Right Click Menu Options
thinkingParticles uses standard methods to navigate and manipulate the
software and its parameters. All mouse buttons are used in a natural and
logical way as every user should know from any Windows application. In
addition to the standard "point and select" approach, extra
functions can be invoked, by using a keyboard shortcut along with the
mouse controls.
Grid View Area
A right click onto the empty grid or DynamicSet view area will bring up
the above context menu. It allows for fast access to all operator creation
functions. Instead of using the Create Rollout Menu section to the right
of the main view, the right click menu represents a much faster method
in creating thinkingParticles' Nodes.
With a thinkingParticles Node selected, before right clicking into the
empty background grid, different options will become active. As shown
in the illustration below, the Cut, Copy or Paste options are available.
Note:
The Cut, Copy and Paste options will be available only, when at least one
thinkingParticles' Node is selected (active!)
Clear Write To Debug - when selected, all ports marked for debugging
output will be removed or cleared from debugging.
Use UI as TD Tool - choose this option to "transfer"
the user interface of the selected node(s) to the TD-Tool section. This
will also remove the User interface from the main TP rollout menu section!
Save - chose this option to save the selected node(s) to the BlackBox
folder, or any other place you prefer.
Node Area
Right Clicking onto any node in the DynamicSet view will bring up the dialog
as shown above. The context sensitive menu will enable or activate Menu
options whenever possible.
Disable - select this menu option to disable a thinkingParticles'
Node. Disabled Nodes will not be evaluated at playback or simulation time.
Connect from Input - use this menu, when connecting ports in expert
mode or high zoom levels.
Connect from Output - use this menu, when connecting ports in
expert mode or high zoom levels.
Disconnect Input - lets you disconnect any Input from a list of
ports.
Disconnect Output - lets you disconnect any Output from a list
of ports.
Disconnect All - when selected, all ports are disconnected from
the node.
Input Visibility - lets you make any Input port visible.
Output Visibility - used to make any Output port visible.
Port Area
Right clicking on any port (click onto the port name) allows you to hide
or add the selected port to the debug output. It is important to understand
that every output can be marked for debugging, however, to remove a port
from debugging, the port needs to be right clicked again, as well.
DynamicSet Tree View
Right clicking onto any element Name will disable the relevant node or
the whole DynamicSet. An indication of a disabled node or DynamicSet will
be that it is grayed out. This is perfect for debugging purposes, or when
a DynamicSet is seen as complete, or when other areas need to be worked
on, without the need of processing the disabled DynamicSet as well.
Right Click on Icon
When an icon is right clicked, a special DynamicSet related menu is opened.
Every DynamicSet may be recorded individually. To learn more about using
cached particle simulations, please read the chapter about Working
with tP cache files.
As showmn above, controls to set or create cache files, along with statistical
data, are displayed in the right click menu.
Cache Stop - choose this option to disable a cache playback.
Cache Play Backward - when selected, the cache is played back
in reverse.
Cache Record - starts the cache recording to hard disk.
Cache Unset - removes the assigned cache file.
Filename - displays the current file name of the active cache
file.
Save Material - choose this option to re-save the DynamicSet materials
that usually go along with each cache file. This should be performed after
updating materials in the 3ds Max scene for any objects that are picked
in Obj2Particle or GeomInstance operators. Before using this function,
please set the cache to Stop, then use this function, then set the cache
to Play.
Extract Particle Group Hierarchy - when checked, the original
particle groups and hierarchies are re-created in the Particle Group Treeview
to represent the particle groups within the cached DynamicSet.
Statistics - displays the statistics about the cache file.