Particle Renderers

Particle renderers add particles to the visible scene graph according to the information stored in the particle objects and the type of renderer. All particle renderers have the following parameters:

Variable

Definition

Values

alphaMode

Alpha setting over particle lifetime

PR_ALPHA_NONE, PR_ALPHA_OUT, PR_ALPHA_IN, PR_ALPHA_USER

userAlpha

Alpha value for ALPHA_USER alpha mode

Boolean

The following list contains the different types of renderers and their unique parameters.

PointParticleRenderer

Renders particles as pixel points.

Variable

Definition

Values

pointSize

Width and height of points, in pixels

[0, infinity)

startColor

Starting color

(r, g, b, a)

endColor

Ending color

(r, g, b, a)

blendType

How the particles blend from the start color to the end color

ONE_COLOR, BLEND_LIFE, BLEND_VEL

blendMethod

Interpolation method between colors

LINEAR, CUBIC

ONE_COLOR: point is always the starting color.

BLEND_LIFE: color is interpolated from start to end according to the age of the point

BLEND_VEL: color is interpolated between start to end according to the velocity/terminal velocity.

LineParticleRenderer

Renders particles as lines between their current position and their last position.

Variable

Definition

Values

headColor

Color of leading end

(r, g, b, a)

tailColor

Color of trailing end

(r, g, b, a)

SparkleParticleRenderer

Renders particles star or sparkle objects, three equal-length perpendicular axial lines, much like jacks. Sparkle particles appear to sparkle when viewed as being smaller than a pixel.

Variable

Definition

Values

centerColor

Color of center

(r, g, b, a)

edgeColor

Color of edge

(r, g, b, a)

birthRadius

Initial sparkle radius

[0, infinity)

deathRadius

Final sparkle radius

[0, infinity)

lifeScale

Whether or not sparkle is always of radius birthRadius

NO_SCALE, SCALE

SpriteParticleRenderer

Renders particles as an image, using a Panda3D texture object. The image is always facing the user.

Variable

Definition

Values

texture

Panda texture object to use as the sprite image

(r, g, b, a)

color

Color

(r, g, b, a)

xScaleFlag

If true, x scale is interpolated over particle’s life

Boolean

yScaleFlag

If true, y scale is interpolated over particle’s life

Boolean

animAngleFlag

If true, particles are set to spin on the Z axis

Boolean

initial_X_Scale

Initial x scaling factor

[0, infinity)

final_X_Scale

Final x scaling factor

[0, infinity)

initial_Y_Scale

Initial y scaling factor

[0, infinity)

final_Y_Scale

Final y scaling factor

[0, infinity)

nonAnimatedTheta

If false, sets the counterclockwise Z rotation of all sprites, in degrees

Boolean

alphaBlendMethod

Sets the interpolation blend method

LINEAR, CUBIC

alphaDisable

If true, alpha blending is disabled

Boolean

GeomParticleRenderer

Renders particles as full 3D objects. This requires a geometry node.

Variable

Definition

Values

geomNode

A geometry scene graph node