Download TimelineFX

I’m sorry to say that I can no longer support the Mac version of TimelineFX as it will no longer work on Sonoma onwards. However I am working on the new version of TimelineFX and have a new version for testing (currently Intel Macs only, ARM coming soon). Check it out here.

Create advanced particle effects with the TimelineFX Particle Editor and export your effects to sprite sheets, animation strips or in separate files as a sequence of images. Create a full range of effects by drawing their behaviour on graphs and adjusting settings with the easy to use interface.

To unlock the unregistered version you can purchase a copy by clicking here and a registration key will be sent to you via email. The trial version is fully featured with save disabled and only allows a maximum of 4 frames to be exported.

Current version: 1.37 – 30.10.2019. For the latest changes see below. Mac version is now 64bit to run on Catalina!

System Requirements:

Windows 7 or greater/MacOS. Open GL capable GFX with at least 16MB. Pentium 3 or higher, 512MB system RAM.

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Latest Changes

What’s new in TimelineFX Editor?

30.10.19
* Fixed issue on mac with loading and saving images in full colour having RGB channels swapped round.

21.10.19
* Compiled 64bit version for MacOS Catalina
* Fixed issues with display when dark theme is used

12.10.19
* The animation and export options dialogs are now resizable so should be easier top see all options for higher font scaling
* Fixed a crash when trying to save the example library that loads with the editor.

23.02.19
* Fixed colour issues on the Mac when exporting to a gif

14.01.19
* Recompiled with latest version of Blitzmax NG and latest version of the wxWidgets bindings
* Fixed an issue with the effects not auto playing correctly on a first install
* Mac installation is a lot more Mac friendly now. Temp and config files will now be saved in ~/Library/TimelineFXEditor
* Example library is now stored in the executable to make Mac installations more friendly.
* Full colour imports should now be correct on the Mac.

12.02.16
* Underlying GUI library updated
* Clicking radio boxes on the Mac version should now repaint properly
* Slight optimisation fix for the preview effect window
* Checkboxes should no longer persist their values when switching between effects and emitters
* Clicking then right clicking on a shape should no longer open the shape preview window

29.11.15
* The “*” symbol to indicate a graph that is changed from default now disappears when you reset a graph
* Fixed a crash when dragging an emitter onto its own parent effect.
* Window size when opening on a mac now defaults to maximised to prevent the window from being too small
* Clicking on the preview window now restarts the effect no matter how fast you click,
* Lock angle to motion setting now takes into account angle offset.
* You can no longer create an effect with a shape you previously deleted from the library.

08.06.15
* Fixed an issue with shapes lists not displaying correctly when there are a lot of shapes.
* Fixed an issue when the example shapes are loaded at the start but the file doesn’t exist.

10.05.15
* Fixed a bug and memory leak with the history tab
* The node graph is much more responsive now and won’t stutter when dragging nodes about

22.03.15
* Added Super effects, these are effects that can easily contain other sub-effects without the need for a “container emitter”. find them under the edit menu.
* Cloning sub effects should now clone within the containing effect properly
* If there’s no icon for an effect then they will be assigned a defualt icon (fixes a bug where icons could dissappear)
* A new example library loads when opening TimelineFX so new users can get straight into playing with effects. New option added under preview menu to diable this behaviour.
* New splash screen for trial version to point people to verious onlie documentation and tutorials.
* New effects/emitters/folders will be selected automatically when being created.

17.02.15
* Added new history tab. Now each effect has it’s own history so that you can go back and revert changes.
* Undo and Redo available via the edit menu
* Made sure that the register window is bigger for Windows 8 users.
* Effects and emitter now remember which attribute was last selected.
* Removed the double click to play effect in preview window and rplaced with single click.

17.12.13
* Fixed a bug when saving animations separately resulted in the wrong colour profile being used

12.12.13
* Adjusted the size of the license window, was a bit small
* Fixed a bug with specify columns on the export options which wasn’t starting with the correct values.
* New larger icons for the toolbar, and it’s back to a horizontal layout on the Mac
* Saving as a zip file now renames file so that they’re flash friendly, and it properly saves tpa files as png now as well
* New Export function added to file menu and toolbar which exports to zip file. Removed the option to save as a zip file

10.11.13
* Update to work on latest version of MacOSX 10.9 Mavericks
* Note: This is a beta version, backup your effects!
* Note: The toolbar has moved down the side of the application temporarily.
* Please let me know of any bugs you find by emailing pete@rigzsoft.co.uk or on the forums at www.rigzsoft.co.uk
* Editor now compiled with the latest version of wxWidgets
* You can now save as a .zip file which will help if you’re using the new monkey library of TimelineFX

30.10.11 Version 1.26
* Added TGA (TARGA) to the list of export options when saving animations

24.11.10 Version 1.25
* Export options within the animation controls are now remembered for each effect
* Stopped the effect preview window from opening even though cancel is pressed
* You can now preview the rendered effect whether or not it’s seamless.
* Greyscale export now correctly exports according to Rec. 709 standards
* You can now change the background colour of animations to anything you want. Select Chose Colour from the pop up menu.
* The effect preview window for the animation dialog is now modal. If you want to make changes you have to close it first, not 100% ideal but atleast the export options are now remembered.

15.11.10 Version 1.24
* Added Jpeg format to animation export
* You can now also export effects as gif animations
* There’s now a lot more formats available when importing shapes from .BMP to .DDS
* Added option to cap the FPS of the preview window to the monitor refresh rate. See the Preview Menu.
* Added Import Shape and Import Animation to the Shape tab pop up menu
* Any attributes that no longer have the default value will show an asterisk next to them to better indicate which ones are used.
* Fixed a bug causing the window to reposition incorrectly when closing the program whilst minimised.
* Fixed a bug with interpolated mode causing velocity not to register at all in some cases.
* Replaced progress bars with busy dialogues as they seemed to be causing some problems on some PCs. There is still a progress bar when rendering though, so we will see how that goes.
* Added new export option to save animations with 4×4 anti aliasing.
* Animation zoom level now updates properly when tabbing away.
* There is now a new menu option on the animation dialogue pop up menu – Extra Settings. This brings up an extra settings window with 2 check boxes: Resizing (using the -/+ buttons) automatically scales the effect as well, and option to make the auto-fit function force the effect to remain centred.
* You can now preview seamless animations to check how well they tile. See the pop up menu to access it.
* You can now double click on the random seed button to automatically get a new seed and update the animation.
* The update button on the animation dialogue is now disabled until it needs to actually be used.
* The zoom text box now has a spinner control to change the zoom level 1% at a time.
* Changed how adding a border to the animation works when exporting. You can either add a 1 pixel transparent border, a 1 pixel border that copies the frame out to the edge (non-seamless), and a 1 pixel border that copies from the opposite side of the texture (Seamless). Needs testing some more though!
* You can now specify the number of columns a sprite sheet has when exporting an animation. Default is automatic.
* Fixed a bug causing a crash when cloning an effect whose name only contained numbers.
* Fixed a bug causing duplicate effects to be created when dragging an effect with the same effect.
* You can now increase the rate at which effects are updated. Change this using the preview menu and the updates per second option. 30fps will be enough for most effects, but some effects where you need to spawn a lot of particles that move in the same direction for example, a higher update rate can stop particles spawning on top of each other. Bear in mind that the higher the updates per second, the more performance required if there are a lot of particles.

29.08.10 Version 1.23
* Old effects files now have their shapes loaded in greyscale format by default. Greyscale shapes produce more accurate exports.
* Particles that are black and lightblended are no longer drawn, but I still need a better solution for this!
* Paint mode has been removed, it was just a bit of fluff and ended up causing more problems then it was worth!

08.08.10 Version 1.22
* Improved compatability on the range of mobile intel GMA cards/integrated – Thanks to vgreano and NielsJL for testing!
* Fixed a bug with single frames not exporting properly
* Exported animations now have the black background removed properly.
* Clipboard is cleared when opening a new effect library, as pasting was causing errors. Use import library to bring in effects from other lirbraries.

20.06.10 Version 1.21
* PVR Support! You can now save to PVRTC Format (Mac only).
* Copying graph data will now copy curves data properly as well.
* Fixed a bug with stretch causing recycled particles to stretch way out of shape on spawning
* File association for .eff files will now be set on windows installations.
* Improved performance on Mac. To help performance even more there’s a new option on the preview menu: “Hide Status Text”. Hiding the status text seems to reduce stuttering of particles.

30.05.10 Version 1.20
* Fixed a memory leak when saving and loading effects files
* Fixed a bug with layer spin control not working on the particle tab (effected macs only)

25.05.10 Version 1.19
* Fixed a bug where effects with sub-effects were not properly playing out the whole of their graphs.
* Fixed a bug with reverse aniamtion not working properly
* Fixed a crash bug on Mac caused by changing the order of emitters and effects
* Increased the max number of particles allowed to 10000.

03.05.10 Version 1.18
* Autofit now much much quicker! Also hopefully fixed a bug where it wasn’t autofitting properly after changing the width/height by hand.
* Exporting animations should also be a bit faster.
* Alpha and colour should now be recorded more accurately when exporting animations.
* You can now set whether you want to import shapes as either full colour or greyscale. Set by going File menu -> Import Options.
* New option on the particle tab: Group Particles. This will group particles by emitter which can be handy on some effects that have sub effects. It’s effct wide, so checking this option will apply it to the whole effect.
* Fixed a crash bug when cloning an emitter and then trying to edit the active graph immediately after.
* Imported effects should now correctly pick existing shapes in the library and remember them the next time the library is loaded.
* Using the Global Zoom graph will now correctly work on emitters that use the splatter graph.

29.03.10 Version 1.17
* New Attribute! Splatter. This allows you to randomise where the particles spawn about their spawn point. It adds yet more possibilties with what you can do with effects.
* Fixed a crash when importing animated particles if the settings you entered where too large for the image.
* Fixed a memory leak that became evident after opening and closing a lot of effect libraries.
* Fixed a problem with exporting 1 colour alpha, and grescale alpha animations that was introduced last update.
* Busy Dialog now appears when importing shapes.

20.03.10 Version 1.16
* Fixed a bug bg on Mac casuing a crash sometimes when using the colour dialog
* Fixed a bug where weight wasn’t working in precise mode
* Fixed a bug where the random number generator for effects wasn’t working properly.

28.02.10 Version 1.15
* New Feature: Animation Controls Enhanced! The maximum size of an animation frame has been increased to 8192 x 8192.
* Exporting an animation should now be quicker.
* The editor now alerts you to any new updates when opening the editor.
* Particles will now align properly when velocity is 0 on area, ellipse and line effect types.
* Fixed a bug where some effects didn’t behave the same in the animation controls as they do in the editor preview.

04.02.10 Version 1.14
* New Feature: You can now Adjust the hue of the color bar for each emitter. Just right click on the colour bar and select Adjust Hue.
* New Feature: You can now copy graph data to another graph, assuming they are of the same type. Right click the graph and select “Copy Graph Data” and use “Paste Graph Data” to paste the data to another graph. Note that the existing graph you copy to will be overwritten.
* New Feature: You can now hide Graph Attributes that are not in use to make it easier to see which attributes were used to make an effect.
* New Feature: When selecting an emitter by default it stops the other emitters in an effect from playing. You can now toggle whether you want to hide unselected emitters by right clicking and selecting “Hide Unselected Emitters” on the pop up menu.
* New feature: There are now + and – buttons next to the width and height fields on the Animation Control dialogue. Pressing with double and half the size of the animation frame.
* The zoom setting on the graphs are now remembered between sessions
* The graphs now scroll all the way to the top when the zoom level is less tehn 100%
* You can now clear all colors on the colour bar, just right click and select clear all.
* It now asks to confirm if you want to open a new file if changes have been made.
* Auto fit should be working a lot better, it had been a bit temporamental.
* Fixed an issue stopping you from being able to save an animation with 1 frame.
* The autonumbering system when Cloning and copying effects and emitters has been improved

11.01.10-Version 1.13b
* Quick fixes for a couple of bugs that found their way in, background colour in preview window can be changed again, and animations should export properly again.

09.01.10-Version 1.13
* Fixed a bug causing animations to be drawn wrongly when using the frame slider in the animation properties dialogue.
* The drop down menu on the export options dialogue now says “Sprite Sheet” instead of “Texture” to make things clearer.
* New feature for exporting animations: Frame Step. This allows to only record every Nth frame to help reduce the size of animations.
* You can zoom in and out on the graphs. Either use the mouse wheel (make sure the graph has focus by clicking on it), or use the pop-up menu by right clicking

28.11.09-Version 1.12
* Improved the seamless texture feature. Any sized particle will now seam ok.
* Copying an effect will now copy the animation properties as well.
* Fixed a bug with the app resizing since being compiled with Blitzmax version 1.35
* You now get a little “please wait while animation saves” info box appear when animation is saving.
* Autofix button was not being disabled when seamless option was checked when initially opening the dialog – now it is.

19.11.09 -Version 1.11
* New Feature: You can now export seamless animations, so that they can be used as animated textures tiled seamlessly side by side.
* New Feature: Remove unused shapes by right clicking on the shapes list and selecting “Clear Unused Shapes”
* The context menu on the shape tab will now work by clicking anywhere in the list area (previously it only popped up by clicking on an icon)
* Fixed a bug causing the playback of an animation not to work properly after exporting an animation

08.11.09 – version 1.10
* New feature: Auto fit for animations. Clicking Auto fit will size the effect to fit into the frame size of the animation automatically.
* New Graph Attribute: Global zoom. You can now scale the overal size of the effect using this effect attribute.
* You can now create a new effect with emitter by right clicking on a shape, this will assign the shape to the emitter aswell
* Creating an icon for an effect now also creates a 64×64 thumbnail which can be found within the efects file in Thumbnails folder
* Fixed x-axis of Weight attribute (visual error)
* Fixed tool tip on graph when adjusting a node in the top right of the graph
* Fixed bug causing folders not to be deleted properly
* Fixed bug causing changes in the order of effects within folders not saving properly
* Fixed a bug where a copied sub effect could not be deleted properly
* Loop marker now updates properly on the active graph when the effect’s length value is changed
* Fixed a bug causing a crash when exporting animations with odd sized frames eg. 96×256
* Default effect icon now shows properly for effects within folders
* Fixed memory leak within the Animation Properties Dialogue
* Reverse Spawn Direction setting now saves properly to the effects file
* Fixed a problem with reverse animation direction causing a crash in animation properties
* Fixed a bug causing playback of an effect in animation properties not to work properly after exporting the animation.
* When you cancel the save dialog when exporting an animation, it no longer goes ahead and renders anyway
* Fixed a bug causing animation properties to get stuck updating very long animations
* Fixed a crash when the animation dialog was closed and either the x, y, width or height fields lost focus.

14.09.09 – version 1.09
* You can now export animations with each frame as a separate file
* You can now export animations with a border around each frame
* The trial version now allows you to render an animation to file up to a maximum of 4 frames

04.09.09 – version 1.08
* Mac Release! The Editor is now also available for the Mac
* Added an FPS counter on the status bar
* Fixed a bug where clicking on the shape preview wouldn’t set the handle to the correct place
* Fixed a bug where locking the angle of a particle reversed the direction it was going in.

24.08.09 – version 1.07
* Added Global Stretch attribute.
* Added possible fix for animations lacking transparencey on full colour exports
* Effect now resets after restoring or maximising

14.08.09 – version 1.05
* The Graphs are no longer dependent on OpenGL to be drawn, this should increase compatability on older cards.
* The name of the particle shape currently assigned to the emitter now shows on the particle tab
* You can now set the handle of the particle by clicking on the particle shape on the particle tab

10.08.09 – version 1.05
* Fixed bug causing a crash when the editor tries to load a file with an empty folder
* Fixed bug with not being able to delete folders properly

29.07.09 – version 1.04
* Fixed bug with import shape importing shapes twice
* Fixed bug where resetting the stretch graph was not actually restting it.
* Saving a new effect file now adds it to the recently loaded list in the file menu

25.07.09 – Version 1.03
* Added new attribute – Stretch. This will stretch particles depending on how fast they’re travelling
* Fixed a bug with lock angle effecting they way particles emit from area effects
* Fixed a bug with ellipse arc not working when you emit at points
* Fixed a bug with graph curves not updating properly when inputting graph values manually
* It’s now possible to import more then 1 shape or animation at the same time
* The file menu now has a Recent list of most recently loaded effects libraries
* You can now organise effects in the library more easily by creating folders, dragging and dropping, and changing the order that effects appear in the list.
* Single particles now loop over thier overtime graphs.
* You can now drag and drop shape files from any file manager onto the shapes tab to load them into the editor
* New Background option – Use image: Load any image to be used as a background for the preview window
* Added a default icon for new effects added to the library

16.07.09 – Version 1.02
* Animations now render on lower spec GFX cards that lacked OpenGL Extensions
* When recording animations, low spec GFX cards will not display a progress bar which was causing animations to be rendered incorrectly.
* Fixed a bug with the progress bar when loading effects libraries which was causing some PCs to compile very slowly

12.07.09 – Version 1.01
* Implemented a patch that fixed a bug causing a crash on some integrated Intel Cards