[Fixed] SplinedParticles + Sparcle = CRASH!

[Skinnytorus]

Hi, all.
I think I have to report a very unstable work of a particle system including SplinedParticles op followed by Sparcle modifier op.
Changing particle count or any other value (quite unpredictable as to which one exactly) results in a crash.
The example I attach crashes wz4 immediately after showing the Spline op.
Any ideas?

[reEto]

as always, learn to stack right way, check gradient first

[Skinnytorus]

reEto, thanks for the hint.
So, I turned off Premul Aplpha in the gradient and added a yellow Transform after the Spline.
Apparently, it crashes less frequently, but in order to actually see the particles I need to 'reinitialize' particles
by removing the Sparcle op from the stack and then stacking it back again. Is there a way to avoid that?

[Skinnytorus]

But anyways, it crashes every time I change Spread in SplinedParticles op...

[erbsen]

I don´t know how it should look like but

Ballistic
Sparcle
SplinedParticles

StaticParticles
Sparcle
SplinedParticles

works just fine.

[Skinnytorus]

Thanks. I will definitely try that!
So, that is to say that SplinedParticles is a modifier rather than a standalone particle emitter, isn't that?

[Skinnytorus]

erbsen
Having tried the stacking you suggested I see that the stack doesn't crash but I can't achieve the effect I want.
Take a look at the attached file. Lissajous works fine, but if I replace it with SplinedParticles and put a Spline below Sprites - crash!
Maybe some alternative solutions?

Edit: Stacking Spracle under Ballistic, StaticParticles, or Cloud followed by SplinedParticles does not give me the gradual fading effect on the particles produced by the moving emitter. It fades particles over the whole Spline length.

[erbsen]

As i can see from the example file SplinedParticles are combined with Chunks and Trails not Sprites.
I´ve tested a lot but sadly i don´t have a solution.

[Skinnytorus]

I see... Not that SplinedParticles don't work with Sprites renderer at all - combinations like SplinedParticles-Sprites and Any Emitter-SplinedParticles-Sprites work fine, but not
for the fading tail effect. Well, Lissajous will do for now
Thank you for your efforts anyway...

[erbsen]

ryg has fixed it.

[Skinnytorus]

hi, erbsen.
I'm glad the fix is there at last! But I've found some bugs. I've already reported them at github:
1. Changing the particles count in SplinedParticles op causes an unstable and unpredictable behavior which in most cases leads to a crash
2. The sparkles are occasionally shown at 0,0,0 coords (or whatever Sprites op is at)...
Can you confirm those?

[erbsen]

No, works fine here.
What about my .wz4 version - same problems?

[Skinnytorus]

So, I digged a bit deeper and here is what I found:
1. Crashes stop (in both versions) when I start a clear document and copy my structure there. It so happens that i do all my WZ experiments in the example.wz4 file (which is already 40 pages bigger )
and some other dependencies might have interfered...
2. The occasional sparcles disappear if I set RandomSeed in Sparcles other than 0. Here is my test document. You should see a large white dot in the middle of the screen at frame 1.

[erbsen]

You are right, another fix is needed.

[ikam]

has it been fixed ? or is this still crashing ?