Beam emitter question

naked_chicken

Is it possible to have a beam fire intermittently? It always seems to be constantly on, I'd like it to fire just like a regular particle system with a variable spawn rate.

Setting a variable spawn rate does nothing.

passerby

which beam are you talking about?

a actual actor that produces a beam or a modual in cascade, if something in cascade you could edit it's curve on the alpha.

imbueFX

Hrmmm well beams aren't controlled by the spawn module, unfortunately. I've never had to do this but a starting point would be to make sure your emitter loops is set to 0, and give your lifetime a uniform distribution range. Can you be more specific about your goals with this particle system?

naked_chicken

So I want to try using it to create lightning. I got it working decently but need to be able to control how often it fires. The other issue I had was placement, I was hoping to have the beam fire from other particles I send out into the clouds but the particle attach for the beam source apparently doesn't work.

imbueFX

Yes to dynamically control/spawn it, it needs to be done through script. Sadly I don't know uscript (it's on my list), so I can't help with that part

I really like the concept of beams arcing from particle to particle. There may be ways to fake it through attachments and the direct/location module. I've never tried it, but I think something cool could arise from it! Hope that helps.