Tutorial - Advanced Fireworks Editor (by DRP) ADDED -- Stars mini tutorial

[DarkRidePerson]

First and foremost, I want to say that this tutorial was made upon request, not to out-do the person who made the other tutorial. I realize that there is another tutorial for the AFE out there (probably right under this post) and I urge anybody who reads this to download that one as well because it has excellent examples and stuff. I also posted this because it might be easier to understand the buttons on these pictures because I am using the American version.

Advanced Fireworks Editor Tutorial

The advanced fireworks editor is a feature in RCT3 that allows you to use simple physics attributes to design custom pyrotechnics. It is a feature that was not designed to be included in the in the game, so it is not accessible without a cheat. To activate the advance fireworks editor, click on any peep and rename him/her/it/... Guido Fawkes (anybody taking AP Euro? Guy Fawkes: remember that name...) Doing this will allow you to open the advanced fireworks editor. To open it up, go to the scenery panel, click on "Mixmaster" and create a fireworks show. Once this is done, click anywhere on the timeline and open the fireworks list. At the very top, you will see "Advanced Fireworks editor".

Clicking on this will open a window that looks like this. There are several things to go through here, and I will explain each one as thouroughly as my knowledge about it extends.

• A) Create New Firework - You need to click on this each time you create a new custom firework. Doing this will create a "parent firework"(see below for explanation of parents and children). This is actually a special parent firework, so I will will be refering to it as "anscestor" to distinguish it from other "parent fireworks" However, clicking this will not create any particles, so keep that in mind. For an explanation of the "anscestor" firework's options, see section 3.
  
• B) Create Child Particle emitter - This button will create a "child" particle emitter. (see below for explanation of parents and children) These are the things that will actually act as the components of your firework. For an explanation of the "particle emitter's" options, see section 4
  
• C) Load Firework - Pretty straightforeward. It lets you load a firework that has already been made as long as it is in your C:\documents and settings\my documents\rct3\fireworkeffects folder. You can copy any firework from the C:\program files\atari\roller coaster tycoon 3\particle effects or fireworks forlder into the folder in "my documents" so that you can open it up in th editor and see how it works.
  
• D) Save Firework - Does just that. It saves it in the my documents folder and can be loaded later.
  
• E) Firework name - The firework's default filename is whatever you have in this box plus the .frw extension. Note, it is a good idea to put something here because if you leave it blank, every time you save it, it will show up as "my firework" by default as well as on the list.
  
• F) Firework price - Sets price of firework, which is deducted from your funds each time it is used in a show.
  
• G) Preview screen - Shows your firework in action. There is a problem with this if you have Wild! and sometimes with Soaked!. Certain changes to the number of particles used and additions of new child particles do not show up immediately in the editor. To see changes to these two things, you must save the firework, and then re-load it.
  
• H) Particle Map - Shows a map of the parent-Child relationship (a pedigree, if you will).
  
• I) Delete Child Particle Emitter - Removes the selected emitter (and its children, if applicable)

Section 2 - Parent-Child Relationships
This concept is the basis for all fireworks. The concept of parent-child relationships is basically what controls all aspects of how your firework (note I said firework NOT particle) behaves. Each firework must have, at the minimum, one anscestor, and one child. Whenever a new particle is created, that particle becomes the "child" and the firework that it was created from becomes a "parent" to that particle. The anscestor is an emitter that appears when you create a new firework. Each firework must have an anscestor, but can only have one anscestor. Everything that comes from the anscestor are its children, and everything that comes from whatever the anscestor's children are are their children. And then you get into sisters, brothers, and cousins (only joking )

So, what does all of this mean, well lets look at a basic example. Lets say you have a rocket shoot up into the air, and then expload. First of all, we have an anscestor, (which does not move at all) which is located where you place mortar. Then, from the anscestor, comes a child: the rocket, which shoots up into the air. But wait, when a firework goes up into the air, it leaves smoke behind, right??? Right. So we have to add smoke that comes from the rocket particle as one of its "children" (ahh, we are starting to
understand now). And finally, when the rocket reaches a certain point, it exploads. Since the rocket is doing the exploding, the explosion is also a child of the rocket.

However, you need to consider something else. Every particle emitter, whether parent or child, is its own particle emitter. So, when you think of parents and children, try to think of it more in terms of "when and where do I want this particle to go off?" and then decide where it goes. In addition, you must remember that a particle is not one solid object, it is a collection of images that have been scaled, rotated, and colored that are projected outward from an "emitter" So, using the rocket as an example, lets look at each of its elements: the rocket, the smoke, and the explosion. Only one rocket is being shot into the air, so we would use one particle (i.e. one image). next, as the rocket goes further and further, it leaves behind smoke. In the AFE, the image for smoke is a little puff. So, we have to imagine a few things before making it. First, we have to figure out how it will work. In the AFE, the way it would work is that the rocket would, at a fixed rate, emit one puff of smoke at regular intervals (later we will go into more detail about this) The amount of intervals increases as the amount of particles increases. So if you set the smoke emitter to emit 100 puffs, and the rocket goes 100 feet into the air, then the rocket would emit one puff of smoke every time it travels a foot. You can randomize these intervals a bit (which I will discuss in section 5) Finally, the explosion. This one operates a bit differently. It goes off all at once when the rocket reaches a certain point. I won't explain how to make this happen in this particular section, but the concept is still the same. We want to emit several images outward when the rocket reaches a certain height. Therefore, we have an emitter that is a child of the rocket that is set to emit a certain number of particles at the end of the rocket's life.

Ok, so enough hypothetical stuff. Now, how do we add a child emitter? Well, first we have to click (in area H) whatever particle emitter we want to be our parent. once that is done, we click button B and a new window will pop up allowing you to set options for this emitter. Remember, as mentioned above, when you add a new particle emitter, you must save the firework and re-load it to see the changes you have made.

Section 3 - The Anscestor Firework

When you create a brand new firework, the first thing you do is create an anscestor firework. This one is a little odd, in that it can be considered as two different things. The first thing that it can be considered is the mortar, however, it is really just an option setter for the rest of your firework. Lets discuss it, shall we?

There are two areas in which you can set options: Particle Life and Modifiers. Clicking the drop down menu in the window can bring up either of these. each one will have a group of options and things to play around with. This tutorial will cover the most important aspects of each of these areas (some are not important, and the purpose of some aren't even known to me)

Particle Life

Lifetime - Some would describe this as "the amount of time your firework lasts". This is only PART of it. The thing you have to remember is that this is basically the amount of time that takes place before another it can go off again (or another particle) Why is this so important to remember? It is important because you can make your firework last longer than this option. For example, you have a bunch of particles that come out of an emitter that each last 20 seconds. You set your "lifetime" (under the anscestor) to 5 seconds. It goes off, and then goes off again; but wait! all of the previous stars are still there... Where did you go wrong? Now do you see?

Time Rand - This will mix up the time a little bit. Great if you are looking to make a realistic firework since they don't work the same way each time. The greater the value of this, the more variation you will get in times.

Modifiers

These is where you can modify the color and strength of your firework. But wait, does this mean that everything in this firework has to be the same color. No. Each particle can have its own color. However, you can set an option for a particle to use a color modifier which will allow you to change the color of that particle without going into the editor. This modifier is just the default color that appears for particles with that option set. That is pretty much it for the anscestor emitter. Now, on to the advanced part of the Advanced Firework editor. (see that, I made a joke . I am so PUNNY!!! Anyone...nothing...fine...be that way...)

Section 4 Particle Emitters

This part is where most people get confused. There are many more options that one can tweak this time, but it honestly isn't all that hard once you know what stuff does. I will go through what is most important, but feel free to experiment with the rest (and tell me what it does while you are at it) There are seven areas where you can tweak options this time: Emitter rate, Emitter Speed, Emitter Rotation, Particle Life, Particle Basics, Special Effects, and Particle Motion. I will go through each of these as needed, and tell you what areas are most important for making fireworks. (most areas)

Particle Life



Lifetime - This is almost the same as before with a bit of difference. This is how long the particle will stay visible. So, if you emit 50 particles over ten seconds, just know that you do NOT set the particle lifetime to 10 seconds. This will make it so that each and every one of the fifty particles you emit will last ten seconds. That is a long time. (I mean, if that is what you want, however, you can do that) You need to speculate how far you want each particle to travel. If a particle has a set speed, then it will travel farther at that speed if it is able to last longer.

Time Rand - Same as mentioned above

Emitter Rate



Start time/end time - This is where you get to decide when your particle will start. Here is how it works. Let us say that you have a parent particle that has a lifetime of 5 seconds. Then you add a child particle. The start time by default is at 0 and the end time is at 1. This span represents the entire life span of the parent particle. If you set this emitter to emit so and so number of particles, it will emit them at semi-regular intervals that span between the start and end times. If you decrease the distance between them, the particles will be emitted for a shorter amount of time. So, lets say that you decrease the end time to .5 (half). Half of your 5 second parent is 2.5 seconds, therefore, this emitter will release particles from the very begining of the parent's life, to halfway through the parent's life and then stop.

# of Particles - Pretty straightforeward. As said above, the emitter will shoot off whatever number of particles you set this to over the span of the start and end times. Max is 1000. If you make changes to this value, you have to save and reload the firework to see the changes you made.

Random - This is kind of cool. You can add a bit of variation to start and end times, the number of particles, and the intervals at which they are set off. The higher the value, the more randomized it will be.

Emitter Speed



Ok, so I have my particle, but all I see when I preview it is a blob of white stuff. How do I make it move?

Speed - By default, the direction your particle moves is up. But, it cannot move at all unless it has speed. If you increase this value, your particles (in the preview window) will move upward until the end of their lifetime. The higher it is, the faster they will move, and the longer they will go. (the reason your particle moves up is because mortar by default points up, however, you can have it go in any direction if you aim the base aiming controls)

Sphere - What if you want to have your particles move in all directions? This is where sphere comes in. This value is relative to the radius of the sphere, and therefore, the higher it is, the farther outward your particles wil go. Remember that speed still controls the movement, so if you have a highish speed and a highish sphere, you will get a sphere that looks more like an upward pointing oval thing because speed is moving your particles foreward and sphere is moving your particles outward at the same time.

Circle - Wait, I don't want my particle to move in all directions, just on one plane. This is where Circle comes in. This value will cause your particle to move on the plane opposite to what direction your emitter is pointing. (if your mortar is pointing up, the particle moves outward horizontaly, vice versa) The value, again, is relative to the radius, so the higher it goes, the farther outward your particles will go.

Parent - When a child particle comes from a parent, the values in "emitter speed" are, by default, the same as the parent's. By decreasing this value, you decrease the values of your child, proportionately, to the parent. So, if the parent moves at a certain speed, and its child has this value set to .5, then it will move in the same direction as the parent, but at half the speed.

Emitter Rotation



A lesser known value that will rotate the direction that the emitter shoots off your particles. If you change these value, then the base aiming controls don't function as well, so keep that in mind. I don't really need to go into detail about this, but the higher the spin rate is, the faster your emitter will rotate, and the more random your particle's movement is.

Particle Basics



this is the fun part, deciding what your particle will look like. This is where that stuff I told you about images comes in handy because each style of particle is a different image. You will see a black bar with five particles near the middle, this will reflect changes you make to how the particle looks. By default, the particle looks like a glowing white orb. We can select a different image for it though by clicking on the button just above the black bar on the right side (looks like two star explosion things in a circle) This will open a panel that has about 50 (something like that) styles for you to chose from. Picking one will cause the black bar to reflect changes as well as the preview screen. But we can do much more.

Above the black bar looks like a blank space, but it is actually a gradient map to manipulate the color. Clicking in the white area will open up a panel with three (possibly four) gauges. They represent three colors, red, green, and blue (abbr. r.g.b.). This is kind of like mixing colors. the maximum value of each is 255, so think of it like paint buckets. If I have this much red, and I mix it with this much blue and green, what do I get?

Some tips when working with RGB:

• Every color you can think of is possible if you mix the colors correctly.
• If red, green, and blue are in equal amounts, the resulting color is always greyscale.
• Certain mixing combinations yeild "flagship colors" which I will go though briefly:
• red + blue only = magenta
• green + blue only = cyan
• red + green only = yellow
• (those of you who work with logos know the CMYK thing already)

In the AFE, some of the particles give you a fourth gauge. This is for opacity. The lower it is, the more transparent the particle is. So, when you exit the RGB panel, the white area becomes whatever color you chose, and a little square appears. This little square actually represents the color you just chose.

What is the point, you ask? well, click anywhere else on the gradient map and choose a different color. This will create another square that represents that color. However, in the area, the colors actually blend together. This is called a gradient (hence the name gradient map) The horizontal space on this map is relative to the life of your particle, so your particle will change colors as it's lifespan moves foreward.

There are more options you can tweak in this panel as well:

Start/end size - Your particle can change size as its life goes on. By default this is set to 1.0, which means that it is equal to its original size multiplied by 1 (i.e. 100% of its original size) Increasing either of these multiplies it by that number. The reason we have two values is so that you can make your particle start at one size, and end at another. As it moves to the end of its life, the particle will gradually increase or decrease in size until it reaches that value (which will be the end of its life)

Size Rand - This will add some variation in the size, which will be more random depending on how high this value is.

Use color modifier - as mentioned above, you can make it so that certain parts of your firework are recolorable. To do this, check this box. (make sure your color is greyscale on the gradient map) this will allow you to double click the firework in the mixmaster whenever you use it, and change the color of particles that have this box checked.

Special Effects



These are mostly for show if you want to add some interesting effects to your particle. They dont' effect movement in any way, but they change some stuff about the image.

Burn Length - When your particle has a "burn" this means that the shape of the particle actually drags a bit when there is movement. If it moves, you will see sort of a tail effect go with it. This value will determine the length of this tail. Higher value equals longer burn.

Burn size - this determines how visible the tail will be. Higher value equals thicker burn.

Stretch - This is a cool effect. If you increase this value, the particle will stretch the further it moves. The longer the life, the more the strech. This value, depending on how high you make it will effect how fast your particle will stretch itself out. Max is 1.

Particle Motion



This is kind of a misnomer. A lot of people think that this is how you control how your particle moves. In reality, this controls outside forces that are applied to your particle. The movement is controled in the "particle speed" area.

Drag - This is a force that comes from the parent particle. What it does is it pulls the particle back towards its parent. The higher this value is, the stronger the pull. A low value will slow your particle down a bit, but a high value will pull it straight in reverse.

Gravity - This force Pulls it toward the ground, or pushes away from it. This value can either be positive or negative. A positive value pulls the particle toward the ground, and a negative value pushes it away from the ground.

UpScale - This is a wierd one. This force causes your particle to move in a spiral fashion. As you increase this value, the number of times your particle loops around and around increases as well as the distance from the parent. (each time it loops around it gets farther away) Be careful when playing with this, the effect may not be what you think it is in the mixmaster, even if it looks like it in the preview window.

Spin rate X/Y - These have something to do with UpScale. To be honest, I am not sure if I can explain these because they seem to just make the particle act wierd.

Section 5 Walkthrough

Ok, now that I have just crammed all of that knowledge into your head, lets go through an example that demonstrates what we have learned. And what better example to use then our rocket that explodes. Since this editor is extreemly versatile, I am not going to give you exact values, but tell you the process. (the values I want you to experiment on your own)

1. First off, open the editor and click "New Firework".
2. Our options for our anscestor particle pops up. Lets leave it like it is for now.
3. Lets name this "Rocket Explosion".
4. Click "New Particle Emitter"
5. This will be our rocket that shoots up into the air.
6. Now, we are only shooting up one rocket, so lets go int0 the emitter rate window and change the # of particles to 1. (save and reload to see changes)
7. It doesn't do much else than move foreward, does it? So, lets increase the speed to make it move. Increase it until you have a speed you like.
8. Want it to go further? Well, instead of having a speed of 100,000, try having a lower speed, but a longer life for this one.
9. We can see now that we have a rocket type thing that shoots up. You can change the basics for now, but you don't really need to yet.
   
10. Click "New Particle Emitter"
11. This will be our smoke. Go into Particle Basics and chose one of the smoke puffs. Think for a second, how many puffs of smoke do you think would be a realsitic amount for our particle? Remember that it emits them over a period of time so too few will look like it is out of a toy train, but too many will look like a nuclear power plant. The trick is to have little more than enough to ensure that there is no gap between the puffs.
12. Once you have selected an amount, save and reload to see the changes.
13. But Wait, the smoke is moving with the rocket... That isn't right. Well, remember that "Parent" value in the "Particle Speed" area? Open that, and decrease the value, you now have some smoke that stays put realisticly.
    
14. On to the explosion. Click on your rocket firework (the window will open, but you can close it.)
15. Click "New Particle Emitter"
16. So, this is an explosion. Unlike the smoke, explosions don't emit stuff gradually, the go off all at once. BOOM. So, how do we make it emit everything at once? I'll tell you. Change the distance between the start and end times to be 0.01, and all of the particles will go off at once. Now, this is going to explode at the end of the rocket's life, so you need to make that 0.01 space at the END of the parent's. So, instead, of moving the end time to the begining, move the start time toward the end.
17. Now, you need to have a bunch of particles on this one to go off at once, so increase the # of particles to a higher amount this time (I chose around 100)
18. Again, save and reload to see the changes.
19. We need the particles to explode, which means the move outward. What do you think that we need to change for that? If you said Sphere, your right. Increase the sphere value until you have a suitable explosion.
20. Change the life of this particle so that the explosion lasts long or short, whatever you want.

Ok, so we have our firework, but it kind of looks bad, you know??? So, change the particle basics value to give it a more aesthetic look. Mess around with stuff, do as you please.

Section 6 Common Mistakes and FAQ

• So, I want to make my firework go up. I put the gravity on negative right?
• NO! Well, yes...no...sort of. It depends on what you want. Do you want an aimable firework that will go up, but also in other directions depending on how you aim it? If you answered yes, then no. Gravity is a constant force, not a relative one. No matter what direction you point your firework, gravity still pulls up and down.
  
• I want to add a tail to a firework, I should use burn right?
• No. Burn is not, despite my explanation, the best way to create a tail. The best way is to create a child particle that emits a tail.
  
• For certain effects such as a large flame, why not make one flame particle and just increase it's size.
• Don't do that, because, remember, it is an image. If you zoom out, you will have this collossal thing sitting on top of your ride glaring up at you.
  
• For spinning fireworks, I use upscale, right?
• Nope, use Emitter Rotation. You use upscale for spiral. You could use Upscale, but it won't spin correctly, because it will get too far away from the parent.

I will have, later today, specs of some of my fireworks so that you can see how they work.

Thanks for reading this
-DRP

[Chickenselects]

Not a clue what this means but, kudos for typing it all.

[Hethetheth]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

THAAAANK YOUUUUUUU SSOOOOO MMUUUCH

[Kirby Master]

Thanks a lot. The other fireworks editor tutorials (different sites) weren't so clear on how to do some of the stuff. Thanks

[disneyland255]

DarkRidePerson thank you for this. Is there a chance you can do a tutorial like this for the Advanced Camera? I cannot figure out how to use it. Even from other tutorials out there.

[Matandmel05]

Thank you for laying this out in simple terms that us common folk can understand. Seriously though, great Job!

[DarkRidePerson]

Originally Posted by disneyland255

DarkRidePerson thank you for this. Is there a chance you can do a tutorial like this for the Advanced Camera? I cannot figure out how to use it. Even from other tutorials out there.

I can definately write a tutorial on the ASE/FCRE. Give me some time and I will.

[bowler4ever]

Thy topic must be stickied

[disneyland255]

Thank you DarkRide! I will give you as much time as you need. If there is any chance you can add pictures along with the tutorial that would be great also!

[Kirby Master]

Nevermind...

[DarkRidePerson]

Originally Posted by Kirby Master

Nevermind...

Is there a problem I can help you with?

[Kirby Master]

No, i was talking to Disneyland255, but realized after posting I thought he was talking about something else.

[disneyland255]

I'm sorry Kirby. I think I missed what you were talking about. Please repeat it.

[Kirby Master]

I thought you were talking about this tut, but then realized you weren't

[MizzKid92]

*Reading intently after printing the entire thing out*

I have got to figure this out, and I definately think this tutorial can help. Thanks dude!

[cstrfrk]

Hey DarRidePerson,

YOUR PM BOX IS FULL!
So I had to post this here.

I wanted to ask you if you would mind if I copied this great tutorial that you've made over to RCT3beat.com's tutorials page. It's very clear and easy to follow and many will benefit from it.

Of course credit will be given to you.

Let me know.
Thanks

[DarkRidePerson]

Originally Posted by cstrfrk

Hey DarRidePerson,

YOUR PM BOX IS FULL!
So I had to post this here.

I wanted to ask you if you would mind if I copied this great tutorial that you've made over to RCT3beat.com's tutorials page. It's very clear and easy to follow and many will benefit from it.

Of course credit will be given to you.

Let me know.
Thanks

Ah, sorry bout that.
Of course you can post it up there, the better if more people are able to read it.

[cstrfrk]

Thanks. Will have it up by the end of the weekend.
Much appreciated.

[Dormouse]

SO CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO ME HOW TO MAKE STARS??

Like in your Space Mountain...

I keep trying but I just can't get it!

[Moby]

Thankyou so much DRP what a great tutorial.
Since reading this i've been totally consumed by the AFE, a superior element of RCT.
Check out my 'Moondance' firework / FX show!

[ViperThreat]

I would also like to know how you made those stars, Jcats SpaceWorx (which i love) has the star walls, but they arent very dark, and ive had alot of issues with them. I would Love to learn how to make, or where to download that effect. Right now, ive got a coaster flying around a dark room with a load of asteroids, and other misc. stuff, but no stars to speak of.

BTW: Thanks soooooo much for this tutorial...

[sr3d]

WOW!

Great thanks i didn't think this even exsisted

[coinich]

Dude. Awsome.

[DarkRidePerson]

Halloa.
I have been seeing a lot of requests on how to make the stars. Unfortunately, I don't have the specs of the firework offhand. However, I will explain how the stars work so that everybody can make their own.

Ok, the way the firework..works involves using child particles to increase the length of time that the firework lasts for. It is a bit tricky to grasp, but I will explain it as best I can.

The first initial paricle emitter sends off about 1000 particles outward with a high "sphere" value (emitter speed). By reducing the particle emitter's "end time" value (emitter rate) from 1.00 to 0.01, all of the particles shoot out at once, creating a thin layer of stars. You can make the stars be more spread out by increasing the gap between the "start" and "end" times (emitter rate). This will make a more dense field. The particles life is relatively short, since the sphere value is so high. I.E., the longer the life, the farther it will be able to travel in its lifetime. Therefore, set the particles life to an amount that will make it end as soon as it reaches the desired distance.

The second particle, the child, is what makes the stars stop when they reach a specified point. This is done by increasing the "start time" (emitter rate) value from 0.00 to 0.99, causing it to go off as soon as the previous one ends. Remember, the previous one ends as soon as it reaches its destination, so that is when you want this one to go off. Since the previous one sent off 1000 stars, you want to set the "# of particles" value (emitter rate) to 1. Why, because the number 1 implies that there will be 1 new particle for every particle that the previous emitter (parent) sent off; a ratio, so to speak. To make the stars stay in place, however, you have to decrease the "parent" value (emitter speed) from 1.00 to 0.00. Increase the life of this particle to make it stay in place longer, so that you have a "lasting" starfield.

However, you will probably discover, at this point, that the "lifetime" value (particle life) only goes up to 20. If you want stars similar to the ones on my video, you will need to make it last longer. To do this, create another child particle with the exact same settings as the previous one, with the exception of "lifetime" (particle life), which you set, again, according to the amount of time you want your particle to last. Do this as many times as necessary until you have a particle that lasts as long as you want.

mine went something like this:
1 - 20 - 20 - 20 - 20 - 20

That means that the stars stay in place for 100 seconds (1 min, 40 sec).

Thats about it.
Ok, bye

[ViperThreat]

Wow that helped alot.. thanks DRP.

[ZeekSlider]

I must be stupid, because I read this thing as best I could and nothing worked. My attempt at making the stars ended up crashing the game when I tried to load them into the MixMaster.

[syx]

Sweet! It all worked... for about 12 hours.

Anyone out there ever see the Guido Fawkes code suddenly stop working?

I was making custom fireworks this morning, but now I can no longer use it to open the AFE.

Not sure if this is somehow related to having too many custom files, or some erroneous game option that I changed?

Any ideas?

[ZeekSlider]

Stupid question, but are you making sure you are spelling the name right?

For me, I just use the Cheater Family option and create a custom family with the names I use. They work every time they walk into the park.

[syx]

Looks like just that one sandbox file was bugged. I managed to get it working again though just by starting a new map, setting the name, and then loading my file without quitting to the menu screen. Works fine now.

[Whiteout]

Great tutorial, DRP!
I did notice a couple of minor issues, though:

Stretch - This is a cool effect. If you increase this value, the particle will stretch the further it moves. The longer the life, the more the strech. This value, depending on how high you make it will effect how fast your particle will stretch itself out. Max is 1.

Stretch varies with particle speed, not lifetime. The faster a particle is moving, the more stretch it will have. This is how AFE lasers are made.

Drag - This is a force that comes from the parent particle. What it does is it pulls the particle back towards its parent. The higher this value is, the stronger the pull. A low value will slow your particle down a bit, but a high value will pull it straight in reverse.

Drag cannot make particles move in reverse - it works just like the force of drag in real life. The highest drag value will simply stop a particle.