DigitalRune Particles for .NET and XNA

Features

Here is an overview of features in this product.

General

  • Intended and optimized for use in 3D real-time applications
  • XNA support (Windows, Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7)

Particle System

The particle system is CPU-based and designed for maximal flexibility:

  • Particles can have any number of custom parameters: position, mass, size, velocity, damping, energy, restitution, etc.
  • Particle systems can have custom, animatable parameters: For example, an "emission rate" or a "global alpha" influencing particles and nested particle systems.
  • Particle systems can have bounding shapes that can be used to cull particles.
  • Particle systems can be combined to create complex effects.
  • Particle systems can be cloned, serialized and loaded using the XNA Content Pipeline.
  • Multi-threaded update of particle systems
  • And more...

Particle Effectors

Particle effectors update particles or manipulate particle systems. The library and the included sample applications offer several predefined effector types:

  • Create particle bursts or emit particles at animatable emission rates.
  • Initialize particle parameters using random value distributions: uniform intervals, Gaussian distributions, points on line segments, spheres, boxes, user-defined distribution, etc.
  • Emit particles on a triangle mesh.
  • Fade particles or whole particle systems in/out.
  • Animate particles using linear interpolation or configurable functions.
  • Move/rotate/accelerate particles. Let particles bounce off objects.
  • Animate particle textures.
  • Or implement your own particle behaviors.

Particle Rendering

The library is graphics engine independent. The included examples provide a particle renderer for the Microsoft XNA Framework, which supports:

  • Depth-sorting of particle systems and particles
  • State-sorting and batching of particle systems to minimize render state changes
  • Texture atlases and animated particle textures
  • Configurable blend states
  • Configurable billboard types: screen-aligned, view plane-aligned, viewpoint-oriented, axial or custom billboard orientations
  • Ribbon rendering (a.k.a. line rendering, trail rendering)

And more...

For a detailed list of features and more information, have a look at the Online Documentation.

Download

The latest version, including documentation and sample projects (with source code), is available for download:

Download Area

Documentation

The download package includes the full MSDN-style documentation.

The documentation can also be viewed online:

Online Documentation

Images

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Here are a few screenshots of example applications that are included DigitalRune Particles.

  • Bee swarm using animated texture
  • Basic particle system
  • Bouncing particles
  • Fire and smoke
  • Decals
  • Flame jet
  • Grass billboards
  • Rain effect using particles
  • Particle effects with different reference frames
  • Ribbon
  • Teleport particle effect
  • Waterfall
  • Example explosion