Out there in the 3D world of software tools many options and solutions are available. Interacting with external tools and getting the data into tP was a big wish of many users. With the ImportFile node thinkingParticles is offering file compatibility with Realflow *.bin files and Krakatoa *.prt files, both products widely used for their specific strengths.
ON - determines whether
the operator is considered 'on' or 'off'. You can connect other operators
to this input channel such as a Bool Helper to activate/deactivate
the whole operator.
Time - defines the local time for the operator when the
user wants to override the default system time.
Emitter Particle - reads in the currently selected particle group
that will be used to act as an emitter.
UI Control Parameters - those input data streams are the equivalent of the UI controls, keep in mind that there is no visual indication that an operator is connected to any of those inputs! It might be needless to adjust a value if it gets overwritten by a connected operator.
Emitter Particle - outputs the emitter particle as found and defined in the *.bin file format.
Particle - outputs the particles found in the *.bin or *.prt file as per the definition of the file format.
Mesh Particle - outputs the particle "holding" the mesh information as it is found in the (*.bin) file
Position - used to supply the particle position of the particles found in the *.bin or *.prt file
Velocity - outputs the particle velocity as it is found in the external file (either *.bin or *.prt)
Force - outputs the force (acceleration) per particle as found in the (*.bin) file
Vorticity - outputs the vorticity (spin) per particle as it is found in the (*bin) file
Normal - outputs the normal (alignment) per particle as it is found in the (*bin) file
Neighbors - outputs the number of neighbors a particle has as it is found in the (*.bin) file
Texture Coords - outputs UVW coordinates per particle as it is found in the (*.bin) file
Age - outputs the age per particle as it is found in the (*.bin) file
Isolation Time - outputs the amount of time the particle is without neighbor, this is a value per particle found in (*.bin) file.
Viscosity - outputs the viscosity per particle as it is found in the (*.bin) file
Density - outputs the density value of the particle as it is found in the (*.bin) file
Pressure - outputs the pressure amount per particle as it is found in the (*.bin) file
Mass - outputs the mass per particle as it is found in the (*.bin) file
Temperature - outputs the temperature per particle as it is found in the (*.bin) file
RealFlow ID - outputs the RealFlow particle ID as it is found in the (*.bin) file
Rollout Menu
Add File - when clicked, a standard windows file open dialog opens. Possible file formats to choose from are: *.bin and *.prt.
Remove - click this button to remove the selected file.
Zero Sequence Frame Offset - check this option to force an overwrite of the timing information found in the (*.bin or *.prt) file. By default, the timing is taken from the file itself.
Start Frame - sets the start frame for the external file playback (*.bin or *.prt).
Out Of Range - This drop down list reveals several Out of range options to choose from. The particle or mesh playback from file may handle end of animation or start of animation in different ways.
Remove
- when
checked, the animation will end and nothing will be shown.
Hold Start - first frame of the animation
will be shown until the frame slider reaches the animation time of the
file.
Hold End - when the animation ends the
last frame is kept and the particles are shown.
Hold Start/End - first frame of the
animation is shown until the animation starts and at the end the last
frame is shown throughout the scene animation time.
Loop - the animation starts
all over at the end and loops back form the first frame.
Loop Hold Start - the first frame of
the animation will be shown until the frame slider reaches the animation
time set in the file. Then at the end of the cycle it will start over
and loop.
Emitters - selects the particle group to be used for creating the particle emitters
Particles - defines the particle group were the particles form the file will be stored/created in.
Nth Particle - sets the amount of particles that should be displayed from the file. A value of one will show every single particle as it is foudn in the (*.bin or *.prt) file.
Zero Emitter Pos - when checked, the emitter position will not be taken from the (*.bin or *.prt) file.
Zero Emitter Rot - when checked, the emitter rotation information will not be taken form the (*.bin) file.
Mesh Files - specifies the particle group to use for handling the mesh form the (*.bin) file.
Random Seed - sets the random seed for that particular ImportFile node.