Particle Fire is an award-winning screensaver for Windows computers, originally developed by Seumas McNally (1979—2000), founder of Canadian software and video game company, Longbow Digital Arts, Inc.
Initially released November 26, 1998, Particle Fire is based on a simple real-time particle visualisation effect that fundamentally was intended to emulate the appearance of fire. But where Particle Fire is not actually trying to make your display look like a fireplace, the screensaver takes its own spin on the visual mechanics to exhibit a unique and mesmerising display of particle-oriented pyrotechniques!
Though it might seem unremarkable at first glance, Particle Fire really is an aesthetic experience of its own kind. It is a screensaver coded with the passion of an artist's heart, a man whose perhaps greatest talent dwelled in his humble ability to imbue his spirit into his craft. And the result truly is nothing short of regal, as dozens of particles assemble in unison to endlessly roam in gracious curvatures and lush cascades, coalescing into an elegant ballet on your computer screen.
But is it customisable?
Packed with a robust selection of editable parameters, customisation is to Particle Fire what paint is to a canvas! Adjust the particle trail fade speed or the overall particle amount to find the perfect balance for your display. Select between six curated colour presets to match your current mood. Or how about experimenting with the custom colour option to find your own perfect colour blend? With the multi-colour mode enabled, you might even discover two different colours creating a third colour, all by the magic of additive colour blending.
If enabled alongside the colour-cycle option, multi-colour mode will occasionally introduce additional colour harmonics to your pyromatic particle display! Do try it out with the Random or Popcorn particle style presets for the best expeirence.
And it's even open source?
Particle Fire was initially released as a shareware product that would run fully functional for a limited trial period, before requiring a paid registration to unlock it from its demo mode. After sixteen years following the passing of Seumas, Longbow Digital Arts concluded to make Particle Fire freeware, as well as making its source code public.
If you are a coder yourself and would like to tinker with Seumas's code, the Particle Fire source code is available through GitHub.
What more to say?
This microblog is presented as a fan tribute only. Please enjoy a unique exhibit of artful screenshots captured directly from Particle Fire!
An elegant display of a golden rose emerges in the void, as a spiralling cluster of sienna and turquoise-tinted particles conjoin into an additive-blended glow, closely followed by a gently curved band of particles, dividing itself into two fragmented tails…
