By copying the first empty emitter, you can create the trail of the firework and add the modules you need to create the trail effect.
To concentrate on one emitter at a time, you can turn off multiple emitters by clicking the blue checkmark and leaving the working one selected.
You can turn off an emitter by selecting multiple emitters then right-clicking and selecting Enable, Disable, or Isolate from the drop down menu to focus on one emitter while working in the System Editor.
If you accidentally close a window or panel you need for editing your effect, you can find all the windows and panels in the Windows menu.
If the emitter has an issue or error message, all issues and errors are captured either by the Niagara Log or the Output Log. From these logs you should be able to see what is causing the issue or error in your effect.
Select the first empty emitter stack and right-click.
Select Copy from the dropdown menu.
Right-click in the System Editor and select Paste from the dropdown menu.
Select the new emitter.
Click the emitter name and change to Trail.
Event Handler
Adding an event handler means that the emitter stacks can directly bind events and set off the emitter during a series of events.
Click the + STAGE button on the emitter stack and select Event Handler from the dropdown menu. The Event Handler settings automatically open in the Details panel.
Select Location Event under Head from the dropdown menu in the Source field.
Select Spawned Particles from the dropdown menu in the Execution Mode field. This controls whether particles are spawned as a result of handling an event.
Set the Spawn Number to 10. This determines the number of particles that follow the head particles.
Click the Plus icon next to the Event Handler module and select Receive Location Event from the dropdown menu. The Receive Location Event settings automatically open in the Details panel.
Select Apply from the dropdown menu in the Velocity(Vector2) field. This follows the Head empty emitter’s location.
Click the down arrow next to Inherited VelocityScale and select Random Range Float from the dropdown menu.
Set the Minimum value to -0.5.
Set the Maximum value to -0.1. The negative values extend the fireworks in the opposite direction.
Select Apply from the drop down menu in the Color(Linear Color) field. This will set the color of this emitter's spawned particles to the color of the particle in the other emitter that they are following.
Emitter Update
Select Spawn Burst Instantaneous under the Emitter Update module and press the Delete key to delete the property from the Emitter Update module .
Particle Spawn
These settings determine how the particles look when they spawn.
Select Add Velocity under the Particle Spawn module and press the Delete key to delete the property from the Particle Spawn module.
Select Initialize Particle to open the Initialize Particle settings in the Details panel.
Change the Lifetime Min value to 0.5 and the Lifetime Max value to 1.5.
Change the Color Mode to Unset.
Change the Sprite Size Mode value under Sprite Attributes to:
X = 3.0
Y = 30.0
Particle Update
These settings tell the particles how to behave over their lifetime.
Select Drag under the Particle Update module and press the Delete key to delete the property from the Particle Update module.
Select Generate Location Event under the Particle Spawn module and press the Delete key to delete the property from the Particle Spawn module.
Select Generate Death Event under the Particle Spawn module and press the Delete key to delete the property from the Particle Spawn module. You don’t need these modules because this emitter needs to listen for events, not signal them.
Click the Plus icon next to Particle Update and select Curl Noise Force from the dropdown menu. The Curl Noise Force options open in the Details panel.
Change the Noise Strength value to 500.
Change the Noise Frequency to 50. Curl noise adds vibration movement to the trail of the firework particles.
The firework effect in your preview window shows how the firework head and trail behave together.
Next, you'll build the main explosion emitter that truly acts like a firework.