Lights

A light emitter makes lights that last a moment: a flash, a flicker, a glow that swells and dies. It is made by transforming a PointLight, a SpotLight or a SurfaceLight. Each emitted light is a duplicate of the original, and its range, brightness and colour follow graphs over its life.

What it makes possible:

• A muzzle flash. Emit 1, Lifetime 0.12, a Range graph from 18 to 0, a Brightness graph from 4 to 0.
• A fireball that lights the walls it passes. Put the light emitter inside the fireball’s RenderTemplate, with Emit 1.
• A searchlight that narrows. A SpotLight with an Angle graph from 90 to 20.
• A panel that pulses. A SurfaceLight with a Brightness graph that rises and falls, Enabled on, Rate 1, Lifetime 1.

At a glance

Made from	A PointLight, SpotLight or SurfaceLight
One particle is	One light
Emit count starts at	1
Modes	Emit only. There is no Animate mode.
Sections	Emission, Light, Events, Advanced
Not present	Motion and Link. A light does not travel by itself.

Where the light appears

The emitted light shines from the same place as the original and follows it. The first of these that applies decides the place:

Case	The light appears
Emit Into is set	On that instance. It must be a part or an Attachment for the light to shine.
The emitter is nested in another emitter	On the parent particle, and travels with it.
The original light sits in a Part or an Attachment	At that Part or Attachment, following its position and rotation.
Any of the above is a Model	On one of the Model’s parts.

If the part a light is following is removed, the light stays where it last was until its Lifetime ends.

A nested light ends when its parent particle ends, unless Emit Into is set.

Transform

Transform switches the original light off and keeps its settings. Range and Brightness become level graphs at the light’s own values. Color becomes one colour. Shadows is kept as it was. On a SpotLight or SurfaceLight, Angle and Face are kept too.

An emitter fired straight after Transform gives the same light as the original, for one Lifetime.

Emission

Row	Kind	Starts at	Unit	What it does
Enabled	Switch	Off		Makes lights at the Rate until switched off.
Rate	Number	10	Lights per second	How many lights are made each second while Enabled is on, or during a Duration.
Lifetime	Two numbers	1	Seconds	How long each light lasts. Each picks a value between the two.
Linger	Number	0	Seconds	After its life ends, the light stays lit at its last values for this long.
Timescale	Graph	1		The speed of the light’s own clock.

The Emit, Delay and Duration boxes on the HUD fire a light emitter as they fire any other.

CAUTION

Lights from one emitter overlap and add up. At Rate 10 and Lifetime 1 there are about ten lights in the same place at any moment. For one flash, use the Emit box with a count of 1.

Light

Row	Kind	Starts at	Unit	What it does
Range	Graph	The light’s own range	Studs	How far the light reaches, over its life.
Brightness	Graph	The light’s own brightness		How strong the light is, over its life.
Color	Colour	The light’s own colour		The colour of the light. Drawn as a gradient, it changes over the light’s life.
Angle	Graph	The light’s own angle	Degrees	The width of the cone, over its life. SpotLight and SurfaceLight only.
Face	List	The light’s own face		The face of the part the cone points out of: Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Left or Right. SpotLight and SurfaceLight only.
Shadows	Switch	The light’s own setting		Whether the light casts shadows. Fixed for the life of each light.

The Angle and Face rows show only when the selection includes a SpotLight or a SurfaceLight.

The first value of every graph is set before the light is switched on. A light never shows the original’s values for a frame before its graphs begin.

Roblox applies its own limits to Range, Brightness and Angle. The plugin does not add any.

Advanced

Row	Kind	Starts at	What it does
Anim. Steps	Number	100	How many times the graphs are read over one Lifetime. Fewer steps cost less and look choppier.
Emit Into	Instance, picked with *	None	Where emitted lights are placed. See Where the light appears.
Pool	Switch	Off	Reuses finished lights in place of making new ones. For emitters with a high Rate.

With the tools

Tool	Effect on a light emitter
Size	Multiplies the Range graph.
Time	Multiplies Rate and divides Lifetime.

Limits

• No Animate mode, so a light emitter cannot hold one steady light that plays in place. For a steady pulse, use Enabled with a Rate of 1 divided by the Lifetime.
• No Motion rows and no Link. To move a light, nest it in an emitter that moves.
• Each emitted light counts as one particle toward the Particle Cap.