---
title: particleImage
framework: SceneKit
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Property
platforms: [iOS 8.0+, iPadOS 8.0+, Mac Catalyst 13.1+, macOS 10.8+, tvOS 9.0+, visionOS 1.0+, watchOS 3.0+]
path: scenekit/scnparticlesystem/1524153-particleimage
---

# particleImage

The texture image SceneKit uses to render each particle.

## Declaration

```swift
var particleImage: Any? { get set }
```

## Discussion

Texture images help to determine visual effect rendered by the particle system. The [particleColor](particlecolor.md) property colorizes the image before rendering. You may specify an image using an [NSImage](../../appkit/nsimage.md) (in macOS) or [UIImage](../../uikit/uiimage.md) (in iOS) instance, or an [NSString](../../foundation/nsstring.md) or [NSURL](../../foundation/nsurl.md) instance containing the path or URL to an image file.

If the value is `nil` (the default), SceneKit renders each particle as a small white square (colorized by the [particleColor](particlecolor.md) property).

To specify a sequence of frames for animating each particle, arrange the frames as a grid in a single image, as shown in [Figure 1](1524153-particleimage.md), then use the properties listed in Animating Particle Images to identify frames in the grid and set the speed and style of the animation.

![]()

You can also create particles that appear reflective by assigning an array of images to this property. SceneKit treats the six images in the array as a cube map and renders each particle as a solid-color, reflective sphere. The particle system’s [fresnelExponent](fresnelexponent.md) property controls each sphere’s reflectivity. For details on cube map textures, see [SCNMaterialProperty](../scnmaterialproperty.md).

## See Also

### Specifying Particle Appearance

- [particleSize](particlesize.md)
- [particleSizeVariation](particlesizevariation.md)
- [particleColor](particlecolor.md)
- [particleColorVariation](particlecolorvariation.md)
- [fresnelExponent](fresnelexponent.md)
- [stretchFactor](stretchfactor.md)