CommandSim Effects (CS Effects)

CommandSim Effects ("CS Effects") is a flexible tool (Flash extension) to create realistic smoke, fire, and other special effects. Modeling smoke properly is one of the most critical aspects of making your training effective, since teaching firefighters to "read smoke" (a term popularized by David Dodson, of Response Solutions LLC) and predict hostile events can help them avoid disastrous decisions being made on the fireground. With proper knowledge of smoke behavior, you can use CommandSim Effects to teach firefighters those critical cues.

CS Effects produces smoke and fire that look like video clips, but in reality they are much more flexible. You can choose one of the default smoke, fire, and HazMat patterns we have included, or modify any or all of their more than forty (40) parameters, such as wind, turbulence, volume, density, etc. to achieve precise behavior you need.

Other fire and smoke simulation systems provide different types of smoke and fire but do not have the ability to gradually transition from one condition to the next, for example, smoke conditions getting heavier and darker. Because of the way CS Effects works under-the-hood, you can make your smoke effect transition naturally and easily, to create the highest level of realism possible. This is achieved using CS Effects to determine the smoke or fire pattern, and CS Transition to handle how one effect blends into the next. Check out the CS Transition documentation to see how easily you can make your conditions change smoothly and naturally.

Using CS Effects

Using CS Effects is simple. You place one token in each place over a photograph you want smoke, fire, or an effect to appear. The user interface makes it easy to choose from patterns we have provided or you have created, and customize those patterns to fit your exact needs for the scenario. You can even extend CS Effects with your own smoke, fire, water, foam, etc. graphics and control its behavior using the standard interface, and share effects with other CommandSim customers.

Because CS Effects dynamically generates its effect based on the current set of parameter values, you can change those values over time to product realistic condition changes. The CS Transition extension lets you set the start and ending effect conditions, and smoothly changes from the starting effect to the ending effect over time. You can tell CS Transition when to start the transition--a mouse click, a key press, or at a specific moment in time.

How CS Effects Works

CS Effects simulates smoke, fire, and effects by moving individual graphics ('puffs', or 'particles') in a mathematical sequence according to speed, rotation, angle, etc. In technical terms, this is known as a "particle generator", since the system creates particle puffs and moves them along a path that simulates the way smoke or fire behaves. You can modify both the graphics and the parameters that determine the path. We provide a default set of puff graphics, but you can supply your own to create a limitless set of effects, such as water flow, specific kinds of smoke, fire patterns, smoke-filled rooms, etc.

This approach is contrasted with systems that create smoke by playing video clips. The advantage of the CS Effects way is that you can control how the effect behaves to a much greater degree of freedom than approaches that use video clips. The disadvantage is that creating a lot of smoke and fire in the same visual can slow down the simulation, depending on your computer processor speed. When this happens, often you can replace groups of similar smoke patterns with a single smoke pattern that combines graphics.

Organization of Help

The following sections present how to use CS Effects, from the Quick Start Guide through programming smooth condition changes. The main sections are:

1. Quick Start Guide. Tells you how to create your first visual within 10 minutes.
2. Understanding the CS Effects User Interface. Introduces you to the overall process of using CS Effects in your scene, and walks you through all the screens of the user interface, including the three main sections: the Library (USE), Editing Effects (EDIT), and Sharing Effects (SHARE).
   • USE: Using the CS Effects Library. The Effects Library is a collection of smoke, fire, and HazMat patterns provided by default. You apply an effect pattern by clicking on the name of the effect. Using the EDIT functionality, you can edit any pattern to come up with your own patterns, and add them to your Library, and even share your unique creations with others (SHARE functionality).
   • EDIT: Adjusting CS Effects Parameters. Starting with a basic pattern, you can edit any of 40 or more parameters, such as velocity, volume, density, color, wind, and gravity, among others. Once you achieve the exact effect you want, you can save it to your Library for instant retrieval in other circumstances.
   • SHARE: Extending your Library through Sharing CS Effects with Other Customers. CS Effects lets you easily share effects you have created with other customers.
3. Constraining Effects to Appear from Behind Buildings or Objects, or through Windows. This tutorial goes step-by-step to show you how to simulate dimensionality in your scene. You place smoke and fire at their appropriate location and then tell Flash which parts to obscure, making it seem like the effect is in front of, or behind, elements in your photograph.
4. Advanced Topics
   • Creating New Graphics to Extend CS Effects. Under the hood, CS Effects is a powerful "particle generator" that lets you control the path of any type of graphic element. By default, CS Effects includes particles that look like smoke and fire, but you can make and add your own graphics to simulate water, fluids, or any other kind of plume or puddle.
   • Programming CS Effects. You can take precise control of a CS Effects through programming its behavior. This section introduces the basic concepts of programming an effect. The CS Transition extension lets you change smoke and fire conditions without programming.
   • This section teaches you the basics of controlling CS Effects precisely through scripting/programming, to achieve special effects. The CS Transition extension is an easy way to achieve many
   • CS Effects Parameter Reference. Documents the parameters and methods of CS Effects. Also details the normal operating ranges of the parameter sliders in the CS Effects user interface, and the parameters values for the default smoke, fire, and HazMat effects.

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