[dapor]

Does anyone know how to create fire following a trail? Just like the burning "X" in Zorro...

[NoStr0m0]

Try to build a fire using an emitter and after you're sattisfied with how it looks in place add and animate a Path Wind. That should do the trick. After that you can add other efects... the sky's the limit


By the way the "X" in Zorro was actually a "Z"

OR You could edit the letter or whatever contour you want to light up in Modeler using splines. Before you finalize editing, and after the final shape tweaking you just have to max out their points by hiting n and increasing the divisions (I think 200 is max).
Then in Layout you ad an emitter to that object and from the nozzle chose object vertices.
A more detailed description is given in the growing vines tutorial but I can't remember where I saw it.

[hoopti]

Originally posted by NoStr0m0 A more detailed description is given in the growing vines tutorial but I can't remember where I saw it.

I think it's either on Splinegod's site or Kurv's site under the free tutorials section. I hope mentioning that doesn't break any rules here.

Hoop

[dapor]

Oh yeah... Thanks Nostromo! That vine effect sounds pretty much the same way the fire effect I'm going after. The only problem now is learning it, aside from learning to create realistic fire! haha! And thanks for correcting me...it actually was a "Z" and not an "X"! Stupid! haha...

[NoStr0m0]

No problem...glad I could help.
The whole thing with the wind is actually fairly easy. You just create a particle emitter and a wind which you set to heavy or even higher and set it to Path. Then you go to a side view (or top) depending how you want your text to be placed and you start keyframing the wind so the path forms your letter(s). And that's about it. When you play the animation you should see the particles following the path of the wind.

The only problem with this is that the particles will be moving from the emitter to the end of the path which can be good or bad, depending on what you want to do with it.

If you plan on using the "growing vine" method you must create a spline in Modeler of the letter you want and send it to Layout. Make sure that before you press Enter and make it permanent you max out it's vertex count. Just press n for numeric and drag the slider all the way to the right. That should give you about 200 points to work with.
Now, in Layout, in object properties you add an emitter which you set to emit from Object Vertex or something and you press play.
After that you can ad volumetrics and do whatever you want.

Hope it helps....