Nodes > Particles > Particle ( Orient )

Particle Orient builds the rotation basis used to draw each particle. Use it in Initialize to set a starting orientation, in Update to keep particles turning over time, or in Output to orient the rendered quad or mesh.

Presets:

• Billboard (Camera Up): Faces the camera plane and follows the camera up direction.
• Billboard (World Up): Faces the camera plane while staying upright relative to world up.
• Look at (Position Forward): Points the particle forward from its position toward Look At Position.
• Velocity: For quads, keeps the quad camera facing and aligns its up axis to particle velocity; for meshes, points the forward axis along particle velocity.

Enable Advanced mode to choose the Forward Axis and Up Axis manually. Use Freeze Axis to remove rotation along a world axis, Quad Orientation or Mesh Orientation to match the source asset, and Local Rotation to add extra spin after the orientation is built. Camera facing orientation is only available in Output because it depends on the active render camera, Initialize and Update store view independent particle state.

Inputs

Name	Type	Description
Look At Position	float	World position the particle points toward when using the Look at preset.
Custom Forward	float	Forward direction to use when Advanced is on and Forward Axis is set to Custom.
Custom Up Axis	float	Up direction to use when Advanced is on and Up Axis is set to Custom.
Rotation Angle	float	Extra local rotation in degrees for quad particles. Rotates the quad around its forward axis.
Rotation Angle	float	Mesh roll in degrees. Rotates the mesh around its forward axis.

Properties

Name	Type	Description
Advanced	bool	Enables manual control over how orientation is built. When enabled, choose the Forward Axis and Up Axis directly instead of using a preset.
Presets	dropdown	Chooses a common orientation setup, such as billboard, look at, or velocity alignment.
Forward Axis	dropdown	In Advanced mode, chooses what direction the particle points toward.
Up Axis	dropdown	In Advanced mode, chooses what direction is used to keep the particle upright.
Forward / Up	string	Read-only summary of the current forward and up-axis setup.
Freeze Axis	dropdown	Prevents the forward direction from rotating along the selected world axis.
Quad Orientation	dropdown	Chooses which local quad axis is treated as the oriented axis.
Mesh Orientation	dropdown	Chooses which local mesh axis is treated as the oriented axis.
Local Rotation	bool	Shows Rotation Angle controls for adding extra local rotation after orientation is applied.