Meshes - Right-Click Menu Nodes

Owned by thomas (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 04 Aug, 2014
5 min read

Each mesh node that you can see in the “Nodes” panel has its own right-click menu to perform some basic operations.

Standard

This menu appears when you right-click on a mesh container in the “Nodes” panel. There are three different menus for each mesh type:

 

Entries without Submenus

Rename

This function simply makes the activated node’s name editable for changes. When a node is in renaming mode it also provides a right-click menu showing basic entries for undo/redo and copy/paste actions.

Remove

You can use "Remove" to delete an object from the current scene. With imported objects from SD files it is a bit different, because it is not possible to remove individual items. In this case, RealFlow will delete all elements from the SD files, but you will receive a warning before.

Open Curves

This is a link to RealFlow's “Curve Editor” and shows all of a node's animated parameters. You can then select the desired curve(s) and edit it/them.

Group

"Group" is needed when you want to create a group of objects from a selection. A selection is made with LMB click on the first object of the following group and then Shift + LMB click on the last object. The result is a list of highlighted nodes, which can be grouped with RMB + Group. It is also possible to create a selection of individual items with Ctrl + LMB click (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + LMB click (OS X) on the desired objects. Groups can be renamed and carry a little “+” symbol. By clicking on this symbol, the group is either expanded or collapsed. It is also possible to create nested groups.

Build

This function is used to create a mesh from a single frame. In this case you do not have to mesh the entire simulation range and you can get a preview. It is important for testing your mesh settings.

Insert domain (Hybrido Mesh)

This entry is only available for grid mesh nodes and works exactly as “Insert emitters”: select the desired domain nodes from a list to attach them to the mesh container. Then, the mesh parameters can be adjusted.

Insert emitters

You can choose from a list of all available emitters in your scene and you can add them selectively one by one.

Insert all emitters

Instead of adding individual emitters it is also possible to attach all available emitters at once automatically.

Clean list of emitters

To remove all emitters from the selected mesh node, leaving an empty container behind, use this function. Of course, this mesh object can be filled again with emitters.

Display mesh on viewport

By default, this option is active and the meshes are shown once they are created. You can save time by deselecting it, because the display of high resolution meshes can take a while.

Expand/Collapse (Particle Mesh (Legacy) and Hybrido Mesh)

The mesh container can be expanded and collapsed with these entires. Both entries are also available for particles meshes, but located under the "Tree" submenu.

Tree

This submenu can be seen as a filter. You can choose which node types you want to show in the “Nodes” window. Please bear in mind that the viewports and the “Relationship Editor” are not affected. It is also possible to show/hide all elements or expand/collapse all existing groups.

Copy name

For renaming tasks, a node's name can be copied to the clipboard and transferred to another one. The copied name or part of the name can only be used as a prefix or suffix, because each name has to be unique.

"Simulation" Submenu

 

 

Active

This and the following two icons influence the node selection's "Simulation" parameter in the "Node Params" "Node" panel. This is the first button and activates the node selection.

Cache

This button sets the node selection to "Cache" mode. When a node is in cache mode, RealFlow reads the previously simulated and stored data from disk and displays them in the viewport. The distinctive feature is that cached elements can still influence fluid, objects and RealWave nodes which are not cached, but they cannot be influenced themselves. Cached elements are very often used with RealFlow's grid fluid technology (“Hybrido”), because there the common workflow is subdivided into passes and each new simulation requires the cached data from the previous calculation cycle.

Inactive

This button sets the node selection to "Inactive". From this moment, the node no longer contributes to the simulation.

"Visibility" Submenu

 

 

Visible/Hidden

Change a node's or node group's visibility.

Set Selected Render with Maxwell Render

Each node can be made visible to Maxwell Render individually with this button. Please bear in mind that the “Set Selected Visible” and “Set Selected Invisible” settings have no influence on whether a node is rendered or not. If you want to consider the node's viewport visibility, please change its state to “Same as viewport” in the “Renderable” option of the “Maxwell” panel. For a large amount of nodes we recommend using the "Layers" tool. 

Set Selected Hidden from Maxwell Render

This is the counterpart to the option above is used to hide a node from the Maxwell Render engine.

"Shading" Submenu

RealFlow provides four different shading modes and you can toggle between them easily.

 

"Export" Submenu

The entries of this submenu provide a very fast and convenient method to manage a node's export resources. It also gives you an overview of which resources are currently enabled or disabled. This compilation is dynamically created and different for each node, because it depends on the available file formats. In the image below you can see the export resources of a SPH particle emitter.

 

Enable data export

With this function, all standard export resources will be activated

Disable data export

When this option is used, none of the available data resource will be enabled. Please bear in mind that this will also disable playback and rendering, because RealFlow does not write any cache files.

Reload data

When you choose this option, only the cache data for the currently selected node will be updated.

Export now

You can write a cache file at the current frame with this menu entry. Before the node's resources are exported you are asked for confirmation, because with this option you might overwrite important simulation data by accident.

Available Export Formats

This menu is different for each node and dynamically created. Active resources are checked. Instead of using “Export Central”, the node's export formats can be changed here as well.

"Tree" Submenu

 

 

Expand All / Collapse All

If you want to display/hide the entries of a group you can use these entires.

Show All / Hide all

Both functions are used to manage the visibility of all entries in the "Nodes" window.

Show ...

You can hide or show a complete node class by unchecking/checking the appropriate entry.