Making Fire

I want to learn to make fire. I figure its an interesting way to start to make things that are bit more complicated than dragging textures onto blocks. Would this be an animation? Require a script? Is fire just a more complicated texture?

It is not an animation in the sense of an uploaded bvh file applied to an avatar. It could be done by scripting a particle system, or it could be an animated texture of flames.

Yes. Making a fire requires a script. You need a script that uses llSetTextureAnim and a specially made texture, a texture that is divided into sections that each contain an animated 'cel' of the fire. The other route is to use a particle script. You can also combine these two together. Try looking through the freebie areas for a fireplace or campfire. Those usually have a modifiable fire that you can look at.

If you're interested I've got a full perms ready-to-use one.. animated texture on panel. IM me in-world if you want a copy.

As noted above, a combination of elements usually works well:

>> An animated texture for the crackling flames, usually with a lot of alpha (transparency)
>> A dense, short particle effect in oranges/reds for the shifting 'fireglow'
>> A more diffuse grey/white particle with a longer duration for smoke

A good smouldering fire can be made without the animated textures using just the particles; this has the advantage of using fewer prims. As is often the case, it can be a trade-off between prim usage, client-side lag and the specific effect you want. Animations add to client lag, but I'd guess particles are worse. The build/script/animation forums probably have more and better informed comments on this.

As a minimum, a fire is an animated texture on a prim...and that's a simple script, as mentioned earlier. In fact, I think there's a Fire in your Library.

A more realistic fire will contain additional elements...at the expense of additional scripting and load on sim resources. Here are some things to consider for your fire:

- animated texture
- particle glow
- particle sparks
- crackling fire sound effect
- particle smoke
- firelight(s)
- script to make firelight flicker
- menu or chat commands to turn fire on/off, change size of flame, etc.
- script to set avatar aflame

(see this forum thread: /327/98/214194/1.html)

Starting simple and then adding elements is a nice exercise both in building, and in doing research to find applicable scripts and particle settings.

oh yes..... nice one Lindal, I like the crackling fire noise as well!
Haven't bothered with the particles on the fire, but smoke coming from a chimney is also pretty cool.

I recommend the "Fire Animation" class taught by Arabella Nemeth at the Academy of Second Learning.