Craft FirePower

Using Craft Firepower

Optimizing the scene It's wise to optimize the scene before starting to recording the animation. The scene is optimized by decreasing the amount of polygons shown during the recording. This is achieved by hiding objects not crucial to the part of the scene to be animated. Another tip is to use Craft Bounding Poly, which temporary lowers the amount of polygons for selected objects and allows for a smoother recording.

1. The first time Craft Firepower is started, the license agreement system will be launched to verify the license:
   • Select Standard License. Enter the license number under License Number then click Ok.
   • If the program is only to be evaluated, select Demo License and the program will be fully functional for seven days. Click Ok to continue.
2. Configure the input settings for Craft Firepower.
   • Select Firepower in the plugin tree list and click on the Input Settings button in the Craft Director Tools window. This will open the Input Settings window for Craft Firepower.
     
3. If you want your Cannon to follow a moving object (for example a tank or a gun boat) start by positioning it where it should be mounted and then link/parent "Firepower_gun" to the moving object. Make sure you place the pivot of the Gun in the middle of the barrel of your high-poly gun.
   
   Place the Firepowers tip with a offset larger than "x". The "x" is the length the hig poly bullet is larger than the Firepower_templateBullet (as shown in the image below).
   
4. Link/Parent the"Firepower_gun" to the high poly cannon.
5. Link/Parent the high poly barrel to "Firepower_barrel".
6. Align your high poly bullet/shot to "Firepower_templateBullet".
7. Link/Parent the high poly bullet/shot to "Firepower_templateBullet"
   .
8. (Optional) Link/Parent "Firepower_gravityDirection" to an object you want the bullets to collide with.
9. (Optional) Rotate the rotationDirection mesh to change the direction of shots rotation.
   
10. Click "Record" in Craft Director Tools main window and use the key you bound to "Fire" to fire the bullets/shots.
11. Click "Stop" to stop the recording.
12. Click the button for "Toggle visibility for all high-poly objects" ('the black wheel' in the toolbar)

›› Input settings

Fire

This button will fire the shots.
 

Spinner...

Spinners enables the change of parameter values with an input controller in real-time.

›› Config settings

Opening the Configure window

The Configure window is used for changing the parameters of the plug-ins.

1. Select Firepower in the Craft Director Tools window.
2. Click the Configure button in the toolbar to open the Configure window.
3. The Configure window is now open.

General Modes

Hide Helpers
Hides the helper objects.
 

Hide Helpers During Recording
Hides the helpers during recording.
 

Hide Camera
Hides the camera which follows the missile from behind.
 

Hide Camera During Recording
Hides the camera during recording.
 

Bullet Properties

Lifetime (seconds)
Determines the lifetime of the bullets fired.
 

Muzzle Velocity (m/s)
The velocity of the bullets.
 

Rate of fire (rounds/s)
The number of rounds fired per second.
 

Bullets/discharge
The amount of bullets fired in the same discharge.
 

Spread Angle (degrees)
The maximum angle the bullets may spread from its default path.

Rotation (revolutions/s)
The bullets rotation speed.

Randomize Rotation Speed
How much the rotation speed is randomized. If Randomize Rotation Speed is 1 it gives 0 +/- (Rotation (revolutions/s)).

Randomize Rotation Axis
Randomizes the rotation axis.

Gravity

Gravity.

Collision parameters

Elasticity
Determines how much the bullets will bounch when colliding with an object.
 

Collision correction value
This setting limits size of the heading correction that can be executed in the space of a second.
 

Resistance

Air resistance.
 

Select

Select all bullets
Selects all the bullets in the scene.
 

Recoil properties

Backward (frames)
The amount of frames for the recoil to its backward max.
 

Forward (frames)
The amount of frames for the recoil to its start position.
 

Response factor
The value how smooth the recoil is.
 

Depth (%)
Sets how deep the barrel goes into the gun.