3D particle
SineVFX's signature effect. Select any BasePart (a Part, MeshPart, union, and so on) and Transform turns it into a 3D particle emitter, where each particle looks like that part.
What happens on transform
- The part's shape, material, colour, textures, and its children (meshes, decals, attachments, nested effects) become the particle's appearance.
- The original part stays in place as the emitter's root marker and turns invisible.
- A clone of it becomes the RenderPart template that every particle is spawned from.
So instead of being limited to flat particle textures, you emit real 3D geometry: rocks, shards, leaves, glowing meshes, whatever the part is.
Editing it
Open the Properties window. A 3D particle exposes grouped channels such as:
- Appearance - how each particle looks (colour, transparency, size, LightEmission / LightInfluence / Brightness for glow).
- Emission - Rate, Lifetime, Speed, EmitCount, EmitDelay, EmitDuration.
- Shape / EmitterShape - where and in what direction particles spawn.
- Particles / Flipbook - texture and sprite-sheet options (see below).
- Collision, Optimization - physics and performance.
Any numeric channel can be driven by a lifetime graph.
Property reference
Every channel below is a native ParticleEmitter property that SineVFX groups and exposes to the graph editor. Anything marked lifetime varies over a particle's own life; the emit-timing channels are SineVFX playback additions.
Appearance
| Property | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Color | Particle tint over lifetime (multiplies the part's own colour/textures). |
| Transparency | Opacity over lifetime · 0 solid, 1 invisible. Usually a fade-in/out curve. |
| Size | Particle scale over lifetime. |
| Squash | Stretches the particle along its motion · >0 elongates, <0 flattens. |
| LightEmission | How much the particle ignores scene darkness · 1 = self-lit glow. |
| LightInfluence | How much scene lighting tints the particle · 0 unlit, 1 fully lit. |
| Brightness | Overall emissive intensity multiplier. |
| Orientation | How each particle faces (face camera, velocity-aligned, etc.). |
| ZOffset | Push the particle toward/away from the camera to fix draw-order/overlap. |
Emission
| Property | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Rate | Particles spawned per second while enabled. |
| Lifetime | How long each particle lives (min,max seconds). |
| Speed | Initial launch speed (min,max). |
| SpreadAngle | Cone spread of launch directions, in degrees (X,Y). |
| Acceleration | Constant force applied to live particles (e.g. gravity). |
| Drag | Air resistance that slows particles over their life. |
| Rotation | Initial 2D spin of each particle (min,max degrees). |
| RotSpeed | Ongoing spin rate (min,max degrees/sec). |
| VelocityInheritance | Fraction of the emitter's own motion each particle inherits. |
| LockedToPart | If on, particles ride with the emitter instead of the world. |
| EmitCount | How many particles a single Emit burst spawns. |
| EmitDelay | Delay before the effect starts on emit. |
| EmitDuration | How long a single emit/enable cycle runs. |
Shape / EmitterShape
| Property | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Shape | Emitter volume: Box, Sphere, Cylinder, or Disc. |
| ShapeStyle | Whether particles spawn on the shape's Surface or throughout its Volume. |
| ShapeInOut | Launch direction: Outward, Inward, or InAndOut relative to the shape. |
| ShapePartial | Blends between the emitter's normal direction and the shape direction. |
Particles / Flipbook
| Property | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Texture | The image used per particle (ignored when the part supplies real geometry). |
| FlipbookLayout | Sprite-sheet grid (e.g. 2x2, 4x4, 8x8) that defines the frames. |
| FlipbookMode | How frames advance: over lifetime, at a set rate, or randomised. |
| FlipbookFramerate | Playback speed when the mode is rate-based. |
For mesh flipbooks, these same controls swap through a sequence of meshes over lifetime instead of 2D frames (see above).
Collision & Optimization
These groups hold the physics and performance switches - particle collision behaviour, and culling/limit settings that keep large emitters cheap. Leave them at defaults unless an effect needs to bounce off the world or you're trimming cost on a heavy emitter.
Flipbooks and mesh flipbooks
A flipbook plays a sprite sheet across a particle's life so a single particle animates (smoke, fire, explosions). SineVFX exposes the flipbook layout and playback settings in the Flipbook group.
Mesh flipbooks take the idea into 3D: instead of flipping frames of a 2D sprite, the particle swaps through a sequence of meshes over its lifetime, so a mesh-based particle can animate its geometry (a tumbling debris shape, a morphing blob) rather than just its texture. Set these up in the emitter's mesh-flipbook settings, and they play back over the same lifetime timeline as everything else.
Nesting
A part placed inside another emitter's RenderPart template can itself be transformed into a nested 3D particle, so you can layer effects (a glowing core that also sheds sparks, for example). Nested ParticleEmitter / Beam / Trail / Light / Sound inside the template can also fire on spawn (see Emittable objects).
Preview and ship
Preview with the Emit window, then plant the runtime module and fire it with VFX.emit(part). See the Runtime API.
Related
- Transform - how to run it.
- Emittable objects - everything the Emit window can drive.