Effect Editor
The Effect Editor edits .effect files with a live preview that looks
the way the effect will look in your game. Particle effects show emitter
controls; sprite effects show a single shader-driven sprite.
Open an .effect from Explorer or the
Asset Browser; the Timeline's Effect tab opens with
it. Field changes go into the effect file as Undo steps; save it like any
document. Preview settings (speed, motion, loop, length, seed, origin, mute,
bounds) are never saved. Format: Effects.
Playback
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| Play / Pause / Stop / Restart | Control the preview. |
| Burst 24 | Emits 24 particles from every emitter now. |
| Time (s) | Scrubs. |
| Speed | 0.1x to 4x. |
| Motion | Stationary, Line (emitters move left to right) or Curve (an S-shaped path). Useful for trails. |
| Loop, Length (s) | Loop the preview; preview length (0.01–120 s). |
The preview restarts the same way each time, so you can scrub back and forth. The Timeline's Effect tab shares these controls.
Particle effects
Emitters
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| + | Adds an emitter with simple defaults. |
| Copy / Delete / Up / Down | Copy, delete (a particle effect needs one emitter) or reorder the selected emitter. |
| Emitter | Chooses the emitter to edit. |
| Section | Shows one group of fields: Spawn, Emission, Motion, Appearance, Billboard or Trail. |
Preview section
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| Seed | Random seed for the preview (default 1337). |
| Origin X / Y | Moves the whole preview. |
| Mute selected emitter | Hides that emitter in the preview. |
| Show bounds | Outlines the area the particles cover and shows its size. |
| Statistics | Live particle counts. A warning appears when the effect exceeds the preview limits. |
Fields
Value ranges and meanings: Effects: particle effects.
| Section | Fields (file key) |
|---|---|
| Spawn | Rate / second (spawn.rate), Maximum live (spawn.max) |
| Emission | Position (emission.position), Direction (rad), Spread (rad), Speed range, Life range |
| Motion | Gravity X/Y/Z (motion.gravity), Drag, Spin range |
| Appearance | Size curve Start/End (appearance.size), Size over lifetime, Color / opacity over lifetime (curve editors), Start color, End color |
| Billboard | Image asset, Runtime material, Shader override, Blend (alpha, additive, premultiplied), Layer |
| Trail | Trail enabled, Trail follows emitter, Trail points (0 = 12; otherwise 2–24), Head width, Tail width, Trail color, Texture asset, Trail lifetime |
The lifetime curves use the curve editor.
The preview uses the billboard image and trail texture but not the Runtime material or Shader override, which your game applies.
Sprite effects
| Field | Key |
|---|---|
| Shader asset (required) | sprite.shader |
| Image asset | sprite.image |
Shader kind (bolt, flare or a number) | sprite.kind |
| Size X / Y | sprite.size |
| Color / intensity RGBA (above 1 glows) | sprite.color |
| Lifetime | sprite.lifetime |
| Angle offset, Layer offset | sprite.angle_offset, sprite.layer_offset |
| Animate shader age | sprite.animate_age |
If the shader is only available in your game's native module and that module is not loaded, the preview says PREVIEW UNAVAILABLE.
Creating effects
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| New Particles | Creates new_particle.effect with one emitter. |
| New Sprite FX | Creates new_sprite_effect.effect (a flare). Needs a registered shader for the vfx sprite system. |
The file is created next to your other effects (or next to the asset
registry), with _2, _3, … added if the name is taken. It is registered in
the asset registry as an unsaved edit and opened.
Limits
- The preview shows at most 16 emitters and 4096 particles (1024 per emitter). Larger effects still work in your game; only the preview is limited.
- Effect
name,typeand the optionalformatsection are edited in Source Editor. - You cannot click or drag in the preview.