Hey there everyone! I’ve recently been working on some electricity inspired by Midoriya’s quirk in my hero academia but it doesn’t feel static and natural as it should be. Anyone have any tips I can use to make it so?
Updated Progress (It’s a little easier to see in purple) :
The effect in Engine:
Reference:
Looking really nice already! I think the flipbook could be played faster, and then randomise the spawnrate a bit more. I feel it is emitting at a rate that is too constant right now.
Thank you Madosho! That’s a good point, I’ll play with the randomness immediately 
Just by looking at your reference you can see that it doesn’t always has a lightning (More noticeable on the most right one (it’s image A, 1 blank, image B, 1 blank, image A, etc…)),
Try to add some blank sprites in your sprite sheet 
@Madosho I created more randomness both with color, spawn, size, and a slight orbit. Thank you so much!
@Tayko Hmm, adding blanks is a fantastic idea. I actually have two different sprite sheets going on currently sort of assets instead of animation but maybe that’s what I’m missing! Do you think it would be possible to create an erosion for the lightning as it diffuses away?
The two sprite sheets I created):
Current Progress After Critique:
I love me some good stylized electricity!
Thanks Travis
This is awesome!
I’ve done a lightning animation in the past, but thanks to you now I wanted to do more. This effect inspired me very much.
All of you are so sweet! Thank you!
are you just spawning flat sprites? it might make the effect look a bit more 3 dimensional to have a few curved meshes using the same flipbooks that wrap around the character mesh.
This looks so cool!
I have a couple questions though: Have you got these particles always activated and parented to the mannequin man in an actor? Or are you attaching them to sockets around the character?
@tharlevfx You are completely correct, I am spawning flat sprites. I originally created different 3d meshes but it didn’t have the random electricity feeling I wanted. So I drew the curved electricity and put it in a different emitter than the more straight bolts. But, creating a few curved meshes with this is a splendid idea!
@Jared Actually, I did have them parented to particular sockets at one point. But, then I figured that it would look less divided if it was in a single effect so I set it to spawn in a cylinder in cascade. After playing with it a little you can simply drag and drop it on the character in the edit third person window.
You can try and have the lower parts arc towards the ground. Might make it more dynamic.
Honestly, this is way past my ability. It’s amazing!