Particle Emitter

2D particle burst and fountain generator with customizable speed, spread, lifetime, and colors.

Type: ParticleEmitterNode · Category: Animation & Effects · Also found as: particle, particles, particleemitter

Properties

Property	Type	Default	Description
emitter.amount	integer	100	Particles alive at once (the pool size). Range 1 to 5000.
emitter.lifetime	number	2	Seconds each particle lives. Range 0.01 to 5.
emitter.position	vec2	(0, 0)	Emitter position (follows the node). Range 0 to 1280. Runtime state: read-only, not saved.
emitter.burst	number	0.5	0 spreads emission evenly over the lifetime, 1 releases every particle at once. Range 0 to 1.
emitter.size	vec2	(5, 5)	Particle size (px). Range 0.01 to 100.
emitter.sizeVariance	number	0	How much of Size Spread is applied at random (0-1). Range 0 to 1.
emitter.sizeSpread	number	0	Largest random size change (px). Range 0 to 50.
emitter.scaleStart	vec2	(1, 1)	Scale at birth (multiplies Size). Range 0 to 1.
emitter.scaleEnd	vec2	(1, 1)	Scale at death; it interpolates over the lifetime. Range 0 to 1.
emitter.rotation	number	0	Starting rotation (degrees). Range 0 to 359.
emitter.rotationVariance	number	0	How much of Rotation Spread is applied at random (0-1). Range 0 to 1.
emitter.rotationSpread	number	0	Largest random rotation change (degrees). Range 0 to 359.
emitter.torque	number	0	Spin speed (degrees/s). Range -2000 to 2000.
emitter.torqueVariance	number	0	How much of Torque Spread is applied at random (0-1). Range 0 to 1.
emitter.torqueSpread	number	0	Largest random spin change (degrees/s). Range 0 to 2000.
emitter.torqueAcceleration	number	0	Change in spin speed per second. Range -2000 to 2000.
emitter.useColorRamp	boolean	true	Colour over the lifetime from the colour ramp (else Particle Color to Color End).
emitter.particleColor	color	#ffffffff	Colour at birth.
emitter.colorEnd	color	#ffffffff	Colour at death.
emitter.colorVariance	number	0	Random colour variation (0-1). Range 0 to 1.
emitter.spread	vec2	(0, 0)	Particles start anywhere within ± this box around the emitter (px). Range 0 to 1280.
emitter.velocity	number	100	Starting speed (px/s). Range 0 to 2000.
emitter.velocityVariance	number	0	How much of Velocity Spread is applied at random (0-1). Range 0 to 1.
emitter.velocitySpread	number	0	Largest random speed change (px/s). Range 0 to 2000.
emitter.velocityScale	number	1	Multiplies every particle’s movement (slow motion < 1). Range 0 to 10.
emitter.acceleration	number	0	Change in speed per second along the direction of travel. Range -2000 to 2000.
emitter.angle	number	0	Emission direction (degrees; 0 = right, 90 = down). Range 0 to 359.
emitter.angleVariance	number	0	How much of Angle Spread is applied at random (0-1). Range 0 to 1.
emitter.angleSpread	number	0	Largest random change to the angle (± degrees; 180 = all round). Range 0 to 360.
emitter.gravityDirection	vec2	(0, 1)	Direction gravity pulls particles. Range -1 to 1.
emitter.gravityVelocity	number	200	Strength of that gravity (px/s²). Range -2000 to 2000.
emitter.wind	vec2	(0, 0)	Constant drift added to every particle (px/s). Range -1000 to 1000.
emitter.collisionEnabled	boolean	false	Particles bounce off physics colliders.
emitter.elasticity	number	0.7	Bounciness when colliding (0 stops, 1 keeps all speed). Range 0 to 1.
emitter.shape	enum: Circle, Ellipse, Rectangle, Pixel, Line, Texture, Custom	Circle	Shape each particle is drawn as. Range 0 to 2000.
emitter.emitting	boolean	true	Emit new particles (existing ones finish their lives).
emitter.continuous	boolean	true	Keep emitting (else one cycle, then stop).

Plus the common properties every node has.

Lua methods

Call them on the node (self.node in its script, or self.node:get_node("path")). Every node also has the Node methods.

ParticleEmitterNode:get_property(path)

Reads an Inspector property by its path (vectors and colours as tables); “script.” reads a field of the node’s script.

local value = self.node:get_property("position")

• path ParticleEmitterNodeProperty|string

Returns any

ParticleEmitterNode:set_property(path, value, y)

Sets an Inspector property by its path: vectors as {x, y} or x, y; colours as {r, g, b[, a]} 0..1 or “#rrggbb[aa]”; enums by name; “script.” a field of the node’s script.

self.node:set_property("position", 100, 50)

• path ParticleEmitterNodeProperty|string
• value any
• y? number

ParticleEmitterNode:particle_start()

Starts continuous or burst particle emission.

self.node:get_node("Sparks"):particle_start()

ParticleEmitterNode:particle_stop()

Stops particle emission.

self.node:get_node("Sparks"):particle_stop()

ParticleEmitterNode:particle_is_emitting()

Checks if particles are actively being emitted.

local fx = self.node:get_node("Smoke"); if not fx:particle_is_emitting() then fx:particle_start() end

Returns boolean

ParticleEmitterNode:particle_set_amount(amount)

Sets the maximum particle pool count for this emitter.

self.node:get_node("Sparks"):particle_set_amount(64)

• amount integer

ParticleEmitterNode:particle_set_lifetime(lifetime)

Sets the base lifetime in seconds for newly spawned particles.

self.node:get_node("Sparks"):particle_set_lifetime(1.5)

• lifetime number

In a scene file

{
  "type": "ParticleEmitterNode",
  "name": "ParticleEmitter",
  "position": [
    0,
    0
  ]
}