Effects Reference

Every built-in effect in Embers Text API, with parameters, markup examples, and suggestions for when to use each one.

How parameters work: Write them inside the tag as key=value. Numbers are plain numbers, booleans are true or false, colors are hex strings (e.g., FF0000). Omit a parameter to use its default.

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Color Effects

Rainbow

Cycles text through the full color spectrum. Each character is at a different phase, creating a wave of color across the text.

Tag	Aliases
<rainbow>	<rainb>

Parameter	Default	Description
f	1.0	Cycling speed. Higher = faster.
w	1.0	Phase offset between adjacent characters. Lower = tighter wave.

Examples

<rainbow>Standard rainbow</rainbow>
<rainbow f=2.0>Fast-cycling rainbow</rainbow>
<rainbow f=0.5 w=2.0>Slow, spread-out rainbow</rainbow>

When to use: Celebrations, titles, welcome messages, anything that should feel exciting and colorful.

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Gradient

Smooth color transition from one color to another across the text.

Tag	Aliases
<grad>	<gradient>

Parameter	Default	Description
from	5BCEFA (light blue)	Starting color
to	F5A9B8 (pink)	Ending color
hue	false	Use HSV color space for smoother hue transitions
f	0.0	Animation speed. 0 = static gradient.
sp	20.0	Span in characters — how wide the gradient stretches
uni	false	Unidirectional (A→B only) vs. cyclic (A→B→A)

Examples

<grad>Default blue-to-pink gradient</grad>
<grad from=FF0000 to=0000FF>Red to blue</grad>
<grad hue=true from=FF0000 to=00FF00>Smooth hue shift red-to-green</grad>
<grad f=1.0>Animated shifting gradient</grad>
<grad sp=8 uni=true>Short one-way gradient</grad>

When to use: Health bars, lore text with a visual theme, boss names with dramatic color shifts.

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Color

Applies a single solid color to text via the effect system. Unlike the <color> style tag, this works within the effect stack and can be combined with other color effects.

Tag	Aliases
<color col=HEX>	<color value=HEX>

Parameter	Default	Description
col	FFFFFF	The color to apply (hex string)
value	FFFFFF	Alternative to col

Examples

<color col=FF0000>Red text</color>
<color value=#00FF00>Green text</color>
<color col=5BCEFA>Sky blue text</color>

When to use: When you need a color that can be stacked with effects like <neon> or <pulse> in the effect chain.

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Pulse

Rhythmic brightness pulsing — text brightens and dims repeatedly.

Tag	Aliases
<pulse>	—

Parameter	Default	Description
base	0.75	Minimum brightness (0.0–1.0). Lower = darker troughs.
a	1.0	Pulse amplitude.
f	1.0	Pulse speed.
w	0.0	Phase offset between characters. Non-zero = wave-style pulse.

Examples

<pulse>Gently pulsing text</pulse>
<pulse base=0.3 a=1.5>Strong pulsing</pulse>
<pulse f=3.0>Rapid pulse</pulse>
<pulse w=0.3>Wave-style pulse across characters</pulse>

When to use: Alerts, attention-grabbing HUD elements, countdown timers, energy indicators.

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Fade

Oscillates text transparency between visible and semi-transparent.

Tag	Aliases
<fade>	—

note

<fade> has two modes. With a, f, or w parameters: oscillating transparency effect. With in and/or out parameters (no a/f/w): sets global message fade-in/out timing. See Markup Guide → Global Tags.

Parameter	Default	Description
a	0.3	Minimum alpha (0.0 = fully invisible at minimum)
f	1.0	Oscillation speed
w	0.0	Phase offset between characters

Examples

<fade>Gently fading text</fade>
<fade a=0.0 f=2.0>Full fade-to-invisible, fast</fade>
<fade w=0.2>Wave-style fading across characters</fade>

When to use: Ghost text, ambient lore, ethereal or mysterious messages.

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Motion Effects

Wave

Characters move up and down in a smooth sinusoidal wave.

Tag	Aliases
<wave>	—

Parameter	Default	Description
a	1.0	Wave height in pixels
f	1.0	Wave speed
w	1.0	Wavelength (distance between peaks)

Examples

<wave>Flowing wave text</wave>
<wave a=3.0>Tall waves</wave>
<wave f=2.0 w=0.5>Fast, tight waves</wave>

When to use: Fluid or water themes, lively NPC dialogue, scrolling announcements.

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Shake

Random jitter — each character displaces randomly every frame.

Tag	Aliases
<shake>	—

Parameter	Default	Description
a	1.0	Shake intensity (pixel displacement)
f	1.0	Shake speed (how often direction changes)

Examples

<shake>Vibrating text</shake>
<shake a=3.0>Intense shake</shake>
<shake a=0.5 f=5.0>Subtle rapid vibration</shake>

When to use: Danger warnings, explosions, earthquake events, angry NPC dialogue.

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Bounce

Characters hop up and down with realistic multi-bounce physics (rises, then diminishing bounces).

Tag	Aliases
<bounce>	—

Parameter	Default	Description
a	1.0	Bounce height
f	1.0	Bounce speed
w	1.0	Phase offset between characters (creates a cascading wave)

Examples

<bounce>BOING!</bounce>
<bounce a=2.0 w=0.3>High cascading bounce</bounce>
<bounce f=2.0>Fast bounce</bounce>

When to use: Celebratory messages, item collection, score events, jovial NPC text.

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Circle

Characters orbit in a circular path around their original position.

Tag	Aliases
<circle>	—

Parameter	Default	Description
a	1.0	Circle radius in pixels
f	1.0	Rotation speed
w	0.0	Phase offset between characters

Examples

<circle>Orbiting text</circle>
<circle a=3.0>Large orbits</circle>
<circle f=2.0 w=0.2>Fast orbiting wave</circle>

When to use: Magical effects, spinning/swirling themes, enchantment or portal messages.

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Wiggle

Each character wiggles in a unique direction determined by its character code. Creates organic, varied motion across the text.

Tag	Aliases
<wiggle>	—

Parameter	Default	Description
a	1.0	Wiggle distance
f	1.0	Wiggle speed
w	1.0	Phase offset between characters

Examples

<wiggle>Organic wiggly text</wiggle>
<wiggle a=2.0 f=1.5>Stronger, faster wiggle</wiggle>

When to use: Chaos effects, jelly-like text, playful NPC dialogue.

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Pendulum

Characters swing back and forth like a pendulum.

Tag	Aliases
<pend>	<pendulum>

Parameter	Default	Description
a	30.0	Maximum swing angle in degrees (0–90)
f	1.0	Swing speed
r	0.0	Arc radius. When > 0, characters also move along a circular arc

Examples

<pend>Swinging text</pend>
<pend a=60>Wide swing</pend>
<pend a=30 r=5>Pendulum with arc movement</pend>

When to use: Clock or time themes, hypnotic effects, NPCs gesturing.

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Swing

Characters rotate back and forth around their center point.

Tag	Aliases
<swing>	—

Parameter	Default	Description
a	1.0	Rotation amplitude in radians × 0.5 (≈ ±28° at default)
f	1.0	Swing speed
w	0.0	Phase offset between characters

Examples

<swing>Rocking text</swing>
<swing a=2.0 f=1.5>Strong, fast rocking</swing>

When to use: Boat/sea themes, rocking motion, agitated dialogue.

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Scroll

Text scrolls continuously from right to left, looping after a fixed period.

Tag	Aliases
<scroll>	—

Parameter	Default	Description
f	1.0	Scrolling speed

Examples

<scroll>Marquee-style scrolling text</scroll>
<scroll f=2.0>Fast scrolling</scroll>

When to use: Ticker-tape announcements, news feeds, long messages that need to loop.

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Turbulence

Characters drift in organic, wind-like motion using dual-frequency noise.

Tag	Aliases
<turb>	<turbulence>

Parameter	Default	Description
a	1.0	Displacement strength
f	1.0	Turbulence speed

Examples

<turb>Wind-blown text</turb>
<turb a=2.0>Strong turbulence</turb>
<turb a=3.0 f=0.5>Slow, drifting motion</turb>

When to use: Wind, storms, gas/vapor effects, unstable or glitchy environments.

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Special Effects

Glitch

Digital distortion — horizontal slice displacement, position jitter, alpha blinks, and optional chromatic aberration.

Tag	Aliases
<glitch>	—

Parameter	Default	Description
f	1.0	Animation speed multiplier
s	0.08	Slice displacement frequency (0.0–1.0)
j	0.015	Position jitter frequency
b	0.003	Alpha blink frequency
o	1.0	Slice offset distance multiplier
c	0.0	Chromatic aberration intensity
slices	2	Number of horizontal slices (2–5)

Examples

<glitch>Basic glitch</glitch>
<glitch s=0.2>Frequent glitches</glitch>
<glitch c=1.0>With chromatic aberration</glitch>
<glitch slices=4 s=0.3 o=2.0>Multi-slice chaos</glitch>

When to use: Corruption events, tech-themed alerts, hacking sequences, computer terminals, error messages.

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Neon

Multi-ring glow effect surrounding text with a soft luminous halo.

Tag	Aliases
<neon>	<glow>

Parameter	Default	Description
r	2.0	Glow radius in pixels (0.5–8.0)
i	1.0	Glow brightness/intensity (0.1–3.0)
q	2	Quality: 1 = fast (6 samples), 2 = balanced (12), 3 = high (20)
c	(text color)	Glow color override (hex)
p	0	Pulse animation speed
f	2.0	Alpha falloff curve power

Examples

<neon>Default glow</neon>
<neon r=4 i=2.0>Strong wide glow</neon>
<neon c=00FFFF>Cyan glow</neon>
<neon q=3 r=3>High-quality glow</neon>
<neon p=2.0>Pulsing glow</neon>

tip

Use q=1 for neon on long messages. Each neon layer renders 6–20 extra passes per character — it gets expensive fast.

When to use: Title screens, legendary item reveals, sci-fi UI elements, boss names.

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Shadow

Customizes the text shadow with a specific color, offset, and transparency.

Tag	Aliases
<shadow>	—

note

<shadow> has two modes. With x, y, c, r, g, or b parameters: custom shadow effect. With only value=true/false: toggles the global shadow. See Markup Guide → Global Tags.

Parameter	Default	Description
x	0.0	Horizontal shadow offset in pixels
y	0.0	Vertical shadow offset
c	(none)	Shadow color (hex). Takes priority over r/g/b.
r	0.0	Red channel (0.0–1.0)
g	0.0	Green channel
b	0.0	Blue channel
a	1.0	Shadow transparency multiplier

Examples

<shadow x=2 y=2>Offset shadow</shadow>
<shadow c=FF0000 a=0.7>Semi-transparent red shadow</shadow>
<shadow x=3 y=3 c=FFFF00>Yellow offset shadow</shadow>

When to use: Making text pop off dark or busy backgrounds, stylized title text.

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Animation Effects

Typewriter

Reveals text character by character from left to right.

Tag	Aliases
<typewriter>	<type>

Parameter	Default	Description
speed	20	Milliseconds per character. Lower = faster.
sound	(none)	Sound ID played on each character reveal. Set to off to silence.
loop	(none)	true = loop forever. false = reveal once, stay visible.
resetDelay	1.0	Seconds before animation resets after the text disappears and reappears

Examples

<typewriter>Default-speed reveal</typewriter>
<typewriter speed=50>Slower reveal</typewriter>
<typewriter speed=30 sound="minecraft:block.note_block.hat">With click sounds</typewriter>
<typewriter loop=true>Loops forever</typewriter>
<typewriter loop=false>Plays once</typewriter>

When to use: NPC dialogue, quest text reveals, lore messages, tutorial instructions. Pairs well with message queues for multi-line conversations.

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Obfuscate

Shows text as random glyphs, then progressively reveals (or hides) the real characters.

Tag	Aliases
<obfuscate>	—

Parameter	Default	Description
mode	constant	constant = always scrambled. reveal = starts scrambled, reveals real text. hide = starts readable, progressively scrambles. random = randomly flickers between scrambled and real.
speed	20	Milliseconds per character for reveal/hide animations
direction	left	Direction: left, right, center, edges, random
alphabet	minecraft	minecraft = Minecraft glyph set. readable = random A-Z, a-z, 0-9.

Examples

<obfuscate>Permanently scrambled</obfuscate>
<obfuscate mode=reveal>Gradually reveals from left</obfuscate>
<obfuscate mode=reveal direction=center speed=40>Reveals from center outward</obfuscate>
<obfuscate mode=hide direction=right>Hides from right to left</obfuscate>
<obfuscate mode=random>Characters randomly flicker</obfuscate>
<obfuscate mode=reveal alphabet=readable>Reveals using readable chars</obfuscate>

When to use: Cryptic messages, secret reveals, "decoding" sequences, hidden lore, mysterious NPCs.

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Built-In Presets

Presets bundle multiple effects and styles into one tag:

Tag	Effects	Style
<epic>	Pulse (f=2.0) + Wave	Bold italic purple (#AA00FF)
<legendary>	Rainbow (f=1.5) + Neon	Bold gold (#FFD700)
<spooky>	Shake (a=0.5) + Fade (a=0.4)	Italic dark purple (#2D1B4E)

Preset examples

<epic>You have slain the Dragon!</epic>
<legendary>Legendary Sword of Doom obtained!</legendary>
<spooky>Something lurks in the darkness...</spooky>