Choreographing Particles (an interesting technique)

These examples are to reveal and demonstrate the use of a point cloud data technique in Isadora. I really look forward to seeing where this might be taken because it has a lot of potential for generating exquisite real time particle effects.

If you use these techniques and generate something unique please share back, I would love to see what is possible.

Best wishes

Russell

Clement

@bonemap

Thanks a lot for sharing Russell, this is very interesting !

DusX

@bonemap
Great patch. I really enjoy what you have done here.
I have found some performance issues, that can be improved on a bit.
The rate that you are pushing values, and the total number of particles you are creating seem to be arbitrary, although I am sure you were just looking for the max the system can create.
I have found that if I calculate the number of max particles that I can create during the lifetime of the particles (based on the life duration and the cycles rate / FPS) I can reduce the number drastically, greatly improving performance on my mac Mini.
So, it is worth mentioning that the Cycle rate is the max number of triggers that can be sent to an actor per frame.
Therefore if the Cycle rate is 8 and the FPS is 30, there is no point to trigger anything at a rate faster than 240 hz.
And if you can then create 240 particles per second, while the particles live 10 seconds, you only need a max of 2400 particles, for the max effect.
I was finding some issues with 40000 particles, in some cases leading toward a crash. (being investigated further)

Again, thank-you for the cool approach. It's something I am excited to dig into more in the future as well.

bonemap

@dusx

Hi Ryan,

Here is an updated patch with a user actor that calculates the optimum Pulse trigger setting and Particle Count based on using the properties set in the Isadora Preferences for Target Frame Rate and General Service Tasks.

bonemap ChoreoParticles02.zip

You are absolutely right! You have raised this issue as a prerequisite, and thank you - your generic formula will assist in optimising patches that use this technique and is a great contribution. I will make sure it goes into the notes for the version that uploads to the Plugins page.

Best Wishes

Russell