Particle Systems in Godot 4.3+

All examples target Godot 4.3+ with no deprecated APIs. GDScript is shown first, then C#.

Related skills: shader-basics for custom particle shaders, 3d-essentials for lighting and environment that affect particles, 2d-essentials for 2D rendering context, tween-animation for code-driven VFX timing, godot-optimization for particle performance tuning.

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1. Core Concepts

GPU vs CPU Particles

Node	Processing	Features	Use For
GPUParticles2D	GPU	Full features, high counts, trails	Most 2D effects
GPUParticles3D	GPU	Full features, attractors, collision	Most 3D effects
CPUParticles2D	CPU	Simpler, no trails/attractors	Low-end devices, few particles
CPUParticles3D	CPU	Simpler, no trails/attractors	Low-end devices, few particles

Rule of thumb: Use GPU particles by default. Switch to CPU particles only for low-end/web targets. Neither node exposes per-particle positions to scripts, so spawning objects at particle locations needs your own simulation.

You can convert between GPU and CPU particles in the editor: select the node → toolbar → Convert to CPUParticles2D/3D (or vice versa).

Particle System Architecture

GPUParticles2D/3D
├── Process Material (ParticleProcessMaterial)   ← physics, emission, color
├── Draw Pass 1 (Mesh)                            ← what each particle looks like
└── (Optional) Draw Pass 2-4                      ← additional meshes

Minimal Setup