Thruster sprite (help asked)

Hi,

I am trying to get life into my space ship. The space itself is modelled and textured. I want to have a number of sprites "firing" my thruster. See one example picture of the thruster animation here:

I want to fly around the space ship while the thruster keeps burning in the direction (i.e. the sprite must turn as my camera turns). How do I apply / pivot the thruster picture to the space ship engine ?

Are there any tutorials or examples showing a sequence of thruster pics mounted on a space ship engine while the camera is flying around ?

Thansk for help !
Bernd

One comment: Since I will have dozens of ships in the space game, there is no chance for extensive particle engines. So, I choose sprites as base for the thruster pics.

Is this the correct decision ?

Thanks, Bernd

Hum, I don't know if I've really got what you are saying, correct me if I'm wrong:

You want to use a 3D sprite for the thruster effect; that sprite should be in some way located behind the ship, so to give the impression that the ship has a flame behind.

That flame - which should be a 3D sprite - should be rotated accordingly with the ship rotation (not really clear what you mean with the camera here).

If this is right, you need a couple of things:
- parent a pivot to the ship, so that when the ship moves, the pivot moves accordingly
- put the sprite thrust at the pivot coordinates
- rotate the sprite accordingly with the ship degrees, using RotateSprite command.

Anyway, in my opinion, using a particle system would make the whole thing much more realistic in a 3D world, rather than a static sprite which rotates..

Hope it has sense for you,
Sergio.

Parent the Sprite to a pivot which is at the thruster position and change the "SpriteViewMode" so that the sprite can move independently to the camera...

Do you have any example BB source for me that explains / shows a particle thruster that is mounted onto the ships back ?

Thanks, Bernd

Hi Bernd,
you have it already. If you take a look in the B3D examples folder from your B3D installation directory, some of that sample could already help you. Have a look also in the code archive, which I consider a rather good mine gold.

Sergio.

Check the Galactic source code for a simple, "particle exhaust/thrusters" system.

This system creates jets of varying colour and length and transparency relative to speed/engine size. The jets create a trail, leaving an arc if the craft banks/dives etc.

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EDIT-

changing the spriteviewmode may not be a great idea in this instance, depending on how your spacecraft moves in relation to the camera...