Particle Editor Tutorial

written for particle editor. As far as its intended purpose, I think it does a fine job. It gives a short overview of what particle effects are and then leads the reader, step-by-step, through modifying a particle effect into something new. I've always been of the opinion (and remain so) that something like this, with a lot of surface variables but little in the way of an in-depth tool (.odfs are another example of this), is best learned experientially, that is, by practice and playing around. Like .odf work, most of the learning will come from looking at stock examples, and the vast majority of "new" particle effects will come from a modification to an older one. The best learning tool is what already exists. That said, I hope that having a tutorial will be an encouragement to anyone previously unwilling to try out something a little less-used, and I'm sure that having a set of training wheels - like this - will be a good way to ease on in to being comfortable with Particle Editor (which is not a difficult tool, once you get past the very short learning curve). The tutorial isn't comprehensive, and doesn't address the full range of "how-tos" related to using PE, but then again, I wouldn't expect it to. Once you've gotten over the hump of learning how to use the basic tool, it'll be a lot quicker and easier to grab examples and work off of stock particle effects than it is to try and write out every specific technique. If you've never played with PE before and would like to learn, give this a download. -Mav
This file by Fiodis is, as should be inferred from the title, a basic tutorial for creating particle effects for SWBF1/2. It's unique in its theme, in that I don't think any tutorials have been