Whirlpool: A top-down whirlpool: white foam streaks and clumps spiral inward around a dark eye while a cyan sheen turns beneath and bubbles pop at the rim.

Whirlpool

A top-down whirlpool: white foam streaks and clumps spiral inward around a dark eye while a cyan sheen turns beneath and bubbles pop at the rim. Seamless loop for sea hazards, drains and portals to the deep.

Whirlpool is an HD effect that loops seamlessly every 4 seconds, drawn on a 384 by 384 canvas. It is built from 13 particle emitters. Some particles draw ribbon trails.

Colour

Recolours the preview and the free downloads.

Free download with a transparent background, cropped to the effect, 120 frames at 30 fps. Use it in commercial games, no credit needed.

Licence: use it in any project, including paid commercial games such as a game sold on Steam. There is no per-project licence to buy and no credit needed. Terms.

Roblox: the download is a flipbook for a ParticleEmitter. Set FlipbookLayout to Grid8x8, FlipbookMode to OneShot and Lifetime to 4, then emit one particle per cycle. Roblox setup.

REMIX WITH AI

Try:

Left empty, it just opens in the agent, free. Each change is one AI build, and you start with free builds.

Engine data for Unity, Godot, GameMaker and Aseprite comes with a plan: open it in the studio.

OPEN IN THE STUDIO

Change the colours, timing or size, or export for Unity, Godot 4, GameMaker, Phaser, PixiJS and Aseprite.

Try variations: new colours, motion and shapes of this effect, free in the studio.

FRAME BY FRAME

8 evenly spaced moments across the 4 s loop.

Whirlpool at 8 moments, from 0 s to 3.5 s

HOW IT'S MADE

Whirlpool draws its motion with ribbons: 8 of its 13 particle emitters leave a trail through their recent positions. Techniques worth a look: a vortex, magnets, sub-emitters set off by other particles, paths and post filters (bloom and vignette). A scene layer (ground or a prop) shows in the studio for context and stays out of every export.

Every layer emits continuously and the 4 s loop closes seamlessly, so it can run for as long as you need. To change its colour, select "Whirl Bowl" in the studio and edit Colour A and Colour B. Size on the same layer sets how big its particles are. The colour swatches by the downloads recolour every layer at once.

Layers, in draw order

  1. Whirl Bowl, EyeparticlesA single long-lived particle that stays for the whole loop.
  2. Twirlsprite / additiveA placed image. Extras: spin.
  3. Sheen Arm, Sheen Arm, Sheen Arm +1particlesA steady stream of ribbon trails. They travel along a path. Colour: cyan.
  4. Foam Arm, Foam Arm, Foam Arm +1particlesA steady stream of ribbon trails. They travel along a path. Colours range between white and pale cyan.
  5. Foam ClumpsparticlesA steady stream of image sprites from a disc. They spiral into a vortex, are swallowed by a magnet at its centre, swell and then shrink away and spin. Colours range between white and pale blue.
  6. Eye BubblesparticlesA steady stream of bubbles from a ring. They set off "Bubble Pop" when they die, swirl around a vortex and grow as they age. Colours range between pale cyan and pale blue.
  7. Bubble PopparticlesRings set off by "Eye Bubbles". They grow as they age. Colour: white.

DETAILS

Length
4 seconds, seamless loop
Canvas
384 x 384, HD
Layers
13 emitters
Blend
Mostly normal
Colours
whitecyanpale cyandeep cyan
Sprites
ParticleFX Realism by ParticleFX Studio (CC0), Kenney Particle Pack by Kenney (CC0)
Tags
water, whirlpool, vortex, top-down, sea, hazard, swirl

USING IT IN YOUR GAME

Phaser, PixiJS
The PNG sheet is a plain grid of frames that both can slice. A TexturePacker JSON atlas comes with a plan, from the studio.
Unity
Import the PNG sheet as a Sprite with Mode set to Multiple and slice it, or open the effect in the studio for a ready-made grid.
Godot 4, GameMaker, Aseprite
Open it in the studio and pick your engine in Export: with a plan, it writes the files that engine imports.
Web and chat
The GIF plays anywhere; the APNG keeps soft edges on any background.

Step by step: Unity, Godot 4, Roblox, GameMaker, Phaser and PixiJS, Aseprite, Web games (live runtime).

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