How to emit particles using SKEmitterNode
Swift version: 5.4
SpriteKit has built-in support for particle systems, which are a realistic and fast way to create effects such as smoke, fire and snow. Even better, Xcode has a built-in visual particle editor so that you can tweak your designs until they look exactly right.
To get started, right-click on your project in Xcode and choose New File. Select iOS > Resource > SpriteKit Particle File, then choose the Smoke template and click Next to name your effect. Once that's done, your particle will be opened immediately in the visual editor so you can adjust its design.
When it comes to using your effect, just create a new SKEmitterNode object using the name of your particle effect, like this:
if let particles = SKEmitterNode(fileNamed: "yourParticleFile.sks") {
particles.position = player.position
addChild(particles)
}Obviously you will want to set your own position rather than using an example player node.
SPONSORED From August 2nd to 8th you can join a FREE crash course for mid/senior iOS devs who want to achieve an expert level of technical and practical skills – it’s the fast track to being a complete senior developer!
Sponsor Hacking with Swift and reach the world's largest Swift community!
Available from iOS 7.0 – see Hacking with Swift tutorial 11
Similar solutions…
- How to emit particles using CAEmitterLayer
- How to advance time in an SKEmitterNode using advanceSimulationTime()
- SwiftUI tips and tricks
- All SwiftUI property wrappers explained and compared
- How to convert dates and times to a string using DateFormatter
About the Swift Knowledge Base
This is part of the Swift Knowledge Base, a free, searchable collection of solutions for common iOS questions.
