How can I rotate a particle effect?

Question

I'm building a project based on the space shooter tutorial. In part three of the tutorial (about 8 minutes in to the video), we use a particle system to add an engine flare effect. The problem I'm trying to solve is that when I rotate the ship, I cannot get the engine flare to rotate with it. Even changing the Transform of the game objects doesn't seem to affect this. you can see the problem in my screen cap. The engine flare is pointing straight up and down despite the rotation of the Player game object. How can I rotate this particle effect?

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Answer 1

Answer by Stamblew · Nov 23, 2018 at 09:08 PM

I know this question is old, but for those who are still looking for a solution, what you can do is:

Go to your particle Renderer module
Change the Render Mode option to Billboard
Change the Render Alignment option to Local
Now you can rotate your particles using the transform of the object.

PS.: I tested this on Unity 2018.1

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screenshot.png (48.9 kB)

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bificommander · Mar 06, 2019 at 10:54 AM 0

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This works great. If you're actually using the space tutorial jet asset, don't forget to rotate the particle system by 90 degrees in the x direction to get it right.

DungDajHjep · Mar 29 at 12:10 PM 0

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Thanks you ! You save me <3

Answer 2

Answer by harrisjed · Oct 26, 2015 at 11:56 AM

I faced the same problem while working with the Space Tutorial. What worked for me is setting for both part_jet_flare and part_jet_core particle systems the start rotation in FixedUpdate() to be the same as the player object - i used two player objects with the second one to be inverted and I instantiated them in the game controller script.

 pSys.startRotation = gameObject.transform.rotation.eulerAngles.y * Mathf.Deg2Rad;

Also check this answer too.

space-shooter.jpg (110.7 kB)

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josefnpat2 · Nov 11, 2016 at 06:38 PM 0

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This solution worked for me. I attached the part_jet_flare to public GameObject thrust_flare;.

Then in FixedUpdate() I added:

thrust_flare.particleSystem.startRotation = gameObject.transform.rotation.eulerAngles.y * $$anonymous$$athf.Deg2Rad;

I note this because pSys.startRotation doesn't clarify that it's the particleSystem object type ins$$anonymous$$d of the GameObject type.

Rodolfo-Rubens · May 06, 2017 at 02:32 AM 0

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Thanks a lot! In my use case I just needed to switch to pSys.startRotationY everytime I called play on my non-looping particle system.

Answer 3

Answer by Owen-Reynolds · Aug 03, 2014 at 04:21 PM

Are we only giving hints now? Fine with me: (partial spoiler):

Like many other things, particles can use xyz world space, which means they ignore facing and always use x=right ... . This is good for a rolling, flaming log, where you always want +y to be up, for rising flame and smoke.

Or they can use localSpace, which means they use the xyz of their transform.

The setting has sort of an odd name, but it uses the words "space", "local" and "global."

(spoiler alert) For Lady Stark there's dead, and there's dead.

also:

Simulation Space

[edit] Whoops! My answer is completely wrong. I was getting mixed up with the older particle system.

Depending on which shape you select, the particles should always fire the way the transform is pointing. Sphere is always 360, hemisphere is always within 90 degrees of forwards, cone always aims the way the transform goes.

It's very difficult to make a particleSystem that doesn't spin when you do (except for a sphere, for obvious reasons.)

SimulationSpace is merely whether old particles track your motion.

Now, down in ForceOverLifeTime and VelocityOverLifetime, the settings for Local/Global really do pick which coord system to use. But not many people use those. For example, "thruster flames" are easy to make with a tight cone and sizeOverTime.

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boinst2 · Aug 04, 2014 at 02:19 AM 0

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Beauty, thanks for the (cryptic) answer, I'll try that this evening. Also thanks for the extra context you provided, that's a big help for my understanding of how the particle system works.

boinst2 · Aug 04, 2014 at 08:02 AM 0

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Hmmm there's a property called "Simulation Space" but it doesn't seem to change anything. The rotation of the graphic doesn't change.

alt text

sim-space.png (43.2 kB)

Answer 4

Answer by animator_84 · Jun 02, 2015 at 11:06 AM

use a quad/plane as under Render/ Rendermode/ Mesh. Then choose your particle material. Then You'll be able to rotate your particle in 3d space.

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Vickylance · Jul 09, 2015 at 08:25 PM 0

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@animator_84 That didnt work :(

Owen-Reynolds · Jul 09, 2015 at 09:28 PM 0

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The question is sort of poorly worded. I think http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/219565/how-to-orient-particles-to-direction-they-are-movi.html is what the original poster meant to ask, and has what I think is the correct answer.

animator84: If you leave the default PE, rotation isn't an issue, since it's round. Anyone having this problem has already selected a different material (like the spaceship flames.)

Karishi · Feb 05, 2017 at 03:00 AM 1

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This solution works.

If you're using the Space Shooter build, under the Particle System for the part_jet_flare and part_jet_core, look under Renderer and the first item is Render $$anonymous$$ode. Change it from Billboard to $$anonymous$$esh (and use the circle select tool to pick Plane - the default of Cube looks semi-decent because it's a glowing line co$$anonymous$$g from the back of your ship, but if you look closely you see it's doing this because it's projecting the effect both forward and backwards). You'll want to resize the elements - this can be done under Start Size, which is not in the Renderer section but above in the element's basic settings. I set $$anonymous$$e to .1 / .08 for the flare, and .1 / .2 for the core.

As animator_84 said, the mesh will then turn with you.

ZatriX_ZA · May 01, 2017 at 01:38 PM 0

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Just another little addition here to $$anonymous$$arishi's answer - when scaling, make sure to change Scaling $$anonymous$$ode for the Particle System itself from 'shape' to 'hierarchy'.

Answer 5

Answer by kaleidosgu · Nov 21, 2017 at 11:00 AM

Thanks for all the answers. I update one solution.

 Vector3 vecDir = vecPosEnd - vecPosStart;
 ParticleSystem.MainModule mainMod = yourParticleSys.mainMod;
 mainMod.startRotation = Mathf.Atan2(-vecDir.y, vecDir.x) ;

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How can I rotate a particle effect?

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