Particle Effect Research for Racing Level

For the racing level we are making, we are also touching on particle effects. In order to create one, we have to reference some real world footage, so what I'm going to attempt will be an electrical arc. We just recently did some tutorials for class that also included an electrical current of sorts, so I'd like to make mine a little more special and different than that one!

Here's some video reference of what I'm talking about:



I also plan to make a few other particles, which include:
- sparks
- thick billowing smoke (the player must drive through this and should have their vision rendered)
- an oil slick being shot onto the ground (then in its place a mesh with a slippery surface appears)
- a wire with a spark at the end of it


Update: I'm not able to actually find a particle that has a tutorial similar to the references I've posted. I'm going to keep looking around and experimenting with materials, but for now what I have is a tweaked version of the "beam" particle we did a tutorial on for class.

I changed a few things about it- mainly the color, since I wanted a teal lightning throughout my level. I also changed the amount of beams, to make it more dense looking (i think in the video he uses 3, but I am using 5). I also changed it so it wasn't in an arc, and instead was a straight beam that would travel around pipes and electrical wires.

The final touch I added to my particle was that I edited the color over life so it appears to fade or pulse every few seconds. I think it's pretty neat, but like I said I would like to experiment more.

Even though we all have done the tutorial, for those who haven't, this is the base tutorial I started with:





So NOW my particle is more similar to a simple version of this (it's also blue) :