Modern 2D LightRays
Particles & Dust
Use smooth dust motes or the original directional particle workflows.
Unity 2021.3 → 6.7+URP 2DPixel ArtLight2D
Dust Motes
Dust Motes is the smooth atmospheric mode. It emits softly fading particles across the actual ray mesh and is intended for window light, caves, shafts and interior ambience.
Editor preview: enabled particle systems animate continuously in the Scene view without entering Play Mode. Their generated child is a saved nested prefab instance and is removed automatically when particles are disabled.
Bloom: Particle HDR Color is applied in the particle shader, so RGB values above 1 reach the HDR framebuffer instead of relying on vertex color intensity. Raise the HDR color intensity and enable Bloom in your URP Volume for glowing motes.
| Setting | Starting range |
|---|---|
| Density | 0.7–1.3 |
| Size | 0.2–0.4 |
| Speed | 0.3–0.7 |
| Lifetime | 5–8 seconds |
| Movement Variation | 0.15–0.35 |
Original particle modes
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Surface | Emits particles across the ray surface. |
| Surface Climbing | Uses the original climbing surface prefab behavior. |
| Top Falling | Emits from a strip near the top of the ray and falls. |
| Bottom Climbing | Emits from a strip near the bottom and rises. |
The original modes retain Particle Sprite, Lifetime, Width/Offset or Surface Margin controls and continue to use the included particle prefabs.
Sorting
Dust Motes automatically render just above their parent ray. Original particle prefabs keep their authored renderer behavior.
If particles do not appear: confirm Enable Particles is checked, Density is above zero, the ray mesh has visible area and the particle color alpha is not zero.