Tuning the look
Which param to reach for, for each thing you want to change.
Every param is a physical quantity. That makes them a little indirect, but nothing about a plume's shape is an independent art dial. Change the engine and the plume follows. This page maps what you see to what to change. The params reference has every field and its default.
Size and shape
| you want | change |
|---|---|
| a bigger or smaller plume | nozzleRadiusM. Every length scales with it. |
| an oval, flat or square jet | nozzleAspect, nozzleSquareness: see Shaped nozzles |
| a longer, faster jet | exitMach up, or molarMassGPerMol down (lighter gas is faster) |
| a jet that balloons | pressureRatio above 1 (underexpanded) |
| a jet that pinches | pressureRatio below 1 (overexpanded) |
| a longer core, longer train | profile coreScale, shockPersistence (both 1 as measured); or airspeedMPerS |
| a wider spread | profile spreadScale |
| a hard length cap | profile maxLengthD, in exit diameters |
Shock diamonds
The pressure ratio decides how strong the diamonds are. At exactly 1 the jet leaves clean and they all but vanish. Above or below, a train of shocks forms.
| you want | change |
|---|---|
| stronger diamonds | pressureRatio further from 1 |
| some diamonds even at 1 | profile shockFloor |
| sharp disks with dark gaps | profile shockRelaxation up |
| smeared, glowing cells | profile shockRelaxation down |
| brighter Mach disks | exitTemperatureK up; profile activationK down |
Diamonds read best from the side. From behind they read as rings. See shock diamonds for why.
Colour
Colour comes from temperature, through Planck's law, plus one line spectrum you choose.
| you want | change |
|---|---|
| hotter, whiter | exitTemperatureK up |
| more yellow-orange, more opaque | sootPerM up |
| a smoke trail | sootSurvival up |
| a blue / violet / cyan glow | bandColor, bandStrength |
| a bright sheath round the jet | afterburningK up |
| white, scattering smoke | particlesPerM up, particleAlbedo near 1 |
| brighter or dimmer overall | profile exposure |
| a dry engine that glows more | profile dryGlow up |
The profile's exposure is the plumes' own: it sets which part of their
physical radiance the tone curve sees, before the renderer's
toneMappingExposure, which brightens the whole frame, scene and plumes alike.
Tune the scene with the renderer's, then the plumes against it with the
profile's.
Altitude changes colour too: see Flight and altitude.
Motion
| you want | change |
|---|---|
| a laminar jet | turbulence 0 |
| a churning one | turbulence 1 or more |
| a tail that wanders | meander; profile meanderScale |
| longer streaks | profile shutterS (the motion blur), eddyStretch |
| slow motion | batch timeScale |
| a snappier throttle | batch responseS down, 0 to follow at once |
Heat haze
refractionM is how far the hot exhaust bends what is behind it, in metres.
0.05 is subtle. Zero on every nozzle compiles the haze out entirely, and so
does haze={false} on the batch.
Colours in params
bandColor takes any three.js ColorRepresentation: a hex string, a number,
or a Color.
<Afterburner params={{ bandColor: "#4dd8ff", bandStrength: 0.4 }} />