Pixijs 2d

PixiJS 2D Rendering Skill

Fast, lightweight 2D rendering engine for creating interactive graphics, particle effects, and canvas-based applications using WebGL/WebGPU.

When to Use This Skill

Trigger this skill when you encounter:

• "Create 2D particle effects" or "animated particles"
• "2D sprite animation" or "sprite sheet handling"
• "Interactive canvas graphics" or "2D game"
• "UI overlays on 3D scenes" or "HUD layer"
• "Draw shapes programmatically" or "vector graphics API"
• "Optimize rendering performance" or "thousands of sprites"
• "Apply visual filters" or "blur/displacement effects"
• "Lightweight 2D engine" or "alternative to Canvas2D"

Use PixiJS for: High-performance 2D rendering (up to 100,000+ sprites), particle systems, interactive UI, 2D games, data visualization with WebGL acceleration.

Don't use for: 3D graphics (use Three.js/R3F), simple animations (use Motion/GSAP), basic DOM manipulation.

Core Concepts

1. Application & Renderer

The entry point for PixiJS applications:

import { Application } from 'pixi.js';

const app = new Application();

await app.init({
  width: 800,
  height: 600,
  backgroundColor: 0x1099bb,
  antialias: true,  // Smooth edges
  resolution: window.devicePixelRatio || 1
});

document.body.appendChild(app.canvas);

Key Properties:

• app.stage: Root container for all display objects
• app.renderer: WebGL/WebGPU renderer instance
• app.ticker: Update loop for animations
• app.screen: Canvas dimensions

2. Sprites & Textures

Core visual elements loaded from images:

import { Assets, Sprite } from 'pixi.js';

// Load texture
const texture = await Assets.load('path/to/image.png');

// Create sprite
const sprite = new Sprite(texture);
sprite.anchor.set(0.5);  // Center pivot
sprite.position.set(400, 300);
sprite.scale.set(2);  // 2x scale
sprite.rotation = Math.PI / 4;  // 45 degrees
sprite.alpha = 0.8;  // 80% opacity
sprite.tint = 0xff0000;  // Red tint

app.stage.addChild(sprite);

Quick Creation:

const sprite = Sprite.from('path/to/image.png');

3. Graphics API

Draw vector shapes programmatically:

import { Graphics } from 'pixi.js';

const graphics = new Graphics();

// Rectangle
graphics.rect(50, 50, 100, 100).fill('blue');

// Circle with stroke
graphics.circle(200, 100, 50).fill('red').stroke({ width: 2, color: 'white' });

// Complex path
graphics
  .moveTo(300, 100)
  .lineTo(350, 150)
  .lineTo(250, 150)
  .closePath()
  .fill({ color: 0x00ff00, alpha: 0.5 });

app.stage.addChild(graphics);

SVG Support:

graphics.svg('<svg><path d="M 100 350 q 150 -300 300 0" /></svg>');

4. ParticleContainer

Optimized container for rendering thousands of sprites:

import { ParticleContainer, Particle, Texture } from 'pixi.js';

const texture = Texture.from('particle.png');

const container = new ParticleContainer({
  dynamicProperties: {
    position: true,   // Allow position updates
    scale: false,     // Static scale
    rotation: false,  // Static rotation
    color: false      // Static color
  }
});

// Add 10,000 particles
for (let i = 0; i < 10000; i++) {
  const particle = new Particle({
    texture,
    x: Math.random() * 800,
    y: Math.random() * 600
  });

  container.addParticle(particle);
}

app.stage.addChild(container);

Performance: Up to 10x faster than regular Container for static properties.

5. Filters

Apply per-pixel effects using WebGL shaders:

import { BlurFilter, DisplacementFilter, ColorMatrixFilter } from 'pixi.js';

// Blur
const blurFilter = new BlurFilter({ strength: 8, quality: 4 });
sprite.filters = [blurFilter];

// Multiple filters
sprite.filters = [
  new BlurFilter({ strength: 4 }),
  new ColorMatrixFilter()  // Color transforms
];

// Custom filter area for performance
sprite.filterArea = new Rectangle(0, 0, 200, 100);

Available Filters:

• BlurFilter: Gaussian blur
• ColorMatrixFilter: Color transformations (sepia, grayscale, etc.)
• DisplacementFilter: Warp/distort pixels
• AlphaFilter: Flatten alpha across children
• NoiseFilter: Random grain effect
• FXAAFilter: Anti-aliasing

6. Text Rendering

Display text with styling:

import { Text, BitmapText, TextStyle } from 'pixi.js';

// Standard Text
const style = new TextStyle({
  fontFamily: 'Arial',
  fontSize: 36,
  fill: '#ffffff',
  stroke: { color: '#000000', width: 4 },
  filters: [new BlurFilter()]  // Bake filter into texture
});

const text = new Text({ text: 'Hello PixiJS!', style });
text.position.set(100, 100);

// BitmapText (faster for dynamic text)
const bitmapText = new BitmapText({
  text: 'Score: 0',
  style: { fontFamily: 'MyBitmapFont', fontSize: 24 }
});

Performance Tip: Use BitmapText for frequently changing text (scores, counters).

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Basic Interactive Sprite

import { Application, Assets, Sprite } from 'pixi.js';

const app = new Application();
await app.init({ width: 800, height: 600 });
document.body.appendChild(app.canvas);

const texture = await Assets.load('bunny.png');
const bunny = new Sprite(texture);

bunny.anchor.set(0.5);
bunny.position.set(400, 300);
bunny.eventMode = 'static';  // Enable interactivity
bunny.cursor = 'pointer';

// Events
bunny.on('pointerdown', () => {
  bunny.scale.set(1.2);
});

bunny.on('pointerup', () => {
  bunny.scale.set(1.0);
});

bunny.on('pointerover', () => {
  bunny.tint = 0xff0000;  // Red on hover
});

bunny.on('pointerout', () => {
  bunny.tint = 0xffffff;  // Reset
});

app.stage.addChild(bunny);

// Animation loop
app.ticker.add((ticker) => {
  bunny.rotation += 0.01 * ticker.deltaTime;
});

Pattern 2: Drawing with Graphics

import { Graphics, Application } from 'pixi.js';

const app = new Application();
await app.init({ width: 800, height: 600 });
document.body.appendChild(app.canvas);

const graphics = new Graphics();

// Rectangle with gradient
graphics.rect(50, 50, 200, 100).fill({
  color: 0x3399ff,
  alpha: 0.8
});

// Circle with stroke
graphics.circle(400, 300, 80)
  .fill('yellow')
  .stroke({ width: 4, color: 'orange' });

// Star shape
graphics.star(600, 300, 5, 50, 0).fill({ color: 0xffdf00, alpha: 0.9 });

// Custom path
graphics
  .moveTo(100, 400)
  .bezierCurveTo(150, 300, 250, 300, 300, 400)
  .stroke({ width: 3, color: 'white' });

// Holes
graphics
  .rect(450, 400, 150, 100).fill('red')
  .beginHole()
  .circle(525, 450, 30)
  .endHole();

app.stage.addChild(graphics);

// Dynamic drawing (animation)
app.ticker.add(() => {
  graphics.clear();

  const time = Date.now() * 0.001;
  const x = 400 + Math.cos(time) * 100;
  const y = 300 + Math.sin(time) * 100;

  graphics.circle(x, y, 20).fill('cyan');
});

Pattern 3: Particle System with ParticleContainer

import { Application, ParticleContainer, Particle, Texture } from 'pixi.js';

const app = new Application();
await app.init({ width: 800, height: 600, backgroundColor: 0x000000 });
document.body.appendChild(app.canvas);

const texture = Texture.from('spark.png');

const particles = new ParticleContainer({
  dynamicProperties: {
    position: true,  // Update positions every frame
    scale: true,     // Fade out by scaling
    rotation: true,  // Rotate particles
    color: false     // Static color
  }
});

const particleData = [];

// Create particles
for (let i = 0; i < 5000; i++) {
  const particle = new Particle({
    texture,
    x: 400,
    y: 300,
    scaleX: 0.5,
    scaleY: 0.5
  });

  particles.addParticle(particle);

  particleData.push({
    particle,
    vx: (Math.random() - 0.5) * 5,
    vy: (Math.random() - 0.5) * 5 - 2,  // Slight upward bias
    life: 1.0
  });
}

app.stage.addChild(particles);

// Update loop
app.ticker.add((ticker) => {
  particleData.forEach(data => {
    // Physics