Flipbook Player

Menu Path : FlipBook > Flipbook Player

The Flipbook Player Block creates animated particles using flipbook textures. To do this, it increments each particle's Tex Index attribute over time. If you want to directly control Tex Index, you can use a Set Attribute From Curve block instead.

Flipbook textures are texture sheets that consist of multiple smaller sub-images. To produce an animation, Unity steps through the sub-images in a particular order.

To generate a Flipbook, use external digital content creation tools.

To set an output to use flipbooks, change its UV Mode to Flipbook. For more information on the different UV Modes, refer to the documentation for the various output contexts. If you use a Shader Graph output context, refer to Use the Flipbook Player with a Shader Graph output.

There are two different modes to control the playback: Frame Rate and Cycles. Additionally, in both modes, you can control the Animation Range.

Frame Rate mode

In this mode, you can control directly the frame rate used to play the animation. The number of frames displayed depends on the particle's lifetime.

You can select between different submodes:

• Constant: Specify the framerate directly for all particles.
• Random: Select the framerate randomly between two values, for each particle.
• Over Lifetime: Use a curve to specify the framerate during the particle lifetime.
• By Speed: Use a curve to specify the framerate, depending on the speed of the particle. In this mode, you need to provide the min and max speed values.
• Custom: Use a curve and provide the sample time manually.

Specifying the Animation Range is optional in this mode.

Cycles mode

In this mode, you specify the number of cycles that the animation must be played. The frame rate depends on the particle lifetime.

You can select between different submodes:

• Constant: Specify the number of cycles directly for all particles.
• Random: Select the number of cycles randomly between two values, for each particle.
• Random Full Cycle: Same as Random, but values are rounded to the next integer, to force the animation cycle to end on the last frame of the animation.

To calculate the frame rate, specify the Animation Range.

Animation range

By default, the flipbook plays all frames sequentially, from left to right and top to bottom.

You can select a subset of frames to be played:

• Entire Flipbook: Default value, all frames.
• Flipbook Row: Only play the frames in the row selected by Index.
• Flipbook Column: Only play the frames in the column selected by Index.
• Start End Frames: Specify the start and end frames of the animation, inclusive.

Use the Flipbook Player with a Shader Graph output

Shader graph output contexts, such as Output Particle ShaderGraph Quad, do not have a UV Mode setting. Instead, set up flipbook texture sampling inside the shader graph.

To use the Flipbook Player block with a Shader Graph output:

1. Open your shader graph in the Shader Graph window.
2. In the Graph Settings tab, enable Support VFX Graph. For more information, refer to Working with Shader Graph in the Visual Effect Graph.
3. In the Blackboard, add a Float property and name it Particle TexIndex.
4. Add a Flipbook node to the graph.
5. Connect the Particle TexIndex property node to the Tile input of the Flipbook node.
6. Set the Width and Height inputs of the Flipbook node to the column and row count of your flipbook texture.
7. Connect the Out output of the Flipbook node to the UV input of a Sample Texture 2D node, and connect your flipbook texture to the Texture input.
8. Assign the shader graph to an Output Particle ShaderGraph output context in your Visual Effect Graph.
9. In the output context, add a Get Attribute: texIndex operator and connect its output to the Particle TexIndex port.

The Flipbook Player block updates the texIndex attribute each frame. The shader graph uses this value to select the correct sub-image from the flipbook texture.

Note: The Visual Effect Graph package includes sample shader graphs for flipbook effects. To access the sample shader graphs, go to Window > Package Manager, select Visual Effect Graph, and import the VFX Graph Additions sample.

Block compatibility

This Block is compatible with the following Contexts:

• Update

Block settings

Setting	Type	Description
Mode	Enum	Specifies how to determine the frame rate, in frames per second, for the flipbook. The options are: • FrameRate: Controls the frame rate directly, depending on the Frame Rate Mode. • Cycles: Controls the number of cycles that the animation will be played, depending on the Cycles Mode. Frame rate will be automatically computed to fit.
Frame Rate Mode	Enum	Selects between different modes to control the frame rate when FrameRate mode is selected. Refer to Frame Rate mode.
Cycles Mode	Enum	Selects between different modes to specify the number of cycles when Cycles mode is selected. Refer to Cycles mode.
Animation Range	Enum	Different modes to control which frames are displayed. Refer to Animation Range.
Use Custom Range	Boolean	In Frame Rate mode, allows you to customize the animation range.
Reverse	Boolean	Plays the animation from end to start.
Clamp Blending	Boolean	Only visible if flipbook blending is enabled. Clamps the blending between the last and first frames.
Custom Curve	Boolean	Allows using a curve to control animation speed over one cycle. By default, speed is linear: each frame is displayed for the same amount of time. In Frame Rate mode, this property only appears if you enable Over Lifetime, By Speed, or Custom. In Cycles mode, this property only appears if you enable Custom Curve.

Block properties

Frame Rate mode properties

Input	Type	Description
Frame Rate	Float	Sets the flipbook rate in image frames per second. This property only appears if you set Frame Rate Mode to Constant.
Frame Rate	Vector2	Sets the flipbook rate in image frames per second, selected randomly between the minimum and maximum value of the range. This property only appears if you set Frame Rate Mode to Random.
Seed	uint	Specifies a seed that the Block uses to generate random values. This property only appears if you set Frame Rate Mode to Random.
Frame Rate	Curve	Sets the flipbook rate, in image frames per second, over the particle's lifetime via a curve. The curve value at time 0 is the frame rate when a particle is born, and the value at time 1 is the frame rate when the particle reaches its lifetime. This property only appears if you set Frame Rate Mode to Over Lifetime.
Frame Rate	Curve	Sets the flipbook rate, in image frames per second, depending on the speed of the particle. The curve value at time 0 is the frame rate when the particle's speed is less than or equal to the minimum of the Speed Range, and the value at time 1 is the frame rate when the particle's speed is greater than or equal to the maximum of the Speed Range. This property only appears if you set Frame Rate Mode to By Speed.
Speed Range	Vector2	Sets the minimum and maximum speed values that control the Frame Rate curve. This property only appears if you set Frame Rate Mode to By Speed.
Frame Rate	Curve	Sets the flipbook rate, in image frames per second, depending on the Sample Time. This property only appears if you set Frame Rate Mode to Custom.
Sample Time	Float	Specifies the time used to sample the Frame Rate curve. This property only appears if you set Frame Rate Mode to Custom.

Cycles mode properties

Input	Type	Description
Cycles	Float	Sets the fixed number of cycles that the animation plays over the particle's lifetime. This property only appears if you set Cycles Mode to Constant.
Cycles	Vector2	Sets the number of cycles that the animation plays over the particle's lifetime. This number is randomly selected between the minimum and maximum values of the range. If Cycles Mode is set to Random Full Cycle, the number of cycles to play is an integer. Otherwise, it's a float (and might not end at the last frame of the animation). This property only appears if you set Cycles Mode to Random or Random Full Cycle.
Seed	uint	Specifies a seed that the Block uses to generate random values. This property only appears if you set Cycles Mode to Random or Random Full Cycle.

Animation range properties

Input	Type	Description
Index	uint	Selects the row or column of the flipbook to be used for the animation. The number of rows and columns is determined by the Flipbook Size property in the output context. This property only appears if you set Animation Range to Flipbook Row or Flipbook Column.
Frame Range	Vector2	Sets the minimum and maximum frame (both inclusive) to be played in the animation. This property only appears if you set Animation Range to Start End Frames.