SWHC (File Format)

The SWHC particle script format is used to build swoosh effects in the Metroid Prime series. Swooshes are characterized as dynamically-generated triangles "brushed" into space.

Each swoosh system emits particle instances once per frame, connecting each new instance with the previous instance. The system will not render until it has a history of at least 2 swoosh particles (2 frames of updates). Swoosh cross-sections may form simple planes through space or extruded prism shapes.

To smooth out intra-frame geometry, vertices connecting particle instances may be calculated using tricubic interpolation. SPLN defines the number of subdivisions with which to perform interpolation.

Properties
Particle generator properties are assembled into a particle script file tagged with. Any of the following properties are loaded into a description class for constructing an arbitrary number of particle generators.