Buzzsaws: An HLB Weapon Effect Tutorial

Zalausai · Post by **Zalausai** » Sat Jun 29, 2013 4:03 am

This tutorial will teach you how to create a "buzzsaw".

A Buzzsaw is a close quarters weapon that is utilized by one of the HLB faction ships that I created myself.

Lets get started.

First off, it is on a turret. This allows the sawblade to turn and face its target.

Spoiler!

Below, you can see that there is a round section (Kae_Shn246) as is the previous tutorials regarding turrets. Next up the parenting tree is the "control arm" section (Kae_Shn210, selected).
The spinning part of the weapon will go at the end of the control arm. The "dummy gun" that drives the weapon will be parented on whatever section that you chose to have the "round section" be parented to.

Now you can see the parenting line that goes to the "blade axis" (Kae_Shn251). This is the section that spins and holds all of the "blades" themselves. Each blade is composed of two sections (Kae_Shn164).

Spoiler!

One of the two sections that compose the blade is lined up with the other exactly.
The lower depthed one is parented to the one directly above it.
Then (shift + arrow) is used to move the lower section down 2 and left 1.
The section's color is changed to white and its blending mode is set to "additive".
It is given a fake aegis effect with a spread value of one.
Finally, the blending mode of the effect is set to "additive" and the effect's color is set to orange.
This creates the effect of "hot metal" underneath the parent "blade".

The "blade" is copied seven more times, but the copies are parented to the "control arm" temporarily.

Spoiler!

Note the coordinates of the non fake aegis'd "blade" section. Remember them for later.
Select the "blade axis" section. Press (ctrl + J) nine times. This will rotate the section and the attached "blade" by 45 degrees.
Move one of the "blade" to the coordinates (the non fake aegis'd section of one). Depth the section downwards until it is just below the previous blade. The "heated metal" section should be below it. Parent the newly moved "blade" to the "blade axis".

Spoiler!

Repeat the rotating of the "blade axis" and placing the "blades" another two times. There should be four blades when you are done.

Spoiler!

As before, rotate the "blade axis" by 45 degrees and place another "blade". This time, depth it to be above the previous "blade" in the sequence.

Spoiler!

Repeat the previous steps by placing the next three "blades" under the previous ones in the setup. The last "blade" will be depthed under the first.
You can also go under the "ED2" tab and give the buzzsaw a rotation speed (CW). Set "rotating" to "enabled". It will now spin.

Spoiler!

On the "control arm", place a blaster (not weapon link). Move it so that its parenting arrow overlaps its point with that of the "blade axis" section.
Now, move the blaster out to the edge of the blade using (shift + arrow) until the parenting arrow is at the edge of the "blade's" edge. Count the number of steps that it is moved, then put it back.
In this example, the distance is 40.

Spoiler!

To have the blaster's projectiles appear as buzzsaw contact, the range and projectile speed should be half this number (40 / 2 = 20).
Buzzsaws make constant contact, so the fire rate and clip size should be set to zero. The reload speed will determine how often it fires. In this example, it is set to 1.
The weapon is also round, so the weapon should be given an arc range of 45 would do well. Also, set the burst field to 3, so it spreads "contact points" around.
This makes the weapon spawn projectiles and then instantly score a hit within the same frame around the edges of the sawblade.

The basic setup is complete. Now color it, and test it in the sandbox. This one is colored with construction colors.

: SMscreen094.png (5.6 KiB) Viewed 53629 times

Buzzsaw.zip: Requires Kae_Shn sprites; (2.3 KiB) Downloaded 1154 times

It is fickle and rarely fires the weapon when contact is made. However, that is the game itself. The setup itself functions well if faced with a slow or stationary target.