Creating complex simulations with VFX Graph

The particle system we have used so far is called Shuriken, and it handles all calculations in the CPU. This has both pros and cons. A pro is that it can run on all possible devices that Unity supports, regardless of their capabilities (all of them have CPUs), but a con is that we can exceed CPU capabilities easily if we are not cautious with the number of particles we emit. Modern games require more complex particle systems to generate believable effects, and this kind of CPU-based particle system solution has started to reach its limits. This is where the VFX Graph comes in:

Figure 7.33 – On the left, a massive particle system, and on the right, an example of a VFX Graph

VFX Graph (Visual Effects Graph) is a GPU-based particle system solution, meaning that the system is executed on the video card instead of the CPU. That's because video cards are far more efficient at executing lots and lots of little...