Link

A link makes an emitter’s particles appear at another object and travel with it. The emitter itself does not move. Part, Attachment and Model emitters have a Link section. Exercise 7 builds a link step by step.

What it makes possible:

Sparks that stay on a swinging blade. Link to an Attachment at the tip, with Link Mode Weld.
A ring of dust that follows a character and never leaves the floor. Link Mode Follow, with Link Axes Pos Y off.
A muzzle flash that takes the barrel’s aim at the moment it fires. Link Mode Pivot.
Markers that circle a spinning object and stay upright. Link Mode WeldWithoutRotation.
Motes fixed in front of the camera. Link Camera, with Link Mode Weld.

The rows

The section starts collapsed. Expand it to see the rows.

Row	Kind	Starts at	What it does
Link Dir.	Instance, picked with `*`	None	The object the particles follow.
Link	List	`None`	Where the link points: nowhere, at the camera, or at the object in Link Dir.
Link Mode	List	`Follow`	How much of the object’s movement the particles take up.
Link Axes	Six buttons	All on	Which parts of the object’s position and rotation reach the particles.

Link Dir. and Link

Link	The particles follow
`None`	Nothing. There is no link.
`Camera`	The current camera. Nothing needs to be picked.
`Object`	The object named in Link Dir.

The Link Dir. row shows the object as a path, such as Workspace.Folder.Blade, or reads none. The path cannot be typed. The object is picked with the * button in the row’s label.

To	Do this
Pick the object	Press ``. A box opens and Studio’s selection is cleared. Click the object in the Explorer or the viewport. Press Set*.
Remove the link	Press ``, then press Clear*.
Leave the link as it is	Press Cancel in the box.

Set also sets the Link row to Object. Clear sets it to None.
When the box closes, the selection you had is put back.
An instance of the wrong kind keeps the box open. The box says why in red.
Set with nothing clicked shows No instance selected - click one in Studio first.
While the box is open, the Properties panel does not follow the selection.

The object is kept in an ObjectValue named Link inside the emitter. See EmitParent, Link, AccelTarget, ShapePart.

What can be linked to

Object	The particles take
A Part or a MeshPart	Its position and rotation
An Attachment	Its position and rotation in the world
A Bone	Its animated pose, not its rest pose
A Model	Its pivot
The camera	Its position and rotation

What a link changes

A link acts twice: once when a particle is made, and then on every frame of its life.

When a particle is made:

It is made at the linked object’s position, not at the emitter.
In Follow, it starts with the emitter’s own rotation.
In every other mode, it starts with the object’s rotation and the emitter’s rotation added together.

On every frame afterwards, the particle is carried by the object as far as the Link Mode allows. This is done every frame, whatever Anim. Steps is set to.

An emitter linked to itself uses its own position and rotation.

Link Mode

Link Mode	Takes the object’s rotation when made	Follows the object’s position	Turns with the object	The particle’s path
`Follow`	No	Yes	No	Stays fixed in the world
`Pivot`	Yes	Yes	No	Stays fixed in the world
`Weld`	Yes	Yes. The particle swings round the object as the object turns.	Yes	Turns with the object
`WeldWithoutRotation`	Yes	Yes. The particle swings round the object as the object turns.	No. The particle keeps its own rotation.	Turns with the object
`RigidLocal`	Yes	No. The object’s place is read once, when the particle is made.	No	Stays as it was when the particle was made

Follow is the starting value.

The differences, pair by pair:

Follow and Pivot are the same once the particle is made. Pivot also launches and turns the particle by the object’s rotation at that moment.
Weld and WeldWithoutRotation both circle a spinning object. Weld also spins the particle. WeldWithoutRotation keeps it upright.
RigidLocal differs from no link in one way. The particle is made at the object, with the object’s rotation. It is then left behind in the world.

Link Axes

Link Axes has six buttons: Pos X, Y, Z and Rot X, Y, Z. All six start on. Each one decides whether that axis is taken from the linked object.

An axis switched off keeps the emitter’s own value, from the moment the particle is made.

Buttons	Axis
Pos X, Y, Z	The X, Y and Z of the object’s position in the world
Rot X	Tilting forward and back
Rot Y	Turning left and right
Rot Z	Rolling

Setting	Result
Pos Y off	Particles follow the object sideways and stay at the emitter’s height.
Link Mode `Weld`, Rot X and Z off	Particles turn left and right with the object. They do not tip or roll with it.

In Follow and Pivot, the Rot buttons have no effect on a particle in flight. Those modes never pass on rotation after the particle is made. In Pivot the Rot buttons still decide which rotation the particle starts with.

For an emitter nested in another emitter, an axis switched off works differently. It keeps the value the link had when the particle was made.

When the linked object is removed

If the linked object is removed while particles are in flight, they keep the last place it had. They carry on from there.

Limits

Only Part, Attachment and Model emitters have Link rows.
A link does not move the emitter. It changes where particles are made and what they follow.
On an Attachment emitter there are four distinct modes, because WeldWithoutRotation acts as Weld.