Attachment

An Attachment emitter sends an Attachment, and everything inside it, along a path. It is made by transforming an Attachment. Each particle is a duplicate of the Attachment with what it holds: stock ParticleEmitters, Trails, Beams, lights and other Attachments. Particles in flight follow the part the Attachment sits in.

What it makes possible:

A stock ParticleEmitter thrown outward. Speed 20, SpreadAngle 30, 30. Each particle carries the ParticleEmitter and fires it once.
Many short ribbons from one Trail. A stock Trail inside the Attachment, with a duration set on it. Each particle draws its own ribbon.
A light that travels. A PointLight inside the Attachment moves with each particle.
Particles that ride a moving part. The Attachment sits in the part. Particles in flight move and turn with the part, with no link set.

At a glance


Made from	An Attachment
One particle is	One duplicate of the Attachment, with what it holds
Emit count starts at	1
Modes	Emit and Animate
Sections	Emission, Spawn, Motion, Link, Events, Advanced
Not present	Appearance, Decals, Flipbook and Mesh Frames. The Use shape rows, the Accel toward rows and the Preload Texture row.

The Emit count starts at 1. A new Attachment emitter makes one particle at the first press of the Emit button.

What an emitted Attachment is

Each emit makes one duplicate of the RenderTemplate. The template is itself an Attachment. It holds a copy of everything the original Attachment held at Transform.

An Attachment with nothing inside gives particles with nothing to show. Put what the particles should carry inside the Attachment before Transform, or inside the RenderTemplate afterwards.

On each emit the plugin acts on these things inside the duplicate:

Inside the Attachment	On each emit
A stock ParticleEmitter	It is switched off, then emits one burst after its delay. With a duration above 0, it then stays switched on for that many seconds.
A stock Trail that has a duration	It is switched on for that many seconds.
An emitter	It fires as a nested emitter, tied to the emitted Attachment. See Nesting.
Another Attachment	What it holds is handled in the same way, at any depth.

The burst, the delay and the duration are attributes of the stock instance:

Attribute	On	Meaning
`EmitCount`	A ParticleEmitter	The size of the burst. 1 when the attribute is absent.
`EmitDelay`	A ParticleEmitter	The wait before the burst, in seconds.
`EmitDuration`	A ParticleEmitter or a Trail	How long it stays switched on, in seconds.

Editing stock ParticleEmitters, Trails and Beams describes how these are set.

Anything else inside the Attachment is duplicated as it stands. The plugin does not act on it.

Following the part

Emitted Attachments follow the part the original Attachment sits in. A particle in flight moves and turns with that part, as if welded to it.

This needs a part above the Attachment in the Explorer: its parent, or a parent further up.

If that part is removed while particles are in flight, the particles stop following. They finish their lives where they were.

A Part emitter needs a link to do the same. An Attachment emitter does it with no link set.

Transform

Transform leaves the Attachment as it was and keeps a copy of it inside it, named RenderTemplate.

	After Transform
The Attachment	Unchanged. What it holds stays in it, as it was.
The `RenderTemplate`	A copy of the Attachment and of everything inside it. Its offset is set to zero. Stock ParticleEmitters and Trails in the copy are switched off.
The rows	Nothing is read from the Attachment. Every row starts at its own starting value.

Transform adds four things under the Attachment: PartIcleProperties, RenderTemplate, EmitParent and Link.

The sections

The sections are listed in the order the Properties panel shows them.

Section	What it holds	Described in
Emission	How the emitter runs by itself: Mode, Loop, Enabled, Rate, Lifetime, Linger and Timescale.	Emission and the HUD
Spawn	Where each particle is made and how it is turned at that moment. There are no Use shape rows.	Spawn
Motion	How a particle travels and turns after it is made. There are no Accel toward rows.	Motion
Link	Makes particles appear at another object and travel with it.	Link
Events	Works as on any emitter.	Events
Advanced	Anim. Steps, Emit Into and Pool. There is no Preload Texture row.	Advanced

Emission and Motion start open. The other sections start collapsed.

An Attachment emitter has no rows of its own. Every row is described on the shared pages.

How it differs from a Part emitter

	Part emitter	Attachment emitter
One particle is	A duplicate of a part	A duplicate of an Attachment, with what it holds
What is seen	The part and its pictures	Only what the Attachment holds
Appearance, Decals, Flipbook, Mesh Frames	Present	Not present. There are no Color, Transparency, Brightness or Size rows.
Use shape, Accel toward	Present	Not present
Preload Texture	Present	No row
Particles in flight	Do not follow the emitter, unless a link is set	Move and turn with the part the Attachment sits in
Link Mode `WeldWithoutRotation`	The particle keeps its own rotation	Behaves as `Weld`
Nested in a Model emitter	The Model’s Scale multiplies Size, and motion and rotation if their switches are on	There is no Size. The Model’s Scale reaches motion and rotation only.

Limits

No row changes the look of what the Attachment holds. There is no Color, Transparency, Brightness or Size.
The plugin acts only on stock ParticleEmitters, stock Trails and emitters inside the Attachment. Anything else is duplicated as it stands.
Link Mode WeldWithoutRotation behaves as Weld.
Each emitted Attachment counts as one particle toward the Particle Cap.