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Particles

Particles · screenshot coming soon

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What this node does

Particles simulates a 2D particle system and composites it onto a COMFYTV_VIDEO clip (or renders it over a blank/transparent field when no video is wired). Particles are born from an emitter, pushed around by forces (gravity, wind, turbulence, attractor, swirl), optionally collide with a floor, and are drawn as glowing sprites, stretched streaks, or trails. The node has a live Canvas2D preview so you can dial the look before committing, and a ▶ Run that renders the final composite as a new video snapshot. You can also drive emission from a mask: wire mask_video or mask_image and the emitter switches to mask_edge, spawning particles along the mask’s edges (great for outlining or “dissolving” a subject). In and out are COMFYTV_VIDEO. To interoperate with native ComfyUI nodes, insert a Bridge — see the bridge guide.

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When to use it

  • Add fire embers, sparks, snow, rain, magic dust, or smoke over live footage.
  • Emit particles along a subject’s silhouette (mask-edge) for a dissolve or energy-outline effect.
  • Create looping background motion (dust motes, bokeh) that reacts to gravity and wind.

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Parameters

Positions are normalized 0..1 (fractions of frame width/height). Angles are in degrees. Velocities/forces are in pixels per second unless noted.

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emitter and emitter shape

  • emitter — where particles spawn: point, line, rect, circle, or mask_edge. Default point. (mask_edge requires a wired mask, see below.)
  • e_x0, e_y0 — first anchor of the emitter (default 0.5, 0.85). Used as the point, or the start of the line/rect/circle.
  • e_x1, e_y1 — second anchor (default 0.5, 0.85), defining the far corner/extent for line/rect/circle emitters.

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Emission

  • rate — particles spawned per second, 0–2000, default 120. Set to 0 and the node passes the video through unchanged.
  • lifetime — how long each particle lives, in seconds, 0.1–10.0, default 2.0.
  • speed — initial launch speed, 0–1200, default 120.
  • direction — launch angle in degrees, -180–180, default -90 (straight up).
  • spread — random angular cone around direction, 0–180, default 30.
  • warmup — seconds of simulation run before the first output frame, 0–10, default 1, so the effect starts already “filled in” rather than empty.
  • seed — random seed, 0–99999, default 7, for repeatable results.

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Forces

  • gravity — downward pull, -600–600, default 60 (negative rises).
  • wind — horizontal push, -600–600, default 0.
  • turbulence — strength of noise-driven swirl, 0–600, default 60.
  • turb_scale — spatial scale of the turbulence noise, 8–600, default 120 (larger = broader swirls).
  • drag — velocity damping per step, 0–0.99, default 0.1 (higher = particles slow faster).
  • swirl — rotational force around the attractor point, -600–600, default 0.

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Attractor

  • attract_strength — pull toward (positive) or push from (negative) the attractor, -600–600, default 0 (off).
  • attract_x, attract_y — attractor position, 0..1, default 0.5, 0.5.
  • attract_radius — falloff radius of the attractor, 0.05–1.5, default 0.5.

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Collision

  • collide — floor collision behavior: none (default), bounce, or die.
  • floor_y — floor height as a fraction of frame height, 0..1, default 0.9.
  • bounce — restitution on bounce, 0–1, default 0.5 (fraction of speed kept).

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Sub-emission (secondary bursts)

  • sub_mode — when to spawn a secondary burst: none (default), on_death, or on_collide.
  • sub_count — particles per burst, 0–30, default 8.
  • sub_speed — burst launch speed, 0–600, default 120.
  • sub_lifetime — burst particle life in seconds, 0.1–5.0, default 0.6.
  • sub_size_ratio — burst size relative to parent, 0.1–2.0, default 0.5.
  • sub_color — burst color as hex, default #FFF2B0.

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Size, opacity and color over life

  • size — starting particle size in pixels, 1–64, default 12.
  • size_end_ratio — end size relative to start, 0–3, default 0.4 (particles shrink by default).
  • opacity_start / opacity_end — alpha at birth and death, each 0–1, default 1.0 / 0.0 (fade out).
  • size_curve / opacity_curve — optional custom curves as JSON [{t,v}, ...] (t = life fraction 0–1, v = multiplier). Leave blank to use the simple start/end ramp above.
  • color0 / color1 — start and end colors as hex, default #FFD27A / #FF5A2A (particles tint from color0 to color1 over life).

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Look / rendering

  • sprite — particle texture: glow (soft dot, default), spark, or star.
  • renderer — how particles are drawn: sprite (default), stretched (motion-stretched), or trail (draws a tail).
  • stretch — stretch amount for the stretched renderer, 0–3, default 1.
  • trail_len — number of trail segments for the trail renderer, 2–5, default 4.
  • blend — composite mode over the video: additive (default, glowy) or over (normal alpha).

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Inputs

  • video (COMFYTV_VIDEO, optional) — the clip to composite onto. Without it, particles render on their own field.
  • mask_video (COMFYTV_VIDEO, optional) / mask_image (COMFYTV_IMAGE, optional) — wire either to spawn from mask edges; the emitter is forced to mask_edge. If you pick the mask_edge emitter but wire no mask, the node errors.

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Outputs

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Tips

  • rate = 0 short-circuits the node: it passes the input video through untouched.
  • warmup matters for looks that should already be full at frame 1 (falling snow, rising embers) — without it the effect builds up from empty.
  • additive blend reads as glowing light (sparks, magic); use over for opaque particles like snow or debris.
  • The Canvas2D preview lets you tune forces and look before the (slower) ▶ Run render.
  • Mask-edge emission needs a mask wired to mask_video or mask_image; selecting the mask_edge emitter alone will error.
  • Blur / Sharpen — soften or sharpen the composited result.
  • Video Denoise — clean the base clip before adding particles.