Creating Footprints In The Snow

I found it quite difficult to find information on using Unity's particle system to make footprints that fade out after a while and follows the direction that the character moves, so here's a little guide I made up, with references to where I found the solution. This shall serve as part of my documentation too.

Reference link:

https://forum.unity.com/threads/footstep-trail-effect-with-particle-system-trail...

Check out Torbach78's reply at the bottom of the page in the link above.

Step 1:

Create your footprint texture.

Step 2:

Create an empty Game Object, then set it's transform rotation to 0.x, -90.y, 0.z. In my case, this Game Object is a child of my character.

Step 3:

Attach/Create a particle system to the GO from step 2 and assign the following parameters (these will vary based on your requirements, but below are what worked for my game):

Some things to note:

- Don't forget to create a material for your footprint texture. I use Mobile > Particles > Alpha Blended, just so I can use a fade out effect in the 'color over lifetime' parameter of the particle system (see the pic above)

- For my game: I set the emission 'rate over time' to zero by default, then use the mouse's running animation to set it to a number like 4. This is so that footprints only appear when the mouse moves. Basically controlling emission with animation.

- Pay important attention to the 'Renderer' part of the particle system, particularly where the mode is set to 'Mesh > Quad' and the Render Alignment is set to 'Velocity'. Also, note that the 3D Start Rotation is checked with rotation of 90.x, 0.y, -90.z

- Note also that the Start Speed must be NON-Zero. Just use a small value like 0.001, or it won't work. This perhaps has something to do with the fact that we set render alignment to 'Velocity'.

Check whether the alignment of your footprint is correct by Playing the particle effect and looking in the inspector (see below). Adjust the rotation accordingly to the direction that you desire.

Result: