particles

type: "particles"

Emits vanilla particles in animated shapes — no custom textures, everything is datapack-driven and works under shaderpacks. Two definition-level string fields choose the look:

Fields

Every world overlay also accepts positions (static or entity-anchored), region or the pos_x/pos_y/pos_z params, plus the shared definition fields (duration, easing, loop, persistent, fade_ticks, sound).

Field	Type	Default	Meaning
particle	string	minecraft:end_rod	Any simple vanilla particle id (minecraft:flame, minecraft:soul, minecraft:glow, minecraft:cloud, ...). The special id dust builds a redstone-dust particle whose colour/size come from the animatable params below. Option-carrying types (block, item, ...) are not supported.
shape	string	sphere	sphere (random shell points), ring (flat circle on XZ), helix (rising spiral), line (between the first two positions slots, like guide_line), cube (random surface points), point (all at the anchor)

Field	Type	Default	Meaning
rate	float	40	Particles per second (× fade weight). Animate it — e.g. keyframes for a burst.
radius	float	2	Shape size, blocks (animate for a growing shockwave ring)
height	float	3	Helix height, blocks
turns	float	2	Helix revolutions over its height
spin	float	0	Helix rotation phase, revolutions
speed	float	0	Launch velocity (blocks/s): random radial by default, towards the second position slot when aim:1
aim	float	0	1 = aimed flight: every particle is launched towards the second positions slot (works for any shape and particle, drag-free ballistics; with entity-anchored slots the stream tracks moving targets)
spread	float	0.15	Cone spread around the aim direction (0 = perfectly aimed, 1 = wide spray)
accel	float	0	Acceleration along the aim direction, blocks/tick² — particles speed up in flight
lifetime	float	0	Particle lifetime override in ticks (0 = particle default). Match it to the flight time so particles die at the target
vel_y	float	0	Constant upward velocity (rising auras)
size	float	1	dust particle size (0.05..4)
color_r/g/b	float	1 / 1 / 1	dust colour (any RGB)

{
    "type": "particles",
    "loop": true,
    "particle": "dust",
    "shape": "helix",
    "params": { "rate": 80, "radius": 1.2, "height": 3.0, "color_r": 1.0, "color_g": 0.85, "color_b": 0.3 }
}

Emission is budgeted per instance (clamped to 1024 particles/s, 256 per frame) and stops automatically as the effect fades out. Anchors work like for all world overlays: positions may be entity-anchored, so an aura follows a player smoothly.

Aimed stream example — accelerating shot from one block to another (put both points into positions, or entity-anchor either end):

{
    "type": "particles",
    "particle": "dust",
    "shape": "point",
    "positions": [[0, 70, 0], [20, 70, 20]],
    "params": { "rate": 60, "speed": 0.4, "accel": 0.12, "aim": 1, "spread": 0.05, "lifetime": 40,
        "color_r": 1.0, "color_g": 0.3, "color_b": 0.1 }
}

Block and item mode. The particles effect can also spawn real block or item models instead of vanilla particles - inline ("particle": "block" / "item") or from a reusable preset (data/<namespace>/vfx_particles/<name>.json, VFXAPI.registerBlockParticle). Each particle is a client-side BlockDisplay/ItemDisplay entity, so vanilla interpolates its motion; the model has block-display brightness, gravity, air friction, collision/bounce, size, lifetime and a configurable tumble. The full preset schema, the effect params that override it and the rendering/caps details are on Block and item particles.

Run it

/vfx play vfxweaver:particles

Code

/vfx play vfx_demos:show_particles

Its datapack definition:

{
    "type": "particles",
    "duration": 160,
    "easing": "ease_in_out_cubic",
    "persistent": true,
    "loop": true,
    "fade_ticks": 12,
    "particle": "dust",
    "shape": "helix",
    "positions": [
        [
            2000,
            100,
            2000
        ]
    ],
    "params": {
        "rate": 100.0,
        "radius": {
            "keyframes": [
                {
                    "time": 0,
                    "value": 0.6
                },
                {
                    "time": 80,
                    "value": 1.4
                },
                {
                    "time": 160,
                    "value": 0.6
                }
            ]
        },
        "height": {
            "keyframes": [
                {
                    "time": 0,
                    "value": 2.0
                },
                {
                    "time": 80,
                    "value": 3.5
                },
                {
                    "time": 160,
                    "value": 2.0
                }
            ]
        },
        "turns": 2.0,
        "size": 1.0,
        "color_r": 1.0,
        "color_g": 0.85,
        "color_b": 0.3
    }
}