Archive: 9 posts

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So I've been working with the infamous "emit/destroy" in my recent levels and I think it's a very cool and useful tool for creators who work on levels that strain the thermometer.The cool thing about this technique, and lbp2 for that matter, is that whenever an object sits in a emitter, they don't take up the normal space of thermometer they normally would being outside the emitter, so this allows you to squeeze more in a level. When I say "emit/destroy", what I mean is that in the level, you have sections that are emitted whenever they are needed for the players, and then are destroyed when the section is no longer needed. For reference, I will be referring to my Jak and Daxter levels as they run solely on emitters http://i1.lbp.me/img/ft/fe1df32a68b076427137a4692b2bdc291d28e417.jpg Theres nothing there? Getting Started So it's pretty simple, create a section of your level, and place it in an emitter! Nah, it's not entirely that simple, but it does become simple once you learn the in's and out's of how it works correctly. Level Design For most people, you create your level and the sections of your level sit there like a rock and wait for the player to come across it only to be left alone once again, you create until there is no more room in the thermometer and that's your level. However, if you had created your level with the sections being emitted, you would be able to fit more into the level. That's where the "emit/destroy" technique comes in handy. It allows more to be in your level, and it opens more possible additions. Now for creating a level using this process, design your level sections as you normally would, create in the empty space that is the level, now when you are finished with a level section, make sure all parts of it are glue or connected properly. Capture it and place it in an emitter. For me I usually create my level like normal, and as I go along, add the emitters with the objects in them. I check to make sure it emits correctly (Ex: it actually emits, lined up correctly) and before I begin the next section, make sure I have my previously created section emitted out already so I can line up the section boundaries nicely when they are emitted next to each other. In my second Jak level, most of the sections are separate little island mounds, so it was easy to have them sit quietly without disturbing the other sections http://i9.lbp.me/img/ft/b59101218c0c0d39c20017bf010e9a8a25269e89.jpg Setting Up The Emitters So you have your section sitting in an emitter, what I'm about to say is basic stuff, but some beginner creators might not think about right away. Make sure the settings are set to "emit once" and the "max emitted at once" set to 1, reason being, the thermometer will set aside room for extra emitted pieces if it's sitting at "max emitted=10" or something. For the emitter to start, for me, a tag sensor works best, but whatever you feel works best for your level, use it http://i1.lbp.me/img/ft/8d195307259a3f226fbffb1758e3739f3cce40cd.jpg Here I have the tag sensor that emits the sections, that not gate is wired to a tag that triggers the destroy, I use this to quickly remove sections during create mode Applying The Destroy Part So each of your emitted sections need to be destroyed whenever they are no longer required, so set a destroyer on the said section, preferably with the "disappear" setting so it doesn't make noise when destroyed. Add a tag sensor and name it something easy to understand (ex: Destroy Island 3), now you have it ready to be destroyed! Oh and make the radius of the tag sensor big, the max setting is nice for this. Now you are able to wirelessly destroy it http://i3.lbp.me/img/ft/af30425238a0729c67f6e72f4603ba98ea1d9d6e.jpg Pretty simple really http://id.lbp.me/img/ft/6dd38c1fb33495ab1b7141fef833609cd989c1c0.jpg Here I had to add individual destroyers to the bridge planks since they aren't glued to the main level section Making It Work So now you need to set up some logic to trigger when the emitter emits the section and when it gets destroyed, I myself used a impact sensor since the player is using a sackbot the entire time, other methods, like using a players sensor etc. work well too, so whenever a sensor is triggered, it activates the "emit" or "destory" tag. http://i8.lbp.me/img/ft/d1871b6621177efc785e8a4a1d5ab9388d56337b.jpg Here you see that going in one direction activates the emit tag for the upcoming section and a destroy tag for the previous one So there you go, you have successfully implemented the "emit/destroy" technique and now can add more to your levels! <3 Bits 'Ol Knowledge It's best that the player doesn't see the sections emit, keep the player view in mind when setting up the emitters Keep each section moderately sized, otherwise you risk the chance of causing frame-rate skips/lag due to huge amounts being emitted at once, and the chance of a ps3 crash Keep in mind the thermo, this technique works around it, but keep in mind things won't emit if there isn't room left in the thermo to compensate for it If a level is multiplayer, keep in mind that empty thermo is needed for a level to run properly with more players, if you build a level that uses every ounce of thermo, it will cause ps3 freezes for large online parties Sections with a thin back layer won't emit over pre-existing level sections that use the 3d layers, so if a thin layer overlaps some 3d layers, change the setup, or like me, change the thin layers to theck I've found that deleting the emitters themselves during playmode, when the sections that they emit are no longer needed, is important, it frees up thermo as you continue along in the level Also, the loading time will increase based on how much extra you put in the level via emitters, keep that in mind Cool Levels That Use This Technique Community Font Kit 2.2.1 (http://lbp.me/v/4kvzqc) WATCHMEN (http://lbp.me/v/1d5bkr) http://i0.lbp.me/img/ft/bd006d9676feb52098a9aa31fe5f2b7474b050bf.jpg My intro on level 1 of my Jak series runs on emitters and deletes the previous separate sequencers when they are done being used http://i1.lbp.me/img/ft/0515707da8e70e66b48cd50f6ecd80e4197532b0.jpg Notice something missing? The Keira and Samos sackbots aren't there, they also are emitted and destroyed when the player isn't around http://ia.lbp.me/img/ft/45ad38ef93143e57327dbfb7274171b93726ccb8.jpg Here you see that I have the collectibles in my level sitting there, and a part of my level I didn't bother to add in an emitter So questions comments? Post below!

2012-04-17 18:47:00 Author: damaz10 Posts: 771

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Excellent tutorial with great real examples. Here are a few bits from my experience: - You may fool the thermometer but your level still takes up disc space and memory. I cannot say what the ultimate limit is, but you can imagine that a level worth of four thermometers loads four times as long as a normal level. Some people will not enjoy the wait. - When filling up a lot of emitters with a load of stuff, they may start to emit into the wrong layer. This risk is even more present when you emit objects that contain emitters of their own. In order to emit objects that are not 3 layers thick into the right place, use some invisible holo or sticker panel of 3 thick and glue that to the object that needs to be emitted. - Remember that using live capture on an object with an emitter is dangerous: once you delete the original, the only way of retrieving it is by using the emitted version. That version might come with some limitation to what you can do to it. I keep my emitted sections stored in a separate crater (and back it up regularly) to be on the save side. - Changing something on a live captured object will be visible in the emitted version instantly, but remember this will not be the case if you changed an object that will be emitted by and emitted object. You will have to recap the grandson object before the father object shows the changes when emitted from gramps. - Live changing an object that is supposed to fly off the moment you emit it but you don't want to lose the original when testing in preview? Stick a battery on some dark/light matter, set it to 0% and wire that to the chip of the object. Make sure you live cap only the object and not the battery.

2012-04-17 20:25:00 Author: Antikris Posts: 1340

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Added level examples that use this technique and the bit that tells you about loading times, thanks for the extra tips Kris, I don't use the dynamic capture, but now I'm curious to mess around with it

2012-04-17 23:53:00 Author: damaz10 Posts: 771

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this has always been almost hell for me to do since my levels are made up of many small parts n stuff. but it's the only way it can be done on LBP2. so ohwell. *mew

2012-04-18 05:40:00 Author: Lord-Dreamerz Posts: 4261

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I can tell you one thing, I recommend you NOT to use the emitter and destroy technique when you're nearing a deadline for the contest, it's painful when things go wrong. In my lastest level I used it, the following occurred constantly; - It didn't completely capture the entire level piece - Some level pieces emitted upside down or on an angle and you're defenceless when this happens, only live capping solves this. - Some levels pieces end up being emitted slightly altered, like one instance I had some layers pop out slightly then they should have been. - The box is painfully slow to capture things with - You can't see if you've capped everything if the level section is bigger than the screen - Freezing when levels starts to get big - Attract o gel effect doesn't show up - You have to make sure everything has a sensor and destroyer which eat up thermo a lot, so gluing is necessary. And hmm I want to change one thing, takes it out of pop it, tweaks it, repeats above fgfjghjrrjkwer.

2012-04-18 08:47:00 Author: PPp_Killer Posts: 449

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Yeah there are downsides to using this, as with any lbp workaround, there will be nasty occurances

2012-04-18 18:42:00 Author: damaz10 Posts: 771

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Useful thread. Thanks for the tutorial. That is handy and I've used a similar system for much smaller things before. (Like doors). Anyways, I hope I'm not too off topic but, I came to this thread because someone posted about it on my help thread, which in turn was for the same problem that I had asked the original author of this thread for help with randomly last night. (Don't know him, though.) Weird.. Also, don't the individual destroyers eventually take up room? Or is it very minimal?

2012-04-24 19:09:00 Author: Unknown User

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- Changing something on a live captured object will be visible in the emitted version instantly, but remember this will not be the case if you changed an object that will be emitted by and emitted object. You will have to recap the grandson object before the father object shows the changes when emitted from gramps. It's a family affair! One thing that I've done that's been helpful with this technique is use one player sensor with a giant radius at the far end of the level and one master sequencer to emit and destroy objects using tags. The player sensor outputs to a tag, and a matching tag sensor detects the signal strength of the player sensor. The tag sensor outputs to a positional sequencer. Then as I move through the level, I pick the points on the sequencer where I think things should be emitted or destroyed and put the appropriate tags on the sequencer. Just uses a lot less logic to do it this way. The player sensor isn't perfectly accurate, but the emit/destroy usually doesn't have to be either, so it works pretty well. Also the OP mentions emitting outside of the player's view, but there are times when it looks really cool to have the floor emitted as you're walking across it Of course, this may not work perfectly if you're not doing a regular old left to right platformer.

2012-04-25 20:53:00 Author: shane_danger Posts: 283

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Useful thread. Thanks for the tutorial. That is handy and I've used a similar system for much smaller things before. (Like doors). Anyways, I hope I'm not too off topic but, I came to this thread because someone posted about it on my help thread, which in turn was for the same problem that I had asked the original author of this thread for help with randomly last night. (Don't know him, though.) Weird.. Also, don't the individual destroyers eventually take up room? Or is it very minimal? Its very minimal if the emitted object isn't a huge object, however it does add up as you add more, I guess it just depends on the amount of thermo the object emitted takes It's a family affair! One thing that I've done that's been helpful with this technique is use one player sensor with a giant radius at the far end of the level and one master sequencer to emit and destroy objects using tags. The player sensor outputs to a tag, and a matching tag sensor detects the signal strength of the player sensor. The tag sensor outputs to a positional sequencer. Then as I move through the level, I pick the points on the sequencer where I think things should be emitted or destroyed and put the appropriate tags on the sequencer. Just uses a lot less logic to do it this way. The player sensor isn't perfectly accurate, but the emit/destroy usually doesn't have to be either, so it works pretty well. Also the OP mentions emitting outside of the player's view, but there are times when it looks really cool to have the floor emitted as you're walking across it Of course, this may not work perfectly if you're not doing a regular old left to right platformer. My method isn't the only way to work with the emit/destroy method, there are plenty of different ways to go about doing this

2012-04-26 17:50:00 Author: damaz10 Posts: 771

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