Illusion of motion using texture animation

[Candide LeMay]

I'd like to create some realistic looking 3D flames (for torches, fireplaces etc) that appear to move back and forth or change size. I figure there ought to be some clever tricks with the mesh construction or with UV mapping to utilize SL texture animations to achieve this effect. Any ideas?

[ChinRey]

The standard way of doing it is with a frame animation. Here's an example using Eric Linden's old 16 frame texture. I think there are better textures on the market by now (this one's from the very early days of SL) but it's still not at all bad:

https://gyazo.com/c602c2b6a20324fde10790e2303f52c1

The trick here is to use several flat and square mesh sheets at different sizes and angles, each UV mapped to cover the entire UV map area.

An alternative is to use smooth animations across a very bumpy surface. This is an old sculpt but there's no reason why you can't do the same with mesh:

https://gyazo.com/415596a39199787275fb98cd7ebd505e

For torches I think particles are better because they can respond to wind and be made to flicker randomly in ways textures can't. The particle texture and settings here could do with a lot of improvements (it's an other one from the SL stone age - this one by Ryan Linden) but it should give you the idea. You can find this torch in your library folder btw:

https://gyazo.com/13db5b447eb98ec86c5ffaf34ecacd28

Btw, does anybody know how to make an animate Gyazo from only a part of the screen?

[Kyrah Abattoir]

I typically prefer particle fire personally, more texture efficient, and reactive.