How do games make fire and smoke effects? [closed]

Question

I searched the internet for information about particle systems and fire effects but I haven't found any good answers.

Some games have some sort of movie shown as the fire, which is pretty good, but not for fires which are close to the viewer.

How can I make realistic fire and smoke effects in a game? I am looking for good sample code or descriptions how to do this.

Answer 1

If you really want to get started on the simulation of fluid like effects (which actually include smoke and fire) then have a look at Jos Stam's excellent "stable fluids" paper. It is perhaps mathematically somewhat involved if you're not familiar with the terrain. But if you get past the equations (this might help), it's not that hard. And there are plenty of implementations available.

Just Google "Stable Fluids" :) Perhaps not an actual particle system, but great fun nonetheless.

Answer 2

While I do not have the knowledge to provide an answer myself, I can provide a lead for you: http://sourceforge.net/projects/real-time-fire/

The goal of this project is to create a fast generator of a volumetric fire animation. The generator uses a short precomputed sequence to produce an endless animation. Packages real-time-fire2.0 and higher contain additionally a heat haze.

Answer 3

I would suggest searching for the source code of some games that require the use of a particle system.

If you can't find them, there's always Wikipedia for some basic knowledge. This might not be enough though.