Desirable Elements for a Particle System Interface

Particle systems have many applications, with the most popular being to produce special effects in video games and films. To permit particle systems to be created quickly and easily, Particle System Interfaces (PSIs) have been developed. A PSI is a piece of software designed to perform common tasks...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Daniel Schroeder, Howard J. Hamilton
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2014-01-01
Series:International Journal of Computer Games Technology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/623809
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849308301747027968
author Daniel Schroeder
Howard J. Hamilton
author_facet Daniel Schroeder
Howard J. Hamilton
author_sort Daniel Schroeder
collection DOAJ
description Particle systems have many applications, with the most popular being to produce special effects in video games and films. To permit particle systems to be created quickly and easily, Particle System Interfaces (PSIs) have been developed. A PSI is a piece of software designed to perform common tasks related to particle systems for clients, while providing them with a set of parameters whose values can be adjusted to create different particle systems. Most PSIs are inflexible, and when clients require functionality that is not supported by the PSI they are using, they are forced to either find another PSI that meets their requirements or, more commonly, create their own particle system or PSI from scratch. This paper presents three original contributions. First, it identifies 18 features that a PSI should provide in order to be capable of creating diverse effects. If these features are implemented in a PSI, clients will be more likely to be able to accomplish all desired effects related to particle systems with one PSI. Secondly, it introduces a novel use of events to determine, at run time, which particle system code to execute in each frame. Thirdly, it describes a software architecture called the Dynamic Particle System Framework (DPSF). Simulation results show that DPSF possesses all 18 desirable features.
format Article
id doaj-art-14eb0d2bfbc24d2b84a9446b6c22c096
institution Kabale University
issn 1687-7047
1687-7055
language English
publishDate 2014-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series International Journal of Computer Games Technology
spelling doaj-art-14eb0d2bfbc24d2b84a9446b6c22c0962025-08-20T03:54:29ZengWileyInternational Journal of Computer Games Technology1687-70471687-70552014-01-01201410.1155/2014/623809623809Desirable Elements for a Particle System InterfaceDaniel Schroeder0Howard J. Hamilton1Department of Computer Science, University of Regina, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, CanadaDepartment of Computer Science, University of Regina, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, CanadaParticle systems have many applications, with the most popular being to produce special effects in video games and films. To permit particle systems to be created quickly and easily, Particle System Interfaces (PSIs) have been developed. A PSI is a piece of software designed to perform common tasks related to particle systems for clients, while providing them with a set of parameters whose values can be adjusted to create different particle systems. Most PSIs are inflexible, and when clients require functionality that is not supported by the PSI they are using, they are forced to either find another PSI that meets their requirements or, more commonly, create their own particle system or PSI from scratch. This paper presents three original contributions. First, it identifies 18 features that a PSI should provide in order to be capable of creating diverse effects. If these features are implemented in a PSI, clients will be more likely to be able to accomplish all desired effects related to particle systems with one PSI. Secondly, it introduces a novel use of events to determine, at run time, which particle system code to execute in each frame. Thirdly, it describes a software architecture called the Dynamic Particle System Framework (DPSF). Simulation results show that DPSF possesses all 18 desirable features.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/623809
spellingShingle Daniel Schroeder
Howard J. Hamilton
Desirable Elements for a Particle System Interface
International Journal of Computer Games Technology
title Desirable Elements for a Particle System Interface
title_full Desirable Elements for a Particle System Interface
title_fullStr Desirable Elements for a Particle System Interface
title_full_unstemmed Desirable Elements for a Particle System Interface
title_short Desirable Elements for a Particle System Interface
title_sort desirable elements for a particle system interface
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/623809
work_keys_str_mv AT danielschroeder desirableelementsforaparticlesysteminterface
AT howardjhamilton desirableelementsforaparticlesysteminterface