Linking behaviors

Suppose I have a linked set of prims and I want to add a new prim to the set. When I select all the prims and choose "link", which of these behaviors happens?

1. - the original set is unlinked, and then the whole thing is re-linked to include the new prim. The newest prim becomes root.

2. - same as above, but the original root remains root

3. - the original set remains linked and the new prim is linked in as a separate 1-prim linked set.

I guess what I'm asking is whether an object can contain more than one linked set. That is, can linked sets be nested?

A linkset is a grouping of prims. The linkset does not retain any information of other set that were linked to it. So there is no Hierarchy of sets to speak of.

Also your question about what happen depends on the order in which you selected the prims. The Last prim selected becomes the root and the first prim selected becomes the last prim in the set.

When linking, the root prim of the last object selected becomes the new root prim.

It's convenient that it's the last object selected, because this allows you to drag to select a whole bunch of objects, and then unselect and reselect the one you want as root.

There is no nested heirarchy to linking. It's a much-requested feature among builders. Any time you link prims, they become a single linkset with one root prim, assuming they meet the various linking limits (not too many prims, not too far apart).

If you select the new prims (or other linksets), and then select an existing linkset, the new prims are added to the last selected existing linkset, and the last selected linkset retains it's previous root prim.

If you select any individual prims AFTER selecting the existing linkset, they all link together, the old linkset(s) forget that the old root prim was their root prim, and the last prim that you selected becomes the root prim for the new linkset.

Once linked, if you select one or mote individual prims, and choose "unlink", it is supposed to seperate those prims from the rest of the linkset. You should end up with several unlinked parts and one partial linkset. Doesn't always work, rdepending on what other edit options are active, and sometimes just on strange quirks. If it fails, the whole linkset unlinks.

If you unlink the root prim from the rest of a linkset, SL chooses a new root prim for you. I *think* it looks at the list of prims and is able to tell what the next to last selected prim was prior to linking. At any rate, it may seem a bit chaotic as to which becomes the new root, if you unlink the old root.

Not quite what I wanted to hear, but *very* helpful info. Thanks so much. I want to rotate parts of a complex set of linked prims and it would be so easy if I could work with subsets of linked prims as single units. But I guess that's not possible.