Rethinking my process

[jwalt]

I'm Noob enough that I'm not sure this is the place for the posting, so an apology in advance if the moderators have to move it. That said, I had a desire to try the current Background Blitz. I may not actually enter, since I'm not at all happy with what I currently have. I'm not an artist, but I've been able to do some things with sPatch and Bryce that have kept me entertained. Here's the image:



I need to rethink my process as it relates to using AGS. I could smooth out my animation by adding frames. I could toy with the spark shower, and, perhaps, make it more realistic looking. In the end, I might come up with something for a cut scene, but not something that could stand as a background, since too much relies on Bryce. The most constructive critiscm might be a nudge in the direction of plugins and modules that would let the AGS Engine handle much of this. I've already found a Forum link to a particle system tutorial that seems well enough done that even I might be able to start using it for the spark shower. I'm going to start playing with it. I need to do some searches related to lighting via AGS also. I'd really appreicate comments about the process you folks might use, here. And if anyone has something to say about the image, I'd welcome that, too. Now, to see what the Moderators do with this post...

[Renal Shutdown]

I'm such a noob that I'm not sure what I'm looking at.  Are we to discuss the shape of the thing in general, or the lighting animation?  If the lines are supposed to be 'sparks', they seem awfully long; so  much so that it seems more like a neon sign.  How does it look in Bryce?  At first glance, I'd think the light needs toning down and spreading out a bit, or the animation speed needs increasing.

[jwalt]

I was mainly interested in the lighting and spark shower. Regarding how it looks in Bryce, it looks much the same, other than what the gif construction kit did to the colors. Your analogy about the neon llights is spot on. The original image I based this on was a black and white photo, a night shot, and the spark trails were distorted by a long exposure. I wanted to make it more realistic, but didn't think I could do it in Bryce without a substantial amout of tinkering. In the end, I began wondering what AGS could do for me. I've kind of run into a dead end regarding the particle system I was trying, since I'm getting a number of errors when I try to run the program. I'm working on it, but probably need to get more familiar with AGS scripting. I'm guessing my question is, basically, too broad. I do appreciate you taking the time to respond!