Replacing Emitters

You can replace an emitter object by replacing some or all of its properties with the properties from the selected library emitter. By doing this, you save time because you can keep any preserved emitter properties and their animations.

All particle types of the emitter object are replaced, as is its name. You can select which of the emitter properties and transforms to preserve.

For example, if the emitter in the viewport uses a changing Zoom property to simulate moving into the distance, you can preserve the Zoom property so the library emitter's Zoom values do not replace the emitter object's Zoom values.

Note: Shape, Preload Frames, Preserve Alpha, Ignore Motion Blur, Particle Ordering, and Emission Options (In, Out, and At Points) are not on the Replace Emitter Options dialog. These properties are easy to set, so they are always replaced.

Any animation on the preserved emitter properties or transforms is automatically preserved.

To replace properties using a library emitter:

1. Select a library emitter.
2. Select an emitter object in the Workspace panel or in the viewport.
3. In the Library controls, click Replace from Library.

The Replace Emitter Options dialog appears.



4. Enable the properties of the emitter object (workspace emitter) that you do not want to replace, then click OK.

The emitter object is updated.

Replacing Emitter Transforms

X Position and Y Position are never replaced, since a library emitter does not store these properties.

Rotation can be replaced or preserved for all emitter shape types except point emitters.

The X Size and Y Size options only appear on the Replace Emitter Options dialog when you are replacing a circle or area emitter with any other library emitter. If you replace it with a point or line emitter, the Size properties are kept, but they do not affect the result since these emitters ignore Size.

The control points for a line emitter are not stored when you save a line emitter to the library; only the fact that it is a line emitter is stored. Since Line is the only shape that uses pivot point, this property is not stored in the library either. When you replace an emitter with a line, the pivot point is reset to (0,0).