How to make a rotating ball in 2D (through VFX)

BlueLightningWizard

Hello, I am currently trying to make a 2D rotating ball through VFX, like the one below.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftenor.com%2Fview%2Favatar-aang-air-bender-gif-15223653&psig=AOvVaw0QgoYgXGcxnistNMOA6Qm0&ust=1644305071793000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCODQ8fGH7fUCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAP

But I don't know how to make the rotating air rings through VFX. As of now, I've made vortex and fire effects. I know that for the air rings, Z axis is obviously needed. I tried but can't figure out. Can someone help me? Thanks.

BlueLightningWizard

Can someone help me? For VPF, I meant by using the Particle2D Node. Thanks.

cybereality

For something like that you'd probably need a mesh with vertex animation and a shader. To get the exact effect, it's definitely possible in Godot, but probably not an easy thing. I think you can fake it with particles. It's won't look as good, but it may be okay and not require custom code. I think using a texture with blue and white and setting the blend mode to add will get the right color. The maybe see about animating the circle/ring curve. You can do this with code with a circle algorithm or with an AnimationPlayer. Then just animate the root of the particle system to follow the ring.

Megalomaniak

For a 2D game I'd probably just draw or prerender something outside of godot then import as a sprite. Sometimes simple is better.

cybereality

Yeah, that's a good point. It would be easy to make in Blender and render out as a sprite map and then use an animated billboard or animated sprite in Godot.

BlueLightningWizard

I had actually tried with Particles2D but the result wasn't satisfying. To add the worst, on clicking the ring nodes (after using Particles2D), the rings suddenly became distorted (due to some problem in Godot, I have checked, it's not a problem from my part), though on execution, the ball appears properly. Nevertheless, @megalomaniak and @cybereality for your suggestions. Also, I don't have Blender because I have a Chrome OS laptop that doesn't have enough space, so I use Vectary to make 3D figures. But, once, when I tried to put a 3D sprite in a 2D game, it wasn't appearing. Do I have to do something to make the 3D sprite appear?

cybereality

It's not a 3D sprite. It would just be an image with several frames.