IOS Snow Fall Animation

Question

I just want to animate snowflakes / other objects in the background. I know several ways to do this, but I'm really looking for the most effective solution. I could use this while doing an animation of a UIView block. I would like it to start at the top of the screen and approach the bottom of the screen for a certain period of time, and then finish it again at the top. Is this a good way to do this? I am looking for efficiency here.

Answer 1

You need a CAEmitterLayer! http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/GraphicsImaging/Reference/CAEmitterLayer_class/Reference/Reference.html

This is only iOS 5.

http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/GraphicsImaging/Reference/CAEmitterLayer_class/Reference/Reference.html

Answer 2

This is only $ 8 for a 71Squared emitter. You can copy and paste the code. But the biggest advantage is tuning the particles exactly the way you want, which can be more time consuming than figuring out how to make the particles first.

http://particledesigner.71squared.com/

Answer 3

As Randall and Javy previously answered, you need a CAEmitterLayer, and you probably want to customize it with a preview such as Particle Designer, which doesn't work with CAEmitterLayer.

For CAEmitterLayer, you can use the Particle Playground (Mac App Store) to configure your emitter on your mac in the simulator and export it as code, ready for integration into your project. PP is very similar to Particle Designer.

Answer 4

This one may be for your reference.

Smooth Core Animation Snow Effect