Anime Crescent Wave Slash

HOW IT'S MADE

Anime Crescent Wave Slash stacks 7 particle emitters, each with its own job. Techniques worth a look: glowing strokes traced along shapes, particles stretched along their motion, keyframed parameters and post filters (bloom and impact frames).

It loops seamlessly every 1.2 s, and 4 of its layers fire in bursts, so it pulses instead of flowing evenly. Start times are staggered from 0 s to 0.48 s, so the layers arrive one after another. To change its colour, select "Afterimages" in the studio and edit Colour A and Colour B. Size on the same layer sets how big its particles are. The colour swatches by the downloads recolour every layer at once.

Layers, in draw order

1. Swingstroke / additiveA glowing line traced along a path. Its start and end are keyframed, so it writes itself on and off.
2. Crescent Waveparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.1 s. It grows as it ages. Colour runs from white to cyan over each life.
3. Wave Edge, Hit Flashparticles / additiveA single particle at 0.1 s. It grows as it ages. Colour: white.
4. Afterimagesparticles / additiveA stream of image sprites, its rate keyframed over the loop. Colour: cyan.
5. Tip Sparksparticles / additiveA stream of streaks along a line, its rate keyframed over the loop. They slow down with drag. Colour runs from white to cyan over each life.
6. Wind Linesparticles / additiveA stream of streaks along a line, its rate keyframed over the loop. Colours range between white and pale cyan.
7. Breakup Motesparticles / additiveOne burst of 36 soft glows along a line at 0.48 s. They shrink as they age and slow down with drag. Colours range between white and cyan.