The Particle Effects tool fills the screen with an animated field of moving points — twinkling stars, falling snow, streaking rain, drifting sparkles or fireflies, rising bubbles, or a burst of sparks. It works as a creative background, a streaming overlay, or ambient screen art, and everything about the field — what it is, how many points, how fast, how big, what color — is adjustable live.
Before you start
- A screen or window to display it on. Any device with a modern browser works; there's no download.
- Pick a preset before tuning the rest. Count, Velocity, and Size all read differently depending on which particle type you've chosen, so dial in the preset first.
- Know whether you need a specific color. Only three of the seven presets can be recolored — plan around that before you spend time on the color picker.
Set it up
- Open the Particle Effects tool.
- Under Particle Preset, select one of the seven buttons: Stars, Snow, Rain, Sparkles, Fireflies, Bubbles, or Sparks. This swaps the entire particle field immediately.
- Drag Particle Count to set how many particles are on screen at once.
- Drag Velocity to set how fast particles move. Skip this for the Stars preset — see Troubleshooting.
- Drag Particle Size to set how large each particle is.
- If you're on Stars, Sparks, or Sparkles, pick a color from Particle Color or one of the Quick Colors swatches.
- Adjust Brightness if the field looks washed out or too dim against your background.
- Select Go Fullscreen.
You'll know it worked when switching presets visibly swaps the whole animation — not just a color change — and dragging Particle Count adds or removes points in real time.
What each control does
| Control | Range | Default | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brightness | 10–100 | 80 | Overall opacity of every particle. Lower values make the whole field fainter without changing count or size. |
| Particle Preset | Stars, Snow, Rain, Sparkles, Fireflies, Bubbles, Sparks | Stars | Swaps the entire particle system — shape, motion pattern, and lifespan all change with it. |
| Particle Count | 10–500 | 100 | How many particles exist on screen at once. |
| Velocity | 1–100 | 50 | Speed multiplier applied to particle motion. Has no visible effect on the Stars preset, which doesn't move. |
| Particle Size | 10–200 | 50 | Base size of each particle. The same value looks different across presets — Bubbles render roughly twice as large as Stars at the same setting, Sparkles about half as large. |
| Particle Color / Quick Colors | Any color / 7 swatches | Purple (#8b5cf6) | Recolors particles, but only for Stars, Sparks, and Sparkles. Snow (white), Rain (blue), Fireflies (yellow), and Bubbles (cyan) always use their own fixed color. |
The plain color swatch in the main settings panel (shown above these controls, since this effect has no color-temperature presets) is a separate control from Particle Color and does not change the particle field — use Particle Color or Quick Colors instead.
Common setups
- Streaming overlay. Sparkles, Particle Count 150–200, Velocity 20–30, Particle Size 40–60, color set to match your brand. Slow drift reads as ambient rather than distracting.
- Winter or holiday backdrop. Snow, Particle Count 200–300, Velocity 40–60, Particle Size 60–100. Higher velocity makes it fall rather than drift.
- Calm ambient loop. Fireflies, Particle Count 40–80, Velocity 15–25, Brightness 60. Low count and low brightness keep it in the background rather than the focal point.
- High-energy overlay. Sparks, Particle Count 100–150, Velocity 70–90, a bright Particle Color. Sparks burst from the center and fade quickly, so higher count keeps the burst looking continuous.
Troubleshooting
The field looks empty or too faint to see. Particle Count may be set low, or Brightness is pulling every particle toward transparent. Raise Particle Count first, then check Brightness — 80 is the default and a reasonable starting point.
Snow, rain, or bubbles seem to loop endlessly instead of running out. That's expected — those three presets respawn at the opposite edge the instant they cross off-screen, so the field never thins out on its own.
Sparks disappear quickly and keep restarting near the center of the screen. That's the intended behavior — sparks have a short lifespan and burst outward from the middle before fading and respawning, rather than persisting like the other presets.
Particle Size looks bigger or smaller than expected after switching presets. Each preset scales the Size value differently — Bubbles roughly double it, Sparkles roughly halve it — so the same slider position produces different visual sizes across presets. Re-check Size after every preset change rather than assuming it carries over.
Next steps
If you want a dedicated starfield with warp and trail controls instead of the simpler Stars preset here, try Starfield. For a slower, color-only ambient background with no particles to manage, Color Wash is the simpler option.