# About Node Property Propagation

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Learn which properties of a node affect its child nodes.

### Overview

Changing certain properties on a node can propagate to its decendants:

| Property | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| `xScale`, `yScale` | The node’s coordinate system is scaled by these two factors. This property affects coordinate conversion, the node’s frame, drawing, and hit testing. Its descendants are similarly scaled. |
| `zPosition` | The node's draw order. Nodes with a higher zPosition are rendered above nodes with a lower zPosition. This value propagates to its descendants such that a node's zPosition is equal to that of its parent node, plus any value it holds in its own zPosition property. |
| `alpha` | If the node is rendered using a blend mode, the alpha value is multiplied into any alpha value before the blend operation takes place. The descendants are similarly affected. |
| `isHidden` | If a node is hidden, the node and its descendants are not rendered. |
| `speed` | The speed at which a node processes actions is multiplied by this value. The descendants are similarly affected. |

The net effect is that a child node is rendered based not only on its own properties but also on the properties of its ancestors.

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