Spark pops
A burst that fires where each spark of a layer dies, or where it is born. Bubbles that pop into rings, sparks that end as fireworks, a trail of glitter that splits as it fades. Pops are optional: a design without them looks exactly as it did before.
A pop layer is a small hit that fires once for every spark of the layer it is attached to, at the moment that spark dies and at the place it is. It has everything a hit layer has - picture, Transform, blend mode, curves, tint and forces - so the Hit tab, the Sparks tab and Controls you meet everywhere describe most of its card. This page covers what is new.
Where to find it
Pops live in one module that follows you between two tabs. At the end of the Sparks tab it is called Spark pops and lists the pops attached to Sparks layers. On the Hit tab, after the hit layers, it is called Hit pops and lists the pops attached to Hit layers. The line next to the switch counts the pops on this tab and says how many sit on the other one.
Show pops - one switch for every pop on both tabs. Off hides them all without deleting anything.
This switch is shared by the Sparks and Hit tabs. Switching it off on one tab also hides the pops on the other.
+ Add pop - adds a Bubble pop, attached to the first layer of the tab you are on, and opens its card.
Add one on the Sparks tab, press Launch Selected and watch the small rings appear behind the coin as its sparks die. That is the whole idea in one click.
Variation - the folded group above the pop cards: how much each pop differs from the next, like the Variation of the other tabs.
[pops_01 - The pops module at the end of the Sparks tab with one Bubble pop card open: Show pops, the Variation group, Add pop, the card with its Pop preset, Attached to (box 1) and the Trigger group (box 2).]
The pop card
Pop preset - loads a ready-made pop into this card: picture, count, curves, forces and blend mode. The six hit presets follow the pop presets in the list; those are sized for a pot, so they are large on a spark.
Start from a preset, then change one thing. Bubble pop - one ring that grows and fades, bigger for bigger bubbles. Firework burst - two dozen sparkles thrown out in every direction, still carrying some of the spark's speed. Crackle - a handful of flickering sparkles that come on one after another. Glitter split - three sparkles that keep flying the way the spark went, in its colour and at its size. Smoke puff - three soft puffs that start a tenth of a second before the spark is gone. Tiny flash - one quick flash.
A picture you uploaded and the Attached to choice are kept when you load a preset. Everything else is replaced.
Attached to - the layer whose sparks this pop fires on: any Sparks layer (Sparks: name) or Hit layer (Hit: name). Several pops can attach to one layer, for a ring, a flash and a spray on the same bubble; one pop attaches to one layer at a time.
A pop on a Hit layer fires where each particle of the burst ends: a fountain hit whose drops end as tiny fireworks, confetti that twinkles as it lands.
A card marked red draws nothing and exports nothing. Either it is Not attached (its layer was removed; pick another), or it is attached to a Sparks layer in Locked to path mode. Locked sparkles have no life of their own, so nothing can pop on them: switch that layer's Mode to Loose.
Trigger - when it fires
Fires at - the moment of each spark the pop fires on: Spark death (the end of its life, the default), Spark birth, or Birth and death, which makes two pops per spark.
Birth with a Tiny flash puts a small spark of light on every point where a sparkle is born, so the coin seems to shed them.
A spark cut short by Cull at flight end on its own layer never dies, so it does not pop.
Offset - moves the pop earlier or later than that moment, in milliseconds, measured from each spark's own death (or birth), so every pop keeps the same lead.
-100 starts the pop while the spark is still fading, so the two overlap and read as one thing turning into another. +300 leaves a short gap, like a firework shell that bursts a moment after it goes dark.
A pop never fires before its spark is born, however negative the Offset. The track runs from -1000 to +1000; double-click the number to type a longer one.
Chance - the share of the sparks that pop, from 0 to 100 %. Which sparks pop is decided per spark and stays the same every time you play it.
30 % leaves two thirds of the bubbles to fade away quietly, which looks far more natural than every one of them bursting.
[pops_03 - Three crops of the same coin flight frozen at the same moment: the sparks alone, the same sparks with a Bubble pop, and with a Firework burst at 20 % Chance.]
The rest of the card
Variants + Pick - extra pictures or sequences for this pop, so one layer can pop in several looks. Per pop gives every particle of one burst the same look (a red firework, then a green one); Per particle mixes the looks inside one burst (confetti of several shapes).
Inherit velocity (Emission group) - how much of the spark's speed at that moment the pop carries on with. 0 % leaves the pop where the spark died; 100 % makes a firework shell whose burst keeps travelling.
30 to 50 % on a firework: the burst drifts on a little the way the spark was going, and the pop's own Drag slows it down.
Inherit size (Emission group) - how much the pop follows the spark's size at that moment. 0 % makes every pop the size you designed; 100 % makes a small spark give a small pop.
Bubbles of mixed sizes should pop into rings of mixed sizes: that is what Bubble pop's 60 % does.
Colour from (Over life group, under the tint gradient) - Own gradient uses the pop's own tint; The spark takes the spark's colour at the moment it pops; Both multiplies the two.
The spark: a gold spark ends in a gold burst and a blue one in a blue burst, with no second gradient to keep in step.
Burst direction is a screen angle (Forces group, on by default) - on, Burst direction is an angle on the screen, as on a hit: 0 right, 90 down, 270 up. Off, it is measured from the way the spark was travelling: 0 onward, 180 back.
Off with a narrow Spread and direction 0 throws a splash forward whichever way each spark flew.
A pop card hides the controls that mean nothing on a pop: Emitter, Mode, Emit from, System life, Emit offset, Band length, Path looseness, Velocity influence, Follow path and Hit delay. The spark decides where and when a pop starts, so none of them has a job.
On the spark layer: the Pops group
Every Sparks card and every Hit card ends with a folded Pops group. Its header says how many pops are attached. The pops are set up on their own cards; this group shows the result and holds the two choices that belong to the spark layer itself.
The pop chips - one button per attached pop, named like its card. A click opens that card.
+ Add pop to this layer - adds a Bubble pop attached to this layer and opens its card.
Pick - how the attached pops share the sparks. Every pop: they stack, and each pop rolls its own Chance for every spark. One pop per spark: they are alternatives, and their Chances are weights.
Three firework pops of different colours at 30 % each, with One pop per spark: nine sparks in ten burst as one of the three, and the tenth just fizzles out.
With One pop per spark, Chances that add up to more than 100 % are scaled down to share it, so 60 % and 60 % means half and half, and nothing fizzles.
Draw the sparks - off, this layer draws nothing of its own. It still decides where and when its pops fire, so it becomes an invisible carrier.
A firework: sparks with a long life and gravity that nobody sees, and a Firework burst where each one dies. Or rain drops that only show as splashes.
A carrier's pictures are left out of the export, because it draws nothing. The layer itself still ships, so the game can run it unseen.
[pops_02 - The Pops group at the end of a Sparks card, open, with two pops attached: the chips Bubble pop and Tiny flash (box 1), + Add pop to this layer, Pick (box 2) and Draw the sparks (box 3).]
[pops_04 - Two crops of the same flight with a Firework burst at 20 % on the factory sparks: Draw the sparks on, then off, where only the bursts are left.]
Mute, Solo and what shows
A pop draws when Show pops is on, the pop is not muted, Solo allows it, and its layer shows: that layer's tab switch is on and it is not muted. A pop cannot fire from sparks the game does not run.
Solo a pop to tune it on its own. Its sparks are still worked out, unseen, so the pops keep firing in the right places while nothing else is drawn. See Mute and Solo.
How many is too many
The tool sets no limit on pop layers or particles. Every spark can pop, so the numbers multiply: forty sparks with a Firework burst of 24 particles is nearly a thousand pictures at once. Chance and Particle count are the two levers. Check a heavy look with F8 and Launch All, not with one coin.
Every journey, and the files
Pops work wherever there is a Sparks or Hit layer: on a coin, a win line head, an atmospheric item or a flow item. With no Sparks or Hit layer yet, a new pop starts Not attached (marked red) until you add one and pick it under Attached to.
Save Settings keeps every pop, its layer and its settings. A session saved before pops existed opens with none and looks exactly as it did. Export Effect adds the pops only when there are some, and ships a pop's pictures only when it draws: switched on, attached, and its layer on. See Settings tab.