Niagara Basics

Materials & Rendering

Niagara particle system for VFX, covering Systems, Emitters, Modules, common patterns (fire, fog, smoke, sparks), and GPU/CPU simulation.

UE 5.0 – 5.7 · Invoke: /skill niagara-basics

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What this skill does

Niagara Basics gives you expert guidance on UE5's Niagara particle system for visual effects. This skill covers how Niagara Systems, Emitters, and Modules work together in a data-driven pipeline to create effects like fire, fog, smoke, sparks, magic, and environmental particles. You will learn how to place and configure particle systems in your scene, set up common VFX patterns, choose between GPU and CPU simulation, trigger effects from Sequencer or Blueprints, and manage performance for real-time playback.

Covers

  • Niagara System and Emitter architecture
  • Placing and configuring systems in the scene
  • Common VFX patterns (fire, fog, smoke, sparks, magic, environmental particles)
  • Emitter properties (spawn rate, lifetime, velocity, size, color)
  • GPU vs CPU simulation selection
  • Triggering from Sequencer and Blueprints
  • Data Interface basics
  • Performance considerations

Does not cover

  • Custom Niagara module scripting → niagara-authoring (future)
  • Fluid simulation → niagara-fluids
  • Mesh effects → niagara-mesh-effects (future)
  • Post-process effects → post-process-fundamentals

How to use

Invoke directly in Claude Code:

/skill niagara-basics

This skill is also auto-detected when your prompt mentions particle, VFX, Niagara, effect, emitter, spark, fire, fog, smoke, dust, or explosion effect intent. AgentUX will automatically activate Niagara Basics when it recognizes you are working with visual effects or particle systems.

Key Unreal Engine concepts

Concept Description
UNiagaraComponent The scene component that spawns and manages a Niagara System instance, providing the interface for placement, activation, and parameter control.
UNiagaraSystem The top-level asset containing one or more Emitters, defining a complete visual effect that can be placed in the world or spawned at runtime.
NiagaraEmitter A single particle emitter within a System, defining particle spawn, update, and render behavior through a stack of Modules.
Niagara Modules Reusable logic blocks that run at each stage of the particle lifecycle (System, Emitter, Particle) to control spawn rate, forces, size, color, and more.
GPU / CPU Simulation The simulation compute mode: GPU simulation handles millions of particles efficiently, while CPU simulation supports collision queries and complex logic.
Data Interfaces Niagara's mechanism for reading external data (meshes, textures, audio, physics) into the particle simulation for data-driven effects.

Related skills

material-basics

Apply and configure materials

sequencer-basics

Use Sequencer for cinematics

blueprint-basics

Create and modify Blueprints

What you'll learn

  • How to set up Niagara Systems and Emitters for common VFX like fire, smoke, and sparks
  • Choosing between GPU and CPU simulation based on your effect requirements
  • Triggering and controlling particle effects from Sequencer timelines and Blueprint events
  • Tuning emitter properties for visually compelling and performant effects
  • Using Data Interfaces to drive particles from external data sources