Particle Canvas

The FX workspace is Opal's particle-effect baker. It turns an emitter chain into a reusable .pfx library asset you trigger from Flow Spawn VFX, a Particle Emitter component, or a motion marker.

It is intentionally different from the built-in one-shot presets:

Workspace / tool	Best for	Output
FX	Author a custom look: spawn volume, motion, colour, size, sprites	.pfx library assets
Spawn VFX (Flow)	One-shot bursts during gameplay	Runtime playback
Particle Emitter	A looping effect attached to an object	Runtime playback
Motion markers	Timed bursts on a clip	vfx: at marker time

Important: Particle Canvas bakes assets. It does not bind the result onto the selected scene object, and the canvas never runs in the player. After saving a .pfx, pick it on Spawn VFX, on a Particle Emitter, or from the asset library.

When To Use It

Use FX when a built-in name (sparkle, smoke, fire, …) is not the look you want.

Start from a presetIn the left Effects dock (or the board right-click menu) pick + Sparkle, + Smoke, + Fire, + Magic, + Muzzle, + Explosion, or + Confetti, then tweak nodes and Save.

Build a chainEmitter → Shape → Motion → Lifetime → Force → Color → Size → Render → Save.

Layer emittersWire two or more chains into Combine, then Save one effect.

Sprite particlesOn Render, pick a sprite asset. A leaf, spark, or pixel from Pixel Studio reads as a custom particle.

Open The Workspace

1. Open a project in the editor.
2. Click Create ▾ → FX in the top bar.
3. Pick a starter under Effects, right-click the board to add a node, drop a sprite onto the board, or open an existing .pfx from Assets (Open in Particle Canvas).

The left dock lists saved effects and starters. The right dock is a live preview sandbox — it is not the scene. Turn on Gizmos to edit spawn volume, motion cone, size, and gravity on the stage (select the matching node first). Trails follows a handful of particles so motion is easier to read.

The graph is saved on the project, so the board is still there when you return. Ctrl/Cmd+Z in FX rewinds the graph, not the scene. The Save card shows a peak / timespan estimate of the incoming plan.

Core Nodes

Wires carry one type: the particle system. Source and modifiers evaluate to a plan; Save bakes that plan.

Node	Role
Emitter	How particles spawn — burst, rate per second, emitter duration, max count, seed
Shape	Where they appear — point, circle, cone, or box
Motion	Launch speed range and spread
Lifetime	How long each particle lives
Force	Gravity, friction, and turbulence
Color	Colour over life (a ramp of stops)
Size	Size range and over-life curve
Spin	How fast particles rotate
Render	How particles draw — circle, star, rect, or a sprite; normal or additive; optional tint
Combine	Merge up to four emitter chains into one effect
Save	Bake the incoming plan to a .pfx in the library

A typical chain:

Emitter -> Shape -> Motion -> Lifetime -> Color -> Size -> Render -> Save

Preview and bake share the same plan, so what you see is what Save writes.

Use A Baked Effect

After Save:

Where	How
Spawn VFX	One-shot burst from Object Flow or Scene Flow — pick the .pfx (or a built-in name)
Particle Emitter	Looping / follow FX on an object — the component field accepts a .pfx or a built-in name
Motion marker	vfx: on a clip, same as other marker actions
Asset library	Drag or assign like any other asset

Keep one-shots on Spawn VFX and loops on Particle Emitter. If every action fires a large custom burst, important feedback gets harder to see.

See Audio and VFX for combining a burst with Play Audio and camera shake.

Related Docs

• Audio and VFX
• Pixel Studio — draw a particle sprite, then pick it on Render
• Art Canvas
• Sound Canvas
• Visual scripting
• Motion and rigging