GParticles: a flexible GPU-based particle library

Abstract

Particle systems are widely used to create visual effects with a large number of elements (or particles). Earlier works were CPU based, while recent developments use the GPU to take advantage of the fact that, in most cases, particles are independent entities. In here, we propose a GPU-based library that focuses on extensibility and ease of use. The library allows for virtually any particle logic to be implemented, supporting fully programmable shader based effects, facilitating the definition of multiple resources and providing full control over the particle system’s simulation execution. Projects can be easily specified using XML, and extended via shaders and stubs, C functions that can be executed in between particle system’s processing stages. The examples presented illustrate the potential of the API, with multiple particle systems acting in a sequence, later extended to create custom graphic effects.