If you've ever spent hours building a cool tower only to have it collapse into a pile of bricks the second you hit play, you probably need to rethink your roblox studio anchor tool usage. It's one of those things that feels like a minor detail when you're just starting out, but it's actually the backbone of almost everything you build. Without it, your maps would basically be a giant mess of physics-simulated chaos where nothing stays where you put it.
Most of us have been there. You spend all afternoon meticulously placing windows, doors, and roof tiles, feeling like a master architect. Then you jump into the game to test it out and—crunch—the entire thing succumbs to gravity because you forgot to tell the engine that those parts shouldn't move. That's exactly what the anchor tool is for. It tells the Roblox physics engine to ignore a part and keep it frozen exactly where it is in 3D space.
Finding the anchor tool in the interface
When you're first looking for the button, it's pretty easy to spot. If you head over to the Model tab at the top of the screen, you'll see a large icon that looks like, well, a boat anchor. It's right there in the "Edit" section. Clicking this button while you have a part selected will toggle its anchored state. If it's highlighted, the part is locked in place; if it's not, gravity is going to take its course the moment the game starts.
You can also handle this through the Properties window, which is honestly how I do it most of the time. If you select a part and scroll down through the properties list (it's usually under the "Behavior" section), you'll see a little checkbox labeled "Anchored." Checking that box does the exact same thing as the button in the top menu. It's handy if you're already tweaking colors or materials and don't want to keep switching tabs at the top.
Why you need to anchor almost everything
In Roblox, the default state for any new part you create is "unanchored." This means the physics engine is constantly calculating forces on it. If it's sitting on the ground, the engine calculates the friction and the downward force of gravity. If it's floating in mid-air, it's going to fall until it hits something.
For a lot of things, this is great. If you're making a ball for a soccer game or a crate that players can kick around, you want those physics. But for your walls, floors, trees, and skyscrapers? Not so much. Proper roblox studio anchor tool usage means recognizing that about 90% of your static environment should be anchored. Not only does it keep your map from falling apart, but it also helps the game run way smoother. When a part is anchored, the server doesn't have to waste energy calculating physics for it every single frame.
Anchoring models vs. individual parts
One thing that trips up a lot of people is how anchoring works with models. If you have a bunch of parts grouped together into a "Model" object, clicking the anchor button once won't necessarily anchor everything inside it if you haven't selected the actual parts.
The best way to handle this is to click the model in the explorer, then right-click and "Select Children," or just drag your mouse over everything in the 3D view. Once you have all the individual parts highlighted, hit that anchor button. I've seen so many builds where the main structure stays put, but the furniture inside or the decorative trim falls to the floor because the creator only anchored the "Main" part of the model. It's a bit of a headache, but getting into the habit of checking your selection will save you a lot of debugging time later.
When you should definitely leave things unanchored
While it's tempting to just anchor everything and call it a day, there are plenty of times when you need to let gravity do its thing. Anything that needs to move via physics—like a swinging pendulum trap, a rolling boulder, or a car—needs to be unanchored.
If you anchor a car's chassis, the wheels might spin, but the car isn't going anywhere. It's literally frozen in the sky. If you're building something like a door that swings on a hinge constraint, the door part itself has to be unanchored so it can actually rotate. The door frame, however, should be anchored so it doesn't fall over when the player walks through it. It's all about balance.
Managing anchoring with scripts
Sometimes you don't want a part to be anchored forever. Maybe you have a bridge that's supposed to collapse when a player steps on a certain trigger. This is where scripting comes into play. In Luau, the language Roblox uses, you can toggle the anchored state with a single line of code: part.Anchored = false.
I've used this for all sorts of things, like "freezing" a player in place during a cutscene by anchoring their HumanoidRootPart, or making platforms that only stay solid for a few seconds before falling away. It's a super powerful way to make your world feel more interactive. Just remember that if you change a part's anchored state via a script, you're suddenly introducing physics back into the equation, so make sure the part won't glitch through the floor when it wakes up.
Anchoring and the move tool
Have you ever tried to move a part and had it feel "snappy" or weirdly resistant? Sometimes that's due to constraints, but usually, the anchor tool is your best friend when building. When a part is anchored, you can move it, rotate it, and scale it without worrying about it bumping into other parts and flying off into the distance.
There's also a specific behavior with the Transform and Move tools where they behave more predictably on anchored parts. If you're trying to align two walls perfectly, make sure they're both anchored first. It prevents the physics engine from trying to "resolve" the collision by pushing them apart, which can be incredibly annoying when you're trying to be precise.
Common mistakes to avoid
One of the biggest blunders in roblox studio anchor tool usage is "over-anchoring" complex rigs. If you're working with NPCs or custom characters, anchoring the wrong part can completely break their animations. A character needs to be able to move to walk, so if you anchor their torso, they'll just play their walking animation while sliding across the floor (or worse, just stay stuck).
Another mistake is forgetting about "Massless" parts. Sometimes people anchor things because they don't want them to tip over, but what they actually want is for the part to not have any weight. If you're making an accessory for a player, don't anchor it—it'll pin the player to the spot. Instead, use welds and make the part unanchored.
Wrapping it up
At the end of the day, getting a handle on roblox studio anchor tool usage is one of those "level up" moments for any creator. It's the difference between a game that feels like a solid, professional experience and one that feels like a glitchy physics experiment. Just keep that anchor button in mind every time you place a new part. A quick click now saves you a massive headache later when you realize your entire lobby has slid off the side of the map.
It might seem tedious to check every single part, but once you get into the rhythm of it, it becomes second nature. You'll start to instinctively know which parts need to be rock-solid and which ones need the freedom to move around. So, next time you're building, just remember: if it's supposed to stay put, anchor it!