Snow simulates snowflake particles falling, depositing, and melting within the 3D stage volume. Descending flakes that strike solid geometry (the avatar's body, accessories, or the floor) come to rest, accumulate, and gradually melt away before recycling back to the top.
The snowfall simulation is driven entirely by an efficient GPU particle system, maintaining smooth performance even at 10,000 particles.
OriginalEffectControls
| Control | Range | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amount | 100 – 10000 | 2000 | Total snowflake particles simulated in the scene |
| Speed | 0 – ×3 | ×1 | Descent and drift speed multiplier (0 pauses motion) |
| Wind | −3 – 3 m/s | 0 m/s | Lateral wind speed blowing across the stage |
| Sway | 0 – 3 | 1 | Amplitude of gentle side-to-side sway during descent |
| Flake Size | 0.4 – 3 | 1 | Size scaling factor for snowflake particles |
| Melt Time | 0.5 – 30 s | 6 s | Duration from landing until a settled flake melts away |
| Opacity | 0.1 – 1 | 1 | Overall rendering opacity of snowflake particles |
Spatial Depth and Motion
Every snowflake is assigned individualized movement properties: falling speed, size, and sway rhythm vary naturally across the flurry, creating an organic mix of slowly drifting floaters and faster-falling crystals.
Snowflakes feature distinct depth layers: the majority are fine, distant flakes, while roughly one in ten is larger and closer to the camera. Adjusting Flake Size scales both tiers proportionally, preventing the scene from feeling like a flat, uniform particle field.
3D Stage Integration
Snowflakes are rendered as native 3D geometry in world space:
- Dynamic Lighting Response: Flakes react to 3D scene lighting, naturally reflecting ambient colors and shadows; subtle built-in glow ensures flakes remain discernible even in pitch-black scenes.
- Spatial Depth: Flakes occupy genuine 3D coordinates, blurring naturally with camera Depth of Field and maintaining accurate occlusion in front of or behind the avatar and accessories.
- Post-Processing Support: The entire Effect Chain (such as bloom and color grading) naturally applies to the snowflakes.
Settling and Melting
Snowflakes feature automatic collision detection, sensing the avatar, stage props, and the ground plane. Upon landing on a surface, flakes come to rest and stay anchored until the end of their Melt Time, when they shrink, disappear, and respawn overhead.
When toggled on, snow particles immediately scatter throughout the entire height of the volume rather than slowly trickling from the top, delivering a full snowy scene from the very first frame.
When the avatar moves or changes poses, settled snowflakes remain anchored at their landing positions until they melt away. To keep snow accumulation closely tracking rapid avatar movements, shorten the Melt Time.
Wind and Sway
Wind controls horizontal drift speed, while Sway introduces individual fluttering motion. Snow wraps around the stage boundaries, so strong winds will not sweep the scene empty.
Zero wind with subtle sway creates a peaceful, gentle snowfall. Cranking wind up with a shortened Melt Time quickly turns the scene into a driving blizzard.
Performance
Snow is simulated by an efficient GPU particle system. Collision detection is shared with Rain, introducing no duplicate overhead when both run concurrently.
Amount is the primary performance factor. Adjusting flake count via the slider is smooth, though higher particle counts require more graphics processing power.
When toggled, snow smoothly fades in and out over roughly 0.4 seconds to eliminate sudden visual pop-in.
Snow requires GPU compute capability and is only available on the 3D stage. On unsupported fallback environments, snow safely disables itself to keep the stage running stably.
Last updated on November 3, 2026