# Particle Painters

Until now we have only used the image based particle painter to visualize particles. Qt comes also with other particle painters:

* `ItemParticle`: delegate based particle painter
* `CustomParticle`: shader based particle painter

The ItemParticle can be used to emit QML items as particles. For this, you need to specify your own delegate to the particle.

```qml
    ItemParticle {
        id: particle
        system: particleSystem
        delegate: itemDelegate
    }
```

Our delegate, in this case, is a random image (using *Math.random()*), visualized with a white border and a random size.

```qml
    Component {
        id: itemDelegate
        Item {
            id: container
            width: 32*Math.ceil(Math.random()*3); height: width
            Image {
                anchors.fill: parent
                anchors.margins: 4
                source: 'assets/'+images[Math.floor(Math.random()*9)]
            }
        }
    }
```

We emit 4 images per second with a lifespan of 4 seconds each. The particles fade automatically in and out.

![image](/files/tPtKWuCm16YMBHfBbY60)

For more dynamic cases it is also possible to create an item on your own and let the particle take control of it with `take(item, priority)`. By this, the particle simulation takes control of your particle and handles the item like an ordinary particle. You can get back control of the item by using `give(item)`. You can influence item particles even more by halt their life progression using `freeze(item)` and resume their life using `unfreeze(item)`.


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