PM - Node

Here you can adjust which part of the fluid you want to mesh. This feature comes in very handy when you have complex meshes, but you only want to see how your settings will affect parts of the mesh, not the entire polygon hull. To do this, simply activate “Bounded” and transform the viewport gizmo to your needs. Then, create the mesh inside this volume.

Build

This option tells RealFlow whether the mesh should be generated during the simulation process or not. We do recommend you set it to “No”, because meshing should always be a post process. There are so many settings that it would actually be impossible to create a convincing mesh on the fly simultaneously with the particle simulation.

Bounded

When this option is set to “No” the entire fluid will be meshed and you do not have access to the greyed out parameters below. With “Yes”, a helper gizmo appears in RealFlow's viewport that can be positioned, scaled, and rotated. Only particles inside this box will be meshed.

Position

The mesh node's helper box can be positioned with the “Move” tool (press the M key) or the three values of this parameter. The values are given in metres [m] and represent the spatial X, Y, and Z axes

Rotation

It is possible to rotate the viewport gizmo to cut away unwanted parts of the mesh. All values are measured in degrees [deg]. The rotation mode is also available with the E key.

Scale

To change the viewport box's dimensions, use the R key and the mouse, or enter discrete values here. Everything inside the box will be meshed.

Shear

All settings made here do not have any effect on the viewport gizmo.

Parent to

You will rarely need this feature in conjunction with meshes, but it is possible to parent the mesh's viewport gizmo to another, moving node. The gizmo will then follow the parent object's motions.

Color

By assigning a colour to the mesh you can easily differentiate from other meshes or particles. Simply apply any valid RGB colour.