71² – The ramblings of two 30-something developers

Tweets that mention Particle Designer 1.1 now available -- Topsy.com  on April 23rd, 2010

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by 71Squared, mikedaley. mikedaley said: Particle Designer 1.1 now available at http://bit.ly/aJDJ4o [...]

Ralph  on April 24th, 2010

Very Cool!

nexus6  on April 24th, 2010

@Mike, Tom

All I have to say is WOW!!! This thing is great.

Seasons  on April 24th, 2010

Very very cool!!
I’m enjoying trying this.

Final version is shareware ?

I want to buy this product.

Particle Designer at Under The Bridge  on April 24th, 2010

[...] an amusing way to while away some time: Particle Designer 1.1, a tool for designing — and sharing! — particle emitter configurations for the [...]

Tom  on April 24th, 2010

Hi guys, glad you like the app!

We will be releasing it shortly if all goes well with this beta release. Currently we are working on a price of £4.99 for the full version.

We’d like to here your thoughts on this, if you think it’s too expensive or too cheap.

Thanks
Tom

Seasons  on April 24th, 2010

Thanks comment!!

$4.99 price is very reasonable!!
If you will update the app , I think it is good that price of app is $9.99.

It is pleasure , if my commet is helpful.

jackiedigital  on April 24th, 2010

Hi guys,

This looks very promising :)

I was wondering will I be able to use XML config file data for my CCParticleSystem in cocos2d?

mike  on April 24th, 2010

@Seasons, thanks for the feedback. We did think of pricing it a little higher, but decided that as this is for the community we would just cover the costs, but appreciate your honest input.

@jakiedigital, there is no reason at all why you can not use the XML for CCParticleSystem. The core of the particle system in SLQ is based on the Cocos2D system, so apart from the rotational side of things, all the other parameters are fully supported in CCParticleSystem. It would just need a little importer to convert the XML file into the config needed by Cocos2d.

Mike

mike  on April 24th, 2010

Thinking about it, we may well add an option to save the output in native CCParticleSystem format. I think that would be useful for people.

Thoughts?

Mike

jackiedigital  on April 24th, 2010

Thank you for considering Mike, that would be very useful.

Now I’m in the final version anticipation mode :)

Mark Arnold  on April 24th, 2010

Hi Tom,
Running fine on my hackintosh, only problem is that I’m currently using a small screen, at 1024×768 – Yeah, I know its a crappy res, but there you go. The app won’t fit the on the screen width ways, I have to move it about to get to the right hand edge to scroll down the Shared list. Also, you spelt candle wrong on the emitter name! LOL.
I doubt that real Apple gear runs at such a low res, but thought I’d mention it anyway!

Mark

Tom  on April 24th, 2010

Hi mark, glad you like it! Your right, all macs run at a much higher resolution, except maybe the mac mini when using an old lo-res screen. To be honest, it’s probably not worth supporting a lower resolution but thanks for mentioning it!

Thanks
Tom

rookie  on April 25th, 2010

simply beautiful!

Ricardo Quesada  on April 26th, 2010

@mike Adding support for CCParticleSystem would be awesome!
I would happily help you in adding support for CCParticleSystem in case you need it.

mike  on April 26th, 2010

That would be great Ricardo. I’ll drop you a mail about working on the best format to output for the CCParticleSystem.

Mike

Ricardo Quesada  on April 26th, 2010

@Mike. Cool :)

Kenan  on April 27th, 2010

Awesome app. I definitely will be one of the first buyers. One think I decide to do as addition to the app is a own API-Class. Yes, CCParticleSystem would be nice too (by the way, thanks Ricardo for the great work you done on cocos2d), but I am really looking forward that your app could be standard for making particle emitter effects and you should have your own interface to XCode.

Thanks, Kenan.

Tom  on April 27th, 2010

Thanks @Kenan, we have talked about a plug-in based system in which you would be able to write your own components to modify all aspects of the particle emitter in real time. This is a great idea, and one that would certainly add a great deal of flexibility to the emitters. We will definitely be looking to add this in a future release.

Dolly  on April 28th, 2010

Todo dinбmica y muy positiva! :)
Have a nice day

Dolly

biosopher  on April 29th, 2010

Great job, Mike/Tom. I wrote my own particle emitter code awhile ago and really enjoyed exploring the possibilities. You have really created a valuable tool.

Lately I’ve been experimenting with Cocos2D and Box2D for creating sprite-based emitters. You’ve inspired me to explore a broader range of parameters.

Thanks!

cna training  on April 30th, 2010

Great information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!

John Bloomfield  on May 2nd, 2010

You may want to change the website URL to 71squared.com :) It does redirect but the .com is the main domain now!

mike  on May 2nd, 2010

Good point m8, I’ve changed it to 71squared.com :)

Mike

Daniel  on May 3rd, 2010

Can you please tell me when the final version will be available?

Will this App create Code that can be used in our own apps?

Thanks,

Daniel

mike  on May 3rd, 2010

Hi Daniel

This app wil not create code, but it will generate a config file that can be read and used by the ParticleEmitter class that will also be available.

Mike

Kenan  on May 3rd, 2010

… ParticleEmitter class that will also be available…

Yes! Thanks guys!

- Kenan

Scott Bates  on May 4th, 2010

it would be really nice to have a preference for setting the background color that the particles are emitted on. at the moment, I’m trying to design a very subtle white on white effect. but it’s hard to gauge how subtle it is when it’s always white on black.

mike  on May 4th, 2010

Hi Scott, that is something on the list to add. I’ll try to get it finished tonight and put out a new release so that you can use it :o)

Mike

mike  on May 4th, 2010

@Scott, if you check for updates the latest version provides the feature you requested :o)

Mike

CJ Hanson  on May 5th, 2010

Hi, great tool! I love it.

I did notice a SUPER small detail that could be fixed:
The triangle graphic on the load icon appears larger than the one on the save graphic. I took a screen shot and compared it in photoshop and it appears it is because of a sub-pixel anti-aliasing issue. If you take the triangle from save (as a bitmap) and rotate it 180 you can see what I mean. The load triangle is a bit blurred along the bottom which makes it appear 1px taller than it should be.

mike  on May 5th, 2010

Nice catch CJ. It’s those kind of details that we love to get right so we’ll get that sorted out :o)

We really want to make Particle Designer not only functional but also look fantastic. All input about the look, feel and usability of Particle Designer is greatly received and will be considered as the app evolves :o)

Mike

Hugh  on May 6th, 2010

Guys,

Big fan… Emitter is cool… how/when can we export settings
for use in code ?

What cost ?

Thanks !

- Hugh

Mike  on May 6th, 2010

Hi Hugh

The final version will allow you to save both an xml file that can be used by my particle emitter class used in SLQ or a plist file that can be used within the Cocos2d engine.

The final version will cost $7.99 and be available soon. We are just testing and finishing the implementation of the purchasing process.

We will announce the full release of the app through the blog.

Hope that helps

Mike

CJ Hanson  on May 6th, 2010

I think it would be great to have multiple libraries instead of the single shared one that shows by default. For example I could make a favorites tab which contains a subset of the shared emitters along with my own creations if I wanted. Or just a library for each game I’m working on.

mike  on May 6th, 2010

Thanks CJ, that is a nice idea and I’ve added it to the roadmap :o)

Mike

Gustavo  on May 13th, 2010

I’d like to know where can i buy/register ParticleDesigner.

mike  on May 13th, 2010

Hi Gustavo

The final version is not available yet. We are working on some more cool features and adding the ability to purchase particle designer from within the app. I don’t have a release date just yet but it will be as soon as possible.

Thanks for your interest and I’ll post as soon as we have more information.

Mike

Steffen Itterheim  on May 18th, 2010

One simple thing: i’d like to be able to restart one-time effects very quickly when i’m browsing effects. Double-click on the effect opens the editor and to restart via play button you have to click twice (one: pause, two: play again) which creates an unfortunate delay.

My suggestion would be to not display the pause button when playing one-time effects and instead have another click restart the effect immediately.

Anonymous  on May 20th, 2010

热舞

Andreas Loew  on May 24th, 2010

An important feature for me would be to read the generates plist files in again!

Alternative would be to “save” as pex and to “export” as plist with different target files/directories.

Another great feature would be to use atlas-particles with the ability to have several different images or animations of particles.

Aaron Stouder  on May 25th, 2010

I really like Particle Designer So I paid the 7.99 for the License. The license file I received is not working properly . Dragging it onto the PD Icon does nothing. Double clicking the license file opens the code in a text reader. Neither has actually “registered” my program. Am I doing something wrong? or maybe my file is bad. Please let me know what I need to do the get this unlocked.

Thanks
Aaron

Tom  on May 25th, 2010

Hi Aaron,

Please refer to this forum about registrations failing.

http://www.71squared.com/commu.....#038;t=137

I suspect yours is failing because of the .XML extension issue

Joseph Neuman  on May 25th, 2010

Hi there,

I have noticed that some of the particles in the samples do not work, some of the newer ones made by people. Is this just me or universal?

-Joseph Neuman

mike  on May 25th, 2010

Hi Joseph. This is a bug for which we will be pushing out a fix shortly. These emitters should work fine when the fix is out.

Mike

name  on February 21st, 2011

12121

Karrina  on March 4th, 2011

Hey Tom,
I have downloaded this app on my mac. but there’s a problem. the particle menu is loading (when only 2-3 effects appear) then the app closed unexpectedly.. (error) why is that happened?
please reply to my email
Karrina_sry@yahoo.com

Thanks, Karrina

WindowBuilderPro-02236-9750  on July 6th, 2011

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abc  on July 6th, 2011

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zhouxin  on July 22nd, 2011

it`s very good

LiXiaobin  on August 12th, 2011

very good