Beamman’s BeamCharge MME Effect

KillerBeer

9 years ago

How do I use Beamman’s BeamCharge effect? I load the accessory and only see the red cross, what’s up with that? And why is a .pmd model there?

Using Beamman’s BeamCharge Effect

The Beamman’s BeamCharge Effect is different from most of MME effects known to a beginner user and can be rather confusing in the way it is controlled. Still, it is a beautiful and highly flexible particle toy that can be used to create a variety of visuals.

The Really Big Red ~~Button~~ Cross That Doesn’t Do Anything

First of all, download it from Beamman’s effects page (check this article if you have trouble navigating it). Once you unpack it, you can see an .x accessory along with a .pmd model. If your first impulse is to load the “BeamCharge_Tgt.x” file into AMP and then attach it to a Dummy Bone, as you used to do with other MME effects, you’ll be instantly disappointed. No matter what you do with this red cross, there will be no sparkles.

That’s because this effect is controlled differently from what you’re used to. Erase the accessory and load the “BeamCharge.pmd” (notice that it has the same first name as the .fx file. Rule of thumb: *always* follow the ~~money~~ .fx). Now apply a .vmd file file to it (the Japanese name may be garbled, but it doesn’t really matter). Play for 60 frames. Kaboom!

That was a demonstration. ~~Next time it will be live rounds~~.

To learn how it was done, turn your attention to loaded model’s facials. As you can see… Oops. You can’t. All you *can* see is Japanese text (or pseudo-Japanese garbage, depending on your computer’s locale). You will have to fix the controlling model to unlock its true power.

Load the model into PMDE. What you need to do is to fill English names for model’s facials using Batch Correction. Rather than messing with Google Translate, here’s the ready list of names you can insert into the panel:

Number of particles
Progression
Length
Size
Thickness
Delay rnd
Distance rnd
Rotation
Hue
Saturation
Brightness
Transparency

Now fix model’s English tags in the “Information” tab, while you’re at it, and save the model. We’re back in the saddle! Load it into MMD once again, and this time pay attention to facials that the .vmd provides. Obviously, it sets most of parameters at the beginning, and then uses the “Progression” slider to run the effect’s intended sequence. Play with those settings to better figure their purpose. You can run the effect as seen in the example, changing some of its intital parameters, and then making it do the same routine with different color, size, or brightness… or you can discard it completely, making it do whatever *you* want. You’re the boss now.

Rather than varied “Progression” slider, this picture uses fixed Progression and varied Rotation (plus rotation of the object itself)

So, what’s up with the red cross?

Normally, you can set up effect’s position simply by moving its “center” bone. Personally, I can’t imagine why this way would not be enough, but if for some reason you prefer the old-fachioned method, with attaching an accessory to a Dummy Bone, this “BeamCharge_Tgt.x” allows you to do just that. Load it into MMD, and place it somewhere aside. You can see that the effect’s fire concentrates now not around the place our model’s center bone resides, but around the center of the accessory. The cross serves simply as a visualization point for where you want your effect to be. Once you set it up, make it invisible, and the effect will be still there.

I loaded my stage and I can’t see the effect! Help!

The reason for it is that since the effect is attached to the .pmd model instead of the .x accessory, it uses models’ rather than accessories’ load order list. You’ll have to manually set up a suitable value in the “background”->”accessories edit” window to make it appear properly over your accessories-ridden scene, and possibly even reorder accessories themselves to get the optimal view.

Effects managed by model’s sliders? Neat!

Want to be able to do it for yourself? Wish that more effects you use had this much flexibility? Ask me how.

Models used in illustrations: Nakao base and Office outfit by 2234083174 (recolored), hair by MMDFakewings18. Hiratabashi Station Stage by AkitaFanZ. Half-Lambert shader by kyaami is used for illumination.

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