The Link to Target operator allows you to link a particle to its target particle, causing its transform to follow its target particle’s transform.

The behavior of the Link to Target operator is similar to regular object linking/parenting within 3ds Max. It is the easiest way to get particles to follow other particles, without introducing heavy solver calculations (like when using Particle or PhysX Bind operators).


Operation

  • Link: particles will be linked to their target.

  • Unlink: any existing links will be broken.

  • Only link if current link is invalid: linking will only happen if the current link is either invalid (the target particle is deleted or the target ID is invalid) or a link has not been set.

Target

  • Channel: the channel from which to retrieve the target particle ID.

Settings

  • Lock to target: turning this on will rigidly attach particles to their target. If this setting is off, particles can still move if they have a velocity, and changes to their transform (relative to the target they are linked to) will be made by incrementally measuring target transform changes.

  • Position/Rotation/Scale: controls which portions of a particle’s transform will be locked.

  • Affect velocity: when enabled, particle velocities will be set to match the changes they undergo as a result of their link target’s motion.