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Emitter Node A particle emitter.

Syntax: node emitter [node_name]      Properties endnode

Description: This is an NWN particle emitter. These nodes appear in spells and effects as well as in some models. They have a ton of properties and can create some interesting effects.

Properties: parent [node_name] - the parent node in the tree. All nodes have this property. Top level nodes use NULL. The following three properties are optional: position [X] [Y] [Z] - The position in 3d space of this node. orientation [X-Axis] [Y-Axis] [Z-Axis] [rotation_ammount] - the node is rotated around the axis given in x,y,z wirecolor [red] [green] [blue] - This probably defines the color for the object's wireframe. (there is a lot of speculation in the following, more testing is needed) colorStart [red] [green] [blue] - This is probably the color a particle is at birth. colorEnd [red] [green] [blue] - This is probably the color a particle is at death, color values may be interpolated between these colors ovr the course of the particle's life alphaStart [float] - This probably controls the transparency of the particle at birth. alphaEnd [float] - This probably controls the transparency of the particle at death. sizeStart [float] - This probably controls the size of the particle at birth. sizeEnd [float] - This probably controls the size of the particle at death. sizeStart_y [float] - Unknown. At a guess I would say the size properties above provide uniform scale for the particle and these allow streching in the y direction. This suggests properties might exist for x or z as well. Or this could control something else entirely. (like the size of the control gizmo). sizeEnd_y [float] frameStart [int] - My guess is that this controls the frame of the animation at which to begin producing particles. frameEnd [int] - The frame to stop producing particles. These may combine with the fps property below. birthrate [int] - A control on how fast to spawn new particles. spawnType [int] - Unknown. lifeExp [float] - The length of time a particle will "live". When combined with birth rate this controls the number of particles in existance at a time. mass [float] - The mass of a particle. (used for calculating the effects of forces) spread [float] - Probably the ammount that the particles spread out from each other once they leave the emitter. particleRot [float] - Probably the ammount that the particles rotate as they move. velocity [float] - Probably the initial velocity of a particle leaving the emitter. randvel [float] - Probably a control on how random the initial velocity of a particle is. fps [int] - My guess is that this works with frame start and frame end to match the time frame of the emitter with the animation. In that case this would be the number of frames per second. So an emitter that started on frame 30 with fps of 10 might start in the 3rd second of the animation. This is just speculation however. random [1|0] - Unknown. inherit [1|0] - Unknown. inherit_local [1|0] - Unknown. inherit_part [1|0] - Unknown. inheritvel [1|0] - Unknown. (inherit velocity) xsize [int??] - Unknown. (might relate to texture coordinates) ysize [int??] - Unknown. (might relate to texture coordinates) bounce [1|0] - Unknown. Possibly controls some sort of collision detection. bounce_co [float] - Unknown. Could control elasticity of the bounce, or maybe friction. loop [int?? or 1|0??] - Unknown. Could specify that the emitter loops, possibly a given number of times. update [Fountain] - Unknown. Could be that there are different emitter types, such as fountains or clouds. render [Normal | Linked | Motion_blur] - Unknown. Probably controls how the particles are drawn in some way. Blend [Normal | Lighten] - Unknown. update_sel [1|0] - Unknown. render_sel [1|0] - Unknown. blend_sel [1|0] - Unknown. deadspace [float] - Unknown. opacity [float] - Unknown. Maybe a global control on transparency for the whole effect? blurlength [float] - Unknown. Could control blur ammount. lightningDelay [float] - Unknown. lightningRadius [float] - Unknown. lightningScale [float] - Unknown. blastRadius [float] - Unknown. blastLength [float] - Unknown. twosidedtex [1|0] - Controls if the particles have textures on both sides of them. p2p [1|0] - Unknown. p2p_sel [1|0] - Unknown. p2p_type [Bezier|Gravity] - Unknown. p2p_bezier2 [float] - Unknown. p2p_bezier3 [float] - Unknown. combinetime [float] - Unknown. drag [float] - Ammount of drag on each particle. grav [float] - Strength of gravity. threshold [float] - Unknown. texture [filename] - Texture for the particles. xgrid [int] - Unknown. (might relate to texture coordinates) ygrid [int] - Unknown. (might relate to texture coordinates) affectedByWind [true|false] - Unknown. Probably controls how wind effects the particles. What controls the wind is an interesting question. m_isTinted [1|0] - Possibly controls if the particles are tinted by their color or only by their texture. That's just a guess though. renderorder [int??] - Unknown. Splat [1|0] - Unknown. Introduction | Index

Document URL: http://www.wnwn.net/mdl/

Worlds of NeverWinter: http://www.wnwn.net/

This document is not supported by Bioware and should not be taken as an official specification for the NWN model format. It is based on my own experiments with the model viewer and speculations by others in the NWN community. There may be errors or omissions in this document, if you find any please let me know at: sorcerer@wnwn.net. The format may also change before the game is released. Finally I would like to thank the great community on the bioware forum for their contributions to this project.