Elemental Alchemist: A Generative Interface for Semantic Control of Particle Systems Across Dynamic Levels of Abstraction
This work addresses the challenge of editing particle-system visual effects for VFX practitioners, providing a more intuitive interface for semantic control.
Elemental Alchemist introduces a generative interface for semantic control of particle systems, enabling users to translate high-level creative intents (e.g., making fire look angry) into technical parameters. In a study with 10 novices and 5 experts, the system supported users in achieving their creative goals.
Editing particle-system visual effects (VFX) is vital for digital storytelling, but achieving controllable, art-directable results remains challenging due to their multi-dimensional nature. Given a large collection of parameters, users must find the ones relevant to their creative goals -- a task that requires a systematic understanding of the particle system and how parameters map to high-level intents, such as making a fire look angry. Elemental Alchemist is a generative interface that transforms user intent into contextualized controls for semantic editing of particle systems. The system introduces two components: a contextual brush palette that generates tools based on scene context, and a generative control panel that surfaces relevant technical parameters and abstracts them to generate mid-level semantic attributes and high-level conceptual controls. An evaluation with 10 novice and 5 expert VFX practitioners shows the system supported users in translating high-level creative goals into particle system parameters.