Create Basic Visual Effects


Creating basic special effects for your experience adds dynamic movement to your environment, which results in your world feeling more alive and realistic. In addition, the visual interest and motion from special effects often catches players' attention, making them a useful device for leading players where you want them to go in your experience.

This section of the tutorial teaches you how to utilize particle emitters, a type of special effect that emits 2D images, or particles, in unique ways according to their parent object and how you configure their settings. Using examples from the sample Island Jump - Final experience, you will learn how to customize particle emitters to create both powerful and subtle effects, such as the glowing flare that draws players closer, and floating dust particles that add texture to the atmosphere.

Create a Flare

The first type of particle emitter the sample Island Jump - Final uses to add dynamic movement to the experience is a giant flare at the top of the tallest sea stack platform. As the rest of the environment is static, this effect becomes a focal point in the 3D space, which incentivizes players to progress through the environment so that they can reach the final platform of the experience.

To create a flare:

  1. In the Explorer window, add a new folder into the World folder, then rename the new folder to VFX.
  2. Add a block part into the VFX folder, then position the part about 10 studs above your tallest sea stack platform. The sample Island Jump - Final experience positions this part above the Level_7 platform with the following values:
    SizeCFrame.PositionCFrame.Orientation
    20, 20, 20400, 331, 790, 0, 0
  3. Select this block part, then in the Properties window,
    1. Set Name to VFX_Flare.
    2. Set Transparency to 1 so the part is invisible.
    3. Enable Anchored so the physics system doesn't move the part when the experience starts.
  4. Add an attachment to this part.
    1. In the Explorer window, hover over the block part and click the ⊕ button. A contextual menu displays.
    2. From the contextual menu, insert an Attachment. An attachment displays in the center of the part in the direction of the positive Y axis.
  5. Add a particle emitter to this attachment, and rename the particle emitter to Emitter_Flare. The particle emitter immediately emits particles in the direction of the attachment.

Configure the Flare

Now that you have a particle emitter in your experience, you can customize its properties so that it emits a glowing flare that faces players when they start the experience. To learn more about how each property affects the resulting visual effect, see ParticleEmitter and Customizing Particles.

Particle Image

Each particle displays an image set by the Texture property. To use your own image, you need to upload the image to Roblox and get an asset ID. See Assets for more on this process and how to do it yourself.

You can use Roblox's pre-made flare image for the Texture of the particle emitter. To use Roblox's pre-made asset:

  1. In the Explorer window, select Emitter_Flare.
  2. In the Properties window, set Texture to rbxassetid://8983307836.

Basic Properties

ParticleEmitter.Rate determines the amount of particles emitted per second. A rate of 5 means that a particle will emit every 1/5 = 0.2 seconds. Higher values of ParticleEmitter.ZOffset means the particles render in front of other objects, while negative values mean they render behind other objects.

ParticleEmitter.LightEmission determines the blending of the texture's colors with the colors behind them. At 0 the textures blend normally; at 1 they blend additively so that when particles overlap, their color multiplies to be brighter. The texture provided is designed to be used with this property set to 1.

Properties such as ParticleEmitter.Lifetime require a minimum and maximum value, where Roblox chooses a random duration in seconds between the minimum and maximum each time a particle. In this case, the particles should all last 10 seconds with no variation, so both values are 10.

To configure the basic properties of the particle emitter:

  1. In the Explorer window, select Emitter_Flare.

  2. In the Properties window,

    1. Set Color to 127, 84, 59, or to a color you prefer for the flare.
    2. Set LightEmission to 1 to use additive blending.
    3. Set ZOffset to 1 to ensure it appears as expected in relation to the camera.
    4. Set Lifetime to 10, 10.
    5. Set Rate to 0.45.
    6. Set RotSpeed to 20 to rotate each particle 20 degrees per second.
    7. Set Speed to 0 to prevent the particle from moving.

Lifetime and NumberSequence Values

Some properties such as ParticleEmitter.Size and ParticleEmitter.Transparency use a NumberSequence to automate changes in the value of the property for a particle throughout its Lifetime. For example, the sequences for the flare's Size and Transparency create a pulsing effect each time a particle emits.

To configure the sequences for ParticleEmitter.Size and ParticleEmitter.Transparency:

  1. In the Explorer window, select Emitter_Flare.

  2. In the Properties window, click the … next to the value for Size to open its NumberSequence.

  3. Add points to the sequence by clicking on it, and move them until the window resembles the following example:

    A number sequence window where the size starts at 0 and grows slowly in the beginning of its lifetime, then quickly grows to a size of 10 and remains 10 for the duration of the lifetime.
    The Y axis represents each particle's size and the X axis represents each particle's lifetime. The size starts at 0 and grows slowly in the beginning of its lifetime, then quickly grows to a size of 10 and remains 10 for the duration of the lifetime.

  4. Click the … next to the value for Transparency to open its sequence.

  5. Add points to the sequence by clicking on it, and move them until the window resembles the following example:

    A number sequence window where the particle is visible (equal or close to 0) for the majority of its lifetime. As the particle approaches the end of its lifetime, its transparency value bounces up and down at different values, settling at 1 at the very end.
    The particle is visible (equal or close to 0) for the majority of its lifetime. As the particle approaches the end of its lifetime, its transparency value bounces up and down at different values, settling at 1 at the very end.
The final version of the flare against a bright blue sky.

Add a PointLight

To ensure the flare stands out more, you can put a light into it. There are three different light objects you can use:

A PointLight is best for this to emit light spherically from the part at the position of the particle effect. To create a light source in the part:

  1. Add a PointLight to Emitter_Flare.
  2. Select the PointLight object, then in the Properties window,
    1. Set Brightness to 2 to make the light brighter.
    2. Set Range to 36 to increase the light's range.
The final version of the flare hovering over a gray cylinder sea stack. The flare emits a gentle glow over the sea stack.

Create the Dust Particles

The second type of particle emitter the sample Island Jump - Final uses to add dynamic movement to the experience is one that dust particles throughout the atmosphere. These particles surround the player, adding a sense of texture and depth to the air itself.

To create dust particles:

  1. Insert a block part into the VFX folder, then scale it to encompass the entire playable area. The sample Island Jump - Final experience positions and scales this part with the following values:

    SizeCFrame.PositionCFrame.Orientation
    645, 355, 275198, 168, 260, 0, 0

  2. Select this block part, then in the Properties window,

    1. Set Name to VFX_DustMotes.
    2. Set Transparency to 1 so the part is invisible.
    3. Disable CanCollide so players don't collide with the part as they move through the playable area.
    4. Enable Anchored so the physics system doesn't move the part when the experience starts.

  3. Add a particle emitter to this part, then rename the particle emitter to Emitter_DustMotes. The particle emitter immediately emits particles within the part's area.

Configure the Dust Particles

The dust particle emitter requires some new properties to change. ParticleEmitter.Acceleration determines how a particle's ParticleEmitter.Speed changes throughout its lifetime. Acceleration is often used to apply a gravity effect to particles with a negative Y value.

ParticleEmitter.Rotation defines the range of rotations in degrees for emitted particles, with positive values corresponding with the clockwise direction. To add some randomness to the rotation of each dust mote, you can create a range of angles to choose from.

For each point in a NumberSequence, you can set an envelope using the number input at the bottom of the window. An envelope sets the range from which Studio picks a random value higher or lower than the point's value each time a particle emits. The size of the envelope determines the range of the random selection. The sequence for ParticleEmitter.Transparency includes an envelope so that each particle's visibility is unpredictable.

Here are the values for all other previously explained properties. Refer back to Configure the Flare for these explanations.

  1. In the Explorer window, select Emitter_DustMotes.

  2. In the Properties window,

    1. Set Color to 192, 241, 255.

    2. Set Size to the following NumberSequence:

      A number sequence window where the size rises to 0.25 shortly after creation, then fades down gradually to 0.
      The size rises to 0.25 shortly after creation, then fades down gradually to 0

    3. Set Texture to rbxassetid://14302399641.

    4. Set Transparency to the following NumberSequence:

      A number sequence window where the particle begins fully transparent, becomes randomly more opaque with an envelope of 0.1, then slowly fades out.
      Begins fully transparent, becomes randomly more opaque (envelope of 0.1), then slowly fades out

    5. Set ZOffset to -5 so that they appear behind players and other objects.

    6. Set Lifetime 1, 10.

    7. Set Rate to 50000. This is a fast rate, but because the volume of the particle emitter's parent part is so large, it appears sparse.

    8. Set Rotation to -45, 45.

    9. Set RotSpeed to -60.

    10. Set Speed to 1, 5.

    11. Set Acceleration to 1, -1, 1 to make the particles gently float upwards.

The final version of the dust particles against a bright blue sky.
Faint dust particles in the air looking up at the sky from the platforms
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