle system which I could think of $\endgroup$
    – Tejas
    Jan 21, 2017 at 16:34
  • $\begingroup$ Particle system is fairly simple to set (high normal emiter and 0 gravity) but I'm struggling with those sparks 'outside'. They are changing directions realy quick. I've managed to set particle system inside ico sphere as collision but when I try to animate this ico sphere to get random bounces particles doesn't respond to it. $\endgroup$
    – cgslav
    Jan 21, 2017 at 18:47
  • $\begingroup$ Check this out: imgur.com/a/R9zHU $\endgroup$
    – cgslav
    Jan 21, 2017 at 19:55
  • $\begingroup$ @LukeD that's perfect, just need the center to be a sphere and a bit bigger $\endgroup$
    – Tejas
    Jan 21, 2017 at 21:05

1 Answer 1

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Final (almost) result

final

I will not go trough all steps in detail as they aren't part of the question (animation, modeling this sparkling stick and such).

Particle system

Create IcoSphere and scale it to be a bit wider then stick and add to it Particle System.

Create another one and move it to another layer - you will use it as particle object.

Particles

Most important settings are:

  1. Lifetime, short lifetime does not allow particles to bounce and long one will get all of them messy.

  2. Emitter Geometry > Normal. This will give our particles initial speed.

The rest of them are just some little tweaks.

Do not forget to set Gravity 0 in Field Weights tab.

Collision system

This is the tricky devil.

  1. Create IcoSphere (Subdivisions 2) go to Edit Mode and Wireframe view (Z).
  2. Select all - A and hit CTRL+E then Edge Split.
  3. Select all again and set Pivot Center to Individual Origins then scale it down little bit. You should get something like this:

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  1. Now you can duplicate it and make them smaller, bigger, with any rotation - as you like. Remember to set Pivot Center back again to Median Point.

  2. Final step, still in Edit Mode add another IcoSphere and make it the biggest one. This will be boundry for our collision system.

My final setup looks like this:

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Creating collision system is the worst part, everything depends on it, so you must try to make it right. If you want sparkles to be bigger, make whole thing bigger, if you want them to be more round - scale down less after edge split, to have smaller holes between faces.

Go back to Object Mode and in Physics tab add Collision. Set Particles > Permeability to 0.3. This will allow particles to "break" collision system. You can set it to 0, then nothing (yup, almost) go trough.

Hide this object in Outliner and set it to not renderable. Eye and camera Icon.

Materials

We will need only two materials, for sparks (particles) and particle emitter. Select IcoSphere you've moved to another layer and add this node setup:

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Select IcoSphere which is emitter for particles and add to it Transparent node with pure white color.

Motion Blur

Go to Render tab, check Motion Blur and set it to 1.10.

And that's it.

Here is .blend file with all animations:

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  • $\begingroup$ So, there's one icosphere that's an emitter, another icosphere that's the particle and a third one that's a collision object. and the third icosphere has an edge split icosphere inside a regular icosphere, correct? So, is the emitter smaller than the third icoshphere? $\endgroup$
    – Tejas
    Jan 22, 2017 at 22:16
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, emitter should be as big as the stick (little wider) and in third IcoSphere you can duplicate as much as you like them. In my blend file there are 4 if i recall it correctly. $\endgroup$
    – cgslav
    Jan 22, 2017 at 22:21
  • $\begingroup$ ok, consider if i have to use this thing for a laser or welding animation, how would i add a trailing effect to it? like you know, after a laser has burn over an area the burn part is red hot before cooling off $\endgroup$
    – Tejas
    Jan 22, 2017 at 22:44
  • $\begingroup$ Dynamic Paint. You can even make cut hole with it. There is plenty question and answers about it around here. $\endgroup$
    – cgslav
    Jan 22, 2017 at 22:47

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