Pixel FX Designer News

[h2]NEW[/h2]

• Added particle 'Gravity' setting.
  
• Added particle 'Step Emit' setting.
  
• Added particle 'Death Emit' setting.
  
• Added a 'New Project' section in preferences to customize blank project settings.
  
• Added a 'Max Particles' setting in the preferences to limit the amount of particles spawned.
  
• Added 'Fireworks' example.
  

[h2]CHANGES[/h2]

• Previews now zoom in/out more accurately.
  
• Burst render should now be always random.
  
• Nodes in the 'Add Node' menu in the NodeGraph are now divided by groups.
  

[h2]BUGFIXES[/h2]

• 'Position' node is now properly named.
  
• Visible toggle for layer elements is now properly saved/loaded.
  

[h2]Steps to activate the beta version[/h2]
- Right click 'Pixel FX Designer' on your library
- Click 'Properties'
- Go to 'Betas'
- Select "v2.0.0.0" from the dropdown list.
- The app will start updating to the new version.

[h2]What's new in Pixel FX Designer v2.0?[/h2]
If this caught you by surprise, the v2.0 update is a full rewrite of Pixel FX Designer from scratch, and brings lots of new features and improvements. The major points being:

• New UI/UX.
  
• Layer support with infinite emitter, particles and images.
  
• NodeGraph system with lots of nodes to expand your animation.
  
• New rendering engine that It's about 20x faster.
  
• Lots of cool features like localization support, arbitrary canvas size, improved export options (frameskipping, mp4 video)
  

Have in mind that this is a beta version, and that there will be bugs and things missing or to be improved.

[h2]Hey everybody![/h2]
First of all, I want to say that I hope you all have a beautiful 2022! I know 2021 has been rough for a lot of us, but 2022 is gonna be great. I swear!

Before finishing this year, and after me not being able to finish the update I've been working on this whole year, I want to show you a tease of what's coming for Pixel FX Designer and Juice FX in the near future (hopefully January, If 2022 behaves).

I've been working on different modules and a base foundation for the tools, this means that Pixel FX Designer & Juice FX (and the other apps in the future) will share the same core library, and that means that despite being for completely different purposes, I'll be able to (most of the times) work on bugfixes and new features for both apps at the same time.

I'm showcasing 3 new things that will be added to both apps: Post-FX Node graphs, New layer system, 3D .obj support:

[h2]Post-FX Node Graphs[/h2]
This might look complex, and in reality it can get as complex as you want it to be. You will have an 'Input' node where you can select the input texture (being able to choose 'All Layers' or individual layers.) and add different nodes with, currently, over 30 different VFXs. There's also modifier nodes that can change the other nodes values over time.

The full node graph system can be exported/imported, and they work cross-app, so If you develop a cool Juice FX system, you can export it and import it in Pixel FX Designer.

This will be an extension of the apps, so don't be afraid If it looks complex as It can be omitted and the app will work perfectly fine!

[h2]New Layer System[/h2]
This module will also work for all apps, and here you'll be able to create, rename, hide and sort layers as you wish. The layers can hold multiple sub-elements and they will inherit the layer transforms.

[h2]3D .obj support (Thanks to JujuAdam's dotobj library!)[/h2]
Initially this will only be available for Juice FX (as I don't think It'd be very useful in Pixel FX Designer) and It'll have basic commands: move, scale and rotate. But this will be further expanded down the road.

[h2]New Pixel FX Designer rendering engine[/h2]
Obviously this only affects Pixel FX Designer, but there's a new rendering pipeline and in my machine (i9 9900k/RTX 2060 super, performance will vary on each machine) the performance has gone through the roof:
Old System: Around 3,000 particles at 60fps.
New System: Around 100,000 particles at 60fps.

And there's much more coming, hopefully you'll like what you see! Also, the current version of the apps aren't going anywhere, they will still be forever available as a beta branch.

(The app shown in the gif is my test suite, the final UI/UX will be different on the final product)

[h2]NEW ADDITIONS[/h2]
- Paths now have an easing option, including the most common easing curves.
- New function: Image Contour. You can now load an image and the particles will spawn on its contour.
- New function: Auto-Trimming. Now when exporting an sprite sheet you'll have the option to trim it in order to reduce space. You'll get the new frame size on the file name suggestion.
- You can now drag and drop images and PPD projects directly into the app.
- GIF are now supported as custom particles. You can drop them into the app or use the custom sprite add function.
- Blur/Glow/Chromatic Aberration effects have been improved.

[h2]BUGFIXES[/h2]
- Alpha now works correctly.
- Emitter position is now correctly loaded from projects.
- Rendering odd frames won't do weird things anymore.
- All example projects now work correctly.
- Chromatic aberration effect is now properly loaded from project files.
- Glow effect is now properly loaded from project files.
- Blur effect is now properly loaded from project files.
- Render FPS value is now properly saved and loaded from project files.
- Writing text into a slider while introducing a custom value will no longer crash the app.
- Particles will no longer flash on the final frame of their life.
- Timeline is now reset when hitting Render, Play or Burst buttons.
- Buttons will no longer disappear after getting a app message.
- Loading custom particle sprites will no longer crash the app randomly.

• Particle Repel engine: New function in Particles>Motion that allow particles to push each other.
  
• Random Seed selection: You can now set the random seed for seamless looping so if you find a seed that you like, it doesn't get randomized again.
  
• 11 new examples to showcase the new features.
  

• Alpha now works properly. Yes it does, It's finally here.
  
• Render Desync when rendering while running the app below 60fps is now fixed, no more broken loops.
  
• Input windows will no longer start out of focus.
  
• Several minor bugfixes.