Getting Started

Pixelpart is an application that helps you design visual effects, which you can either use directly in game engines using various plugins or export to sprite sheets, videos and animated images.

Visual effects are rendered using particles, the basic visual elements in Pixelpart. You can control how particles move and look and even simulate natural forces like gravity, wind and collisions acting on them. Particles are created by emitters that determine where and how particles are spawned. By combining multiple emitters it is possible to create complex effects with particles that have different appearances and behaviors. A typical workflow for creating new effects starts by adding emitters from the large collection of presets in the object list, but you can also start off from one of the complete effect examples via the main menu. Then, modify the properties of emitters and particles to achieve the desired look. You can also add force fields and colliders to the effect to influence the motion of particles.

After you have created an effect, you have two options to use it outside of Pixelpart:

• Render the effect to a sprite sheet, an image sequence, an animated image or a video and import the resulting animation into other programs.
• Save the effect and directly import it into game engines using the provided runtime plugins.

User Interface

The user interface of Pixelpart is composed of five elements:

1. The effect preview showing the effect in action.
2. The object list, a list of all objects (particle emitters, force fields, ...) in the scene.
3. The property panel showing the properties of the selected object.
4. The keyframe editor, which allows you to animate object properties.
5. The main menu and the toolbar.

Effect Preview

The interactive effect preview shows the effect in motion. Each object you add shows up in the effect preview. If you select one of those objects, its properties are shown in the property panel. The preview is interactive, so may move and manipulate objects while the effect is playing.

Particle Emitters

Particle emitters are shown with a white box in the center that is used to reposition the emitter. Use the small circular knobs on the edges of the emission area to change its size.

Force Fields

Force fields are shown in red, either as a circle for point forces or as a rectangle for area forces. You can reposition a force field using the small circle in the middle. For area forces, the arrow points in the primary force direction. Use the small circular knobs to change the size of the force area.

Colliders

Colliders are shown as yellow lines. To manipulate the position of colliders, drag the vertices between the line segments.

Sprites

Similar to particle emitters, sprites can be repositioned by moving the small box in the center. In order to change width and height, use the knobs at both edges.

Motion Paths

With motion paths you can control how emitters, particles, force fields and sprites move over time. Motion paths are defined by waypoints, which you can add, remove and move as you like. To start editing a motion path, select the corresponding Position property in the property panel.

To manually add waypoints, right-click on an empty spot in the effect preview. Right-click to remove it again. Waypoints can be repositioned by moving them in the effect preview. To change the timing of each waypoint and the path interpolation, use the keyframe editor.

Motion paths can be drawn as well. Click next to the Position property and then move the mouse over the effect preview while holding the left mouse button. This automatically adds waypoints along the path you draw.

Shortcuts

Object List

The object list shows all objects in your scene, i.e. the particle emitters, sprites, force fields and colliders. Select an object in the list to edit its properties in the property panel.

Objects can be added by clicking in the toolbar or the context menu. Many emitter presets are available to quickly get you started. Having selected an object, the toolbar and the context menu offer options to...

• Duplicate the object with
• Remove the object with
• Hide the object with
• Change the object's name (only in the context menu)

To create complex effects it is often necessary for particles to be spawned after one another, e.g. a smoke particle being created from a fire particle. In the object list, drag & drop an emitter onto another to make it a sub-emitter of the latter.

Property Panel

The property panel is the place where you can change the behavior and look of the selected object, which can be a particle emitter, sprite, force field or collider. For properties that may change over the lifetime of an object, select the property name to animate it using the keyframe editor. Such properties are marked with .

The property panel is divided into four categories:

• General: General settings, available for all object types
• Visual: Settings that affect the appearance of an object
• Motion: Settings that influence the position and motion of an object
• Physics: Settings related to the physical properties of an object

Keyframe Editor

The keyframe editor allows you to animate properties of objects over time. Keyframe animation can be used to let emitters spin in circles, to make particles bigger and smaller over their lifespan and for other complex behavior. To edit a property's keyframes, select the corresponding property name in the property panel, which is then highlighted to indicate that it is being edited. Your edits are applied in real-time to the effect.

A property can be defined with a number of keyframes that determine how it changes over time. You can add a new keyframe by right-clicking inside the keyframe editor. Similarly, a right-click on an existing keyframe removes it. To move keyframes, simply drag them around with the mouse. The timing can be adjusted more precisely in the small timeline above the main editor frame.

Additional actions are shown above the editor and in the menu accessible via :

Option	Description
Interpolation	The interpolation defines how values between keyframes are calculated. None: Values change abruptly between keyframes. Linear: Values are interpolated linearly. Spline: Values are interpolated with Spline interpolation producing smooth transitions.
Add	Add a new keyframe at the current cursor position.
Remove	Remove the selected keyframe.
Erase	Remove all keyframes, setting the property to a constant value.
Copy	Copy keyframes to the clipboard.
Paste	Replace keyframes with the ones in the clipboard.
Scroll	Scroll the graph by clicking and dragging the mouse.
Zoom	Adjust the zoom level by clicking and dragging the mouse..
Reset View	Reset zoom and scrolling.
Grid Spacing	The distance between grid lines in the keyframe editor.
Snap to Grid	Toggle snapping keyframes to the grid.
Open Script Editor...	Generate keyframes by writing scripts with the Lua scripting language.

Main Menu

The main menu contains important functions like saving and loading projects, exporting effects and controlling the effect playback.

File Menu

Item	Description
New Project...	Create a new project, replacing the current one.
Open Project...	Load a project from file.
Add Project...	Add objects of another project to the current project without deleting anything.
Save	Save the project.
Save As...	Save the project under a new filename.
Render...	Open the render dialog to render and export effects.
Preferences...	Open the preference dialog to modify global settings.
Close	Close the application.

Edit Menu

Item	Description
Undo	Undo the last action.
Redo	Redo a previously undone action.
Copy	Copy the animation data of the selected property to the clipboard.
Paste	Paste copied animation data to the selected property.
Visible	Show/hide the selected object.
Duplicate	Clone the selected object.
Remove	Remove the selected object.
Add Sub-Emitter	Add a new particle emitter as a sub-emitter of the selected one.
Add Emitter	Add a new particle emitter.
Add Sprite	Add a new sprite.
Add Force	Add a new force field.
Add Collider	Add a new collider.

Simulation Menu

Item	Description
Play	Resume the effect playback.
Pause	Pause the effect playback.
Restart	Restart the effect playback.
Playback	Set the playback speed.
Loop	Set the time after which the effect restarts automatically.

View Menu

Item	Description
Zoom In	Zoom in by 10%.
Zoom Out	Zoom out by 10%.
Reset View	Reset zoom to 100% and center view.
Fit to Frame	Fit the effect into the field of view.
Resolution	Change the image resolution.
Background	Change the background color.
Image Effects...	Open the list of active image effects.
Show Background	Show/hide background color.
Show Image Effects	Turn image effects on/off.
Show Forces	Show/hide force fields in the effect preview.
Show Colliders	Show/hide colliders in the effect preview.
Show Debug Information	Show/hide debugging information in the effect preview.

Help Menu

Item	Description
Documentation...	Open the documentation.
About...	Show information about the application.

Creating Effects

Creating effects in Pixelpart involves creating particle emitters and other objects that influence the behavior of emitted particles. Four types of objects are available:

• Particle Emitters, which continuously create new particles in a specific area.
• Sprites, which are mostly static images that are rendered together with an effect.
• Force Fields, which influence particles by applying forces to them.
• Colliders, which are objects particles collide with.

Particles and sprites can have custom shaders to define their appearance even more precisely. They are created with shader graphs, which use visual scripting to define shaders instead of code.

It is also possible to enhance the effect you have created with additional image effects, which are filters that are applied to the whole effect after rendering, such as motion blur and color correction.

Particle Emitters

Particles are the basic visual elements of any effect and are spawned by emitters. The following properties of emitters and particles can be adjusted in the property panel to create the desired effect.

General

Visual

Property	Description
Material	Defines what material particles use for rendering. The default material applies a texture to the particle, blending it with the given particle color. If you want to customize the appearance of particles beyond switching textures and changing colors, open the shader graph editor by clicking Shader Graph.... The parameters of shader can be accessed quickly with .
Renderer	Which renderer is used for drawing the particles. The Sprite Renderer draws each particle as a separate sprite. The Trail Renderer generates continuous trails along the path of particles with the same parent particle.
Blend Mode	How the particles are blended together and composed with other objects in the effect.
Layer	Layer the particles are drawn on. Particles on upper layers occlude those on lower layers.
Color	The color of each particle over its lifetime, displayed as a color gradient. Double-click or right-click the color bar to add another color. Double-clicking a color mark lets you choose its color, right-clicking removes it. To change the position of color marks, drag them using the mouse. To create particles with more random colors use the variance parameters for hue, saturation and value.
Initial Opacity	The initial opacity of each particle.
Opacity	Opacity of each particle over its lifetime as a fraction of its initial opacity.
Initial Particle Size	The initial size of each particle.
Particle Size	The size of each particle over its lifetime as a fraction of its initial size.
Particle Width	The width of each particle over its lifetime as a fraction of its size.
Particle Height	The height of each particle over its lifetime as a fraction of its size.

Motion

Physics

Sprites

Sprites are additional visual elements you may want to include in an effect, like background images. Unlike particles, there is exactly one instance of each sprite. The following properties can be adjusted in the property panel to influence the look and behavior of a sprite.

General

Visual

Property	Description
Material	Defines what material the sprite uses for rendering. The default material applies a texture to the sprite, blending it with the given color. If you want to customize the appearance of the sprite beyond switching textures and changing colors, open the shader graph editor by clicking Shader Graph.... The parameters of shader can be accessed quickly with .
Blend Mode	How the sprite is composed with other objects in the effect.
Layer	Layer the sprite is drawn on. Objects on upper layers occlude those on lower layers.
Color	The color of the sprite over its lifetime, displayed as a color gradient. Double-click or right-click the color bar to add another color. Double-clicking a color mark lets you choose its color, right-clicking removes it. To change the position of color marks, move them with the mouse.
Opacity	Opacity of the sprite over its lifetime.

Motion

Force Fields

Force fields affect particles by attracting, repelling or accelerating them in some direction. They can be used to model gravity, wind and other natural effects. Add force fields using the object list or alternatively, directly place a force field in the scene by right-clicking on the effect preview while holding CTRL. The following properties can be adjusted in the property panel to influence the behavior of a force field.

General

Motion

Physics

Property	Description
Direction	Direction in which particles are accelerated, in degrees. Only applies to area force fields.
Strength	How strongly particles are affected by the force field. Negative values reverse the force direction. Point forces then repel particles, for example.
Grid	Number of cells used for the randomization grid. Each grid cell has a slightly different, randomly selected force direction and strength, which is influenced by the variance parameters. This is especially useful for more organic motion that moves particles with some variation in strength and direction. Click to randomize the strength and direction values of the grid cells.

Colliders

Colliders act as objects particles can collide with and consist of connected line segments. Add colliders using the object list or alternatively, by holding CTRL and left-clicking on the effect preview. You can then set the collider's vertices with additional clicks. The following properties can be adjusted in the property panel to influence the behavior of a collider.

General

Physics

Shader Graphs

Shader graphs can be used to define the material of particles more precisely allowing you to fine-tune colors and even make materials react dynamically to particle properties like velocity and force influence. Such a shader graph consits of nodes that work together to define the final pixel color and opacity. Each nodes implements a specific function that computes an output value from its input values, which are supplied by other nodes. Some nodes also have additional parameters that influence their function.

An example of a node is the Blend node, which mixes two colors together: The two colors are connected to the input pins of the blend node while the output pin, carrying the resulting color, is connected to other nodes in the graph. The parameter Mode determines how the colors are blended together.

Eventually, all nodes run together into the Output node, which sets the final color of each pixel. Color values are stored in RGBA (Red, Green, Blue, Alpha) format, where each channel contains a number in the range [0, 1] defining the color intensity for that channel. The alpha component defines the opacity.

Interaction

The shader graph of an object can be modified in the shader graph window. To open this window, click Shader Graph... from the Material property of an object.

Creating Shader Graphs

Each emitter and sprite already has a default shader graph, which applies a texture and combines it with the color set from the particle or sprite properties. To assign a completely new shader graph to the object click New or select a preset with Preset....

Adding Nodes

New nodes can be added by right-clicking an empty space and selecting a node type, by dragging out an attribute pin and dropping it on an empty space or by clicking Add in the toolbar. The list of available nodes can be filtered by typing in the search box at the top.

While right-clicking or dragging out a node pin, there are several keyboard shortcuts for creating common node types directly.

Removing Nodes

To remove a node, click Remove in the context menu (right mouse button) or select the node(s) and press Remove in the tool bar.

Applying Changes

Changes to the graph are not actually applied to the object until you click Apply in the toolbar. Otherwise, they are not saved when you close the window.

Nodes

Nodes: Constants

Nodes: Inputs

Nodes: Colors

Nodes: Textures

Nodes: Procedural

Nodes: Math

Nodes: Comparison

Nodes: Utililty

Image Effects

Image effects change the appearance of the whole effect and are applied after all particles are rendered. You can specify which image effects are used and in which order they are applied by opening the image effects dialog from the main menu via View > Image Effects.... Note that image effects are only applied when rendering the effect to sprite sheets, image sequences and videos and not when used with runtime plugins for game engines.

The following effects are supported:

Option	Description
Contrast & Brightness	Changes contrast and brightness.
Hue & Saturation	Changes hue and saturation.
Gamma Correction	Applies gamma correction.
Color Curves	Modifies the colors by applying the user-defined color ramps.
Colorize	Colorizes the effect with the selected hue.
Palette & Dithering	Constrains colors to the specified palette. You can also specify how much dithering is applied.
Posterize	Reduces the number of possible colors in each color channel to the specified amount.
Grayscale	Converts the animation to grayscale. The Weights parameter controls how much each color channel contributes.
Invert	Inverts the colors.
Alpha Threshold	Discards parts of the effect that have an opacity below the specified threshold.
Pixelate	Applies pixelation to the effect. The parameter Pixel Size controls the amount of pixelation.
Horizontal Blur	Applies horizontal gaussian blur. Use Radius and Sigma to change how much blur is applied. In order to produce an evenly blurred image, combine horizontal and vertical blur.
Vertical Blur	Applies vertical gaussian blur. Use Radius and Sigma to change how much blur is applied. In order to produce an evenly blurred image, combine horizontal and vertical blur.
Motion Blur	Blurs particles with high velocity. The Radius, Sigma and Strength parameters control how much blur is applied.
Bilateral Filter	Applies bilateral filtering, which blurs the effect but preserves edges.
Kuwahara Filter	Applies the Kuwahara filter, which smooths out the effect.
Sharpen	Sharpens the animation. Use Radius and Sigma to change how much sharpening is applied.
Outline	Outlines the effect using the specified color and line width.
Film Grain	Applies a film grain effect.

Rendering Effects

Effects can be rendered and exported to various formats. Open the render dialog from the main menu via File > Render... or by clicking in the toolbar.

Click Render to start rendering the effect. The rendering process can be influenced with the following options:

Option	Description
Resolution	The image resolution in pixels. Select to automatically fit the effect to the image frame.
Capture Rate	The rate at which the effect is recorded, in frames per seconds.
Duration	Length of the effect in seconds. The duration can be estimated automatically using if the effect does not loop.
Delay	How long the effect is simulated before it is captured.
Seed	Seed used for randomizing the particle simulation. Use to pick a random seed.
Loop	Render the effect as a seamless loop.
Seamless	Render the effect with seamless edges. This is useful for animations that are used as part of a tilemap, for example.
Background	Enable/disable the background color. Turn this option off to render the effect in front of a transparent background.
Image Effects	Enable/disable image effects.

After the effect has been rendered, a preview of the final animation is shown on the left. Click Export to export the animation to the file specified under File Path. The following formats are supported:

Game Engine Plugins

Effects created in Pixelpart can be played directly inside game engines using runtime plugins. Doing it this way has an important benefit that videos, sprite sheets and animated images like GIFs cannot provide: Plugins allow effects to be controlled dynamically, even while an effect is playing, which makes it possible to let them react to other objects in the scene. This can be achieved with the extensive scripting API that Pixelpart provides.

At the moment, plugins for Unity and Godot 3 are available.

Plugin for Unity

Installation

Unity 2017 or higher is required for the plugin. Follow these steps to install the plugin:

1. Start the Unity Editor and open the project in which you want to use the plugin.
2. Import the plugin package via the main menu with Assets > Import Package.
3. Select all assets and click Import....

Usage

Importing An Effect

Save the effect you created in Pixelpart as a .ppfx file and place it in the Assets folder of your Unity project. Appropriate .asset and .shader files are created automatically. Make sure to include the .shader files in the final build. The original .ppfx files are no longer needed and can be deleted. Select the .asset file to set a scale value in the inspector if the effect appears to small or too large in your scene.

Playing An Effect

In order to actually play the effect, attach the Pixelpart Effect component to a game object in your scene and move the imported effect asset (with extension .asset) onto the Effect Asset field in the component's inspector window.

Scripting

An effect and its particle emitters, force fields, colliders and sprites can be controlled dynamically from script.

PixelpartEffect

PixelpartParticleEmitter

PixelpartSprite

PixelpartForceField

PixelpartCollider

PixelpartCurve

PixelpartPath

PixelpartGradient

Platform Support

Platforms	Architectures	Supported
Windows	x64, x86
Linux	x64, x86
macOS	Universal
Android
iOS
HTML5
Console

Plugin for Godot 3

Installation

Godot 3.3+ is required for the plugin. Installation is quite simple:

1. Extract the addons folder from the plugin archive.
2. Move the addons folder into your project's root folder.
3. Start Godot and enable the plugin in the project settings.

Usage

Importing An Effect

Save the effect you created in Pixelpart as a .ppfx file and place it in the folder of your Godot project. Then in Godot, import the effect file as a Pixelpart Effect. You usually want to set a scale value here, because effects typically appear small when imported into Godot.

Playing An Effect

In order to actually play the effect, create a new PixelpartEffect2D node in your scene (PixelpartEffect for 3D scenes) and move the imported effect asset onto the Effect field in the node's inspector window. The effect will now be played inside you game and you can use the effect node like any other CanvasItem node (Spatial node for 3D scenes).

Scripting

An effect and its particle emitters, sprites, force fields and colliders can be controlled dynamically from GDScript.

PixelpartEffect2D / PixelpartEffect

PixelpartParticleEmitter

PixelpartSprite

PixelpartForceField

PixelpartCollider

PixelpartCurve

PixelpartPath

PixelpartGradient

Platform Support

Platforms	Architectures	Supported
Windows	x64, x86
Linux	x64, x86
macOS	Universal
Android
iOS
HTML5
Console

Third-Party Software

Terms of Use

These Terms of Use are a legal agreement between you and Sören Möllers ("Licensor"). This agreement governs your acquisition and use of the Pixelpart software ("Software") directly from Licensor or indirectly through an authorized reseller or distributor. Please read this agreement carefully before purchasing and using the Software. It provides a license to use the Software and contains warranty information and liability disclaimers. If you use a free trial or demo version of the Software, this agreement will also govern that trial. By purchasing, downloading, installing and/or using the Software, you are confirming your acceptance of the Software and agreeing to become bound by the terms of this agreement. If you are entering into this agreement on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind such entity and its affiliates to these terms and conditions. If you do not have such authority or if you do not agree with the terms and conditions of this agreement, do not purchase, download, install or use the Software, and you must not accept this agreement. The terms also apply to any updates, supplements, and support services for the Software, unless other terms accompany those items on delivery. If so, those terms apply.

License Grant

Licensor hereby grants you a personal, non-exclusive, perpetual licence to load and use the Software on devices under your control in accordance with the terms of this agreement. You are responsible for ensuring these devices meet the minimum requirements of the Software.

You are not permitted to:

• Edit, alter, modify, adapt, translate or otherwise change the whole or any part of the Software nor permit the whole or any part of the Software to be combined with or become incorporated in any other software, nor decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer the Software or attempt to do any such things,
• reproduce, copy, distribute or resell the Software for any commercial purpose,
• allow any third party to use the Software on behalf of or for the benefit of any third party,
• use the Software in any way which breaches any applicable local, national or international law.

Intellectual Property and Ownership

Licensor shall at all times retain ownership of the Software as originally downloaded by you and all subsequent downloads of the Software by you. The Software (and the copyright, and other intellectual property rights of whatever nature in the Software, including any modifications made thereto) are and shall remain the property of Licensor. Licensor reserves the right to grant licences to use the Software to third parties. This does not cover content you create using the Software (see below).

User-Created Content

Any videos, images and animations you create using the Software are your property and Licensor does not claim any ownership in your original content. It is your responsibility to ensure that the content you create does not infringe or violate any rights, including, but not limited to, trademarks, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights of Licensor or any third party.

Termination

This agreement is effective from the date you first purchase, download and/or use the Software and shall continue until terminated. You may terminate it at any time upon written notice to Licensor. It will also terminate immediately if you fail to comply with any term of this agreement. Upon such termination, the licenses granted by this agreement will immediately terminate and you agree to stop all access and use of the Software. The provisions that by their nature continue and survive will survive any termination of this agreement.

WARRANTY DISCLAIMER

Licensor hereby expressly disclaims any warranty for the Software. The Software is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. You accept any and all risk arising out of use or performance of the Software. Because some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of or limitations on implied warranties or the limitations on the applicable statutory rights of a consumer, some or all of the above exclusions and limitations may not apply to you.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

To the fullest extent of applicable law, Licensor shall not be liable for special, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from possession, use, or malfunction of the software, including, but not limited to, damages to property, loss of goodwill, computer failure or malfunction, and, to the extent permitted by law, damages for personal injuries, property damage, or lost profits or punitive damages from any causes of action arising out of or related to this agreement or the Software, whether arising in tort (including negligence), contract, strict liability, or otherwise, whether or not Licensor has been advised of the possibility of such damages. To the fullest extent of applicable law, Licensor's liability for all damages shall not (except as required by applicable law) exceed the actual price paid by you for use of the Software.

Privacy Policy

Licensor does not collect your personal data using the Software. This does not apply to resellers or distributors of the Software who may collect personal data. Read their privacy policy for further information.