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Retired Document

Important: This document may not represent best practices for current development. Links to downloads and other resources may no longer be valid. More up-to-date information can be found in Xcode Help.

Getting Started with the Particle Emitter

A particle emitter can be added to any project that uses the SpriteKit framework. Xcode provides you with several emitter templates to add to your app. Or you can create new emitter programmatically and insert it directly into your app.

Adding an Emitter to a Project

Before adding a particle emitter to your project, you must have a SpriteKit–enabled project. You can either create a new SpriteKit project or add SpriteKit to an existing project. To create a new project, you can find the Game project template in the Application section for both iOS and OS X.

../Art/game_template.shot/Resources/shot_2x.png

After choosing the Game project template and clicking Next, you can select SpriteKit from the Game Technology drop-down menu.

../Art/gametech_dropdown_spritekit.shot/Resources/shot_2x.png

For your convenience, Xcode is preinstalled with eight particle emitter templates. See Table 1-1 for a description of each particle emitter template.

To add a particle emitter to a project

Choose File > New > File.
Choose Resource > SpriteKit Particle File.
Select the particle template from the drop-down menu, and click Next.
Enter a name for the emitter in the Save As field.
Select the checkbox associated with your project in the Targets area.

**Table 1-1** Particle emitter templates
Template name	Description
Bokeh	Hexagonal particles that grow and blur before fading out at the end of their life cycle.
Fire	A small fire effect that you would see in a fireplace or campfire.
Fireflies	Short-lived yellow particles that randomly move a short distance while growing and blurring before fading out at the end of their life cycle.
Magic	Short-lived green particles that randomly move a short distance while growing and blurring before fading out at the end of their life cycle.
Rain	Nonmorphing particles that start at the top of the emitter and move toward the bottom of the screen. Each particle moves at a different speed.
Smoke	Large black particles that start at the bottom of the emitter and move toward the top of the screen. As the particle moves, it slowly fades out.
Snow	White, diffuse, round particles that start at the top of the emitter and move toward the bottom of the screen. Each particle is a different size and moves at a different speed.
Spark	Sends short-lived, golden particles in 360 degrees, centered around the emitter.

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