I really want to get into special FXs for my games, I am especially fascinated by the FXs of Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy. How were these created, people keep throw the "It's particles!" answer at me but I really don't think it is. Anyways can you guys fill me in on how this stuff is put together, I would really appreciate it. I put some URLs in here to show you what I am talking about, I really want to know how to do the "Shadow" effect on weapons, like in the first and second pics. http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/img311.jpg http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/img310.jpg http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/d35.png http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/6.jpg http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/35.jpg http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/31.jpg http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/42.jpg http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/014/014008/img_1294296.html http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/014/014009/img_1839819.html This last one is from a movie in FFX http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/014/014008/img_1289128.html Thanks Grei-

http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/img311.jpg
http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/img310.jpg
http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/d35.png
http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/6.jpg
http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/35.jpg
http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/31.jpg
http://www.kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/images/42.jpg
http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/014/014008/img_1294296.html
http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/014/014009/img_1839819.html

This last one is from a movie in FFX
http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/014/014008/img_1289128.html

Clickies \o/

Particles are used for a lot of effects. It's all about how you manage and move the particles for the effect that you want. Billboards, textured spheres and planes are also used a lot. Look into how to manipulate the texture matrix and use multi-texturing. These features open up a lot of Opportunity for nifty effects [smile]

These effects definately look as though they're made using particle systems. Check out the last screenshot, you can even see some of the particles shooting off.

Particle systems are many (usually small) objects that can have various things such as velocity, direction, origin, fade rate, life time and many other things that the programmer can define for them. They can create various effects, such as those you've listed screenshots for.

What programming language and API do you intend to use to create such effects, we can then point you in the right direction?