scene particles

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navigation: title: Scene Particles parent: index.md position: 159 categories:

• scenes

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Scene Particles

GuideNH now supports two particle authoring paths:

1. Static scene particles through <Particle> inside <GameScene>
2. Static scene weather through <Weather> inside <GameScene>
3. Runtime Ponder particles through the particles array in ImportPonder JSON

Static <Particle>

<Particle> renders a stationary particle at a fixed world-space position. When name is omitted, it uses the default billboard particle.

Attribute	Default	Description
name	billboard	Particle appearance. Supported values: billboard, smoke, largesmoke, explode, flash, largeexplode, hugeexplosion. particle, quad, and sheet are accepted aliases for billboard.
x, y, z	0.5, 0.5, 0.5	Particle origin in world space
size	0.18	Particle half-size in block units

<GameScene width="192" height="128" zoom={5} interactive={false}>
  <Block id="minecraft:furnace" x="1" />
  <Particle x="1.5" y="1.85" z="0.5" size="0.22" />
  <Particle name="smoke" x="1.5" y="1.35" z="0.5" size="0.18" />
</GameScene>

Static <Weather>

<Weather> renders animated rain or snow directly in the scene. It is a separate scene component, not a particle billboard. Scene weather loops continuously during normal rendering, uses the same precipitation geometry path as timeline weather, and does not support timeline pause or scrubbing.

Attribute	Default	Description
weather / type	rain	Weather kind. Supported values: rain, snow.
x, z	scene bounds	Covered precipitation columns. Scalars target one column. Arrays use endpoint pairs for rectangles.
density	type-specific	Coverage density. Larger values keep more columns active.

<GameScene width="224" height="128" zoom={5} interactive={false}>
  <Block id="minecraft:grass" />
  <Block id="minecraft:stone" x="1" />
  <Block id="minecraft:stone" x="2" />
  <Weather weather="rain" x="0 1" z="0 0" density="10" />
  <Weather weather="snow" x="2 2" z="0 0" density="7" />
</GameScene>

Weather tag notes:

• <Weather> ignores y; vertical span is derived from the scene bounds and from precipitation-blocking blocks.
• If one axis has extra unmatched endpoint values, the unmatched tail is ignored.
• Overlapping weather tags do not stack on the same x/z column. Earlier tags keep shared columns.

Ponder particles

Ponder particles spawn only when the timeline advances forward into a keyframe. They are not replayed during reverse scrubbing, which keeps seek behaviour deterministic.

Generic particles:

"particles": [
  {
    "name": "smoke",
    "x": 1.5,
    "y": 1.85,
    "z": 1.5,
    "vx": 0.0,
    "vy": 0.01,
    "vz": 0.0,
    "size": 0.18,
    "time": 16,
    "amount": 3
  }
]

Explosion preset:

"particles": [
  {
    "preset": "explosion",
    "x": 1.5,
    "y": 1.45,
    "z": 1.5,
    "time": 8,
    "power": 2.4
  }
]

Weather preset:

"particles": [
  {
    "preset": "rain",
    "weather": "snow",
    "x": [0, 2],
    "z": [0, 2],
    "time": 100,
    "amount": 8
  }
]

Indicator preset:

"particles": [
  {
    "preset": "indicator",
    "color": "#6EDCFF",
    "x": [1, 2],
    "y": [1, 2],
    "z": [0, 1],
    "time": 16,
    "amount": 6,
    "size": 0.12
  },
  {
    "preset": "redstone",
    "x": 3,
    "y": 1,
    "z": 1
  }
]

Field	Description
preset	Special preset. explosion reproduces a vanilla-style flash, smoke, and outward burst. rain enables the shared weather preset. indicator emits Create/Ponder-style block hint particles. redstone is a shortcut alias for indicator with the default red color.
weather	Used by preset: "rain". Supports rain and snow.
color	Used by preset: "indicator" / preset: "redstone". Accepts #RRGGBB, #RRGGBBAA, or 0xRRGGBB / 0xRRGGBBAA. Omitted color defaults to the Ponder-style red hint color.
name	Generic particle appearance. Supported values: billboard, smoke, largesmoke, explode, flash, largeexplode, hugeexplosion.
particle / kind	Compatibility aliases for name.
x, y, z	Generic particle origin in world space. For preset: "rain", only x/z are used as weather coverage. For preset: "indicator" / preset: "redstone", scalars target one block, while arrays or whitespace/comma-separated coordinate strings expand into block-coordinate sets on that axis.
vx, vy, vz	Initial velocity. motionX/Y/Z are accepted aliases.
time / lifetime	Particle lifetime in ticks. For preset: "rain" this is the full weather duration including the start/end transition.
size	Particle half-size in block units.
amount	Generic particle count. When omitted for explosion, it scales from power. For preset: "rain" it controls average density per tick. For preset: "indicator" / preset: "redstone" it is the number of hint particles emitted inside each targeted block. Indicator and redstone presets still default to 10 when omitted.
power	Explosion strength for the explosion preset.

Weather preset notes:

• preset: "rain" is the shared weather preset entry point.
• Set weather: "rain" for rainfall or weather: "snow" for snowfall.
• Ponder weather is timeline-owned. It replays, pauses, seeks, and fast-forwards with the rest of the timeline.
• For always-on scene weather outside the timeline, use <Weather> inside <GameScene>.
• Weather presets ignore y; vertical range is derived from the scene bounds.
• Extra unmatched endpoint values on one axis are ignored.
• The runtime automatically adds a short fade-in, steady middle section, and fade-out.
• Rain adds quick drops and small ground splashes. Snow uses slower drifting flakes.
• The same x/z column will not stack multiple weather types at the same time.

Indicator preset notes:

• preset: "indicator" emits a short colored hint burst inside each targeted block, similar to Create/Ponder redstone indicators.
• preset: "redstone" is just indicator with the default red color, so it is useful as a concise shorthand.
• For indicator and redstone, x/y/z all support scalar coordinates, arrays, or whitespace/comma-separated coordinate lists.
• The runtime expands the three axes independently, then emits particles for every x * y * z block combination in the resulting volume/set.