SPH - Node
This part of "Node Params" contains everything that has to do with an emitter’s representation and orientation in the viewport. The settings under "Node" depend on the preferences for your 3D software package. There you have to determine which axis serves as a height axis. For some programs it is the Y axis, others use the Z axis.
Simulation
This setting offers three options to choose from – the default is “Active”. This means that the emitter (or any other object) can contribute to the currently opened scene, while “Inactive” disables the selected item. Inactive emitters cannot pour out particles. If the emitter is animated, you will see its movement, but without any influence on the scene. “Cache” is a very clever feature. It allows you to read already-simulated particle sequences and use them for further interactions, e.g. with rigid body dynamics. In this case you will not have to calculate the fluid again and again in case of changes.
Position
This setting consists of a trio of values. Each value represents one direction in space: X, Y, and Z. You can often find a certain notation for this trio: [ X,Y,Z ]. A position is always related to the scenes origin which is located at [ 0,0,0 ]. For this reason, it is also allowed to enter negative values. Zero is, of course, valid as well! All position values are given metres [m].
Rotation
Rotation works exactly the same way as position. Again, there is a trio of values indicating the rotation settings in degrees for each axis. By default, an object has no initial rotation. "Rotation" is measured in degrees [deg].
Scale
This parameter determines the expansion of an object in 3D space. In the same way as with “Position” and “Rotation” you have to specify scale with three values. For some emitters, scale values are chained, e.g. the sphere emitter. This means that you are not able to change the scale values individually from each other. Another exception are two-dimensional emitters, such as a circle or square. Since they have no physical height axis, height is always set to 1.0 and cannot be changed. The unit of this parameter is metres [m].
Shear
This is an interesting feature which makes it possible to deform the emitter’s basic geometry. By applying an appropriate factor you will notice that the nodes emission direction is affected, too, but that is only valid for the viewport representation. Shear distortion exclusively influences emission in the horizontal plane. This value is given in metres [m].
Pivot
“Pivot” could also be called “centre of rotation”. By changing this point you can see a dislocation of the axes of coordinates. If the object becomes animated, the centre of rotation will not be the centre of the object anymore – this will now be the new position of the axis of coordinates instead. This value is given in metres [m].
Parent to
With this setting you can attach the current object to an animated (keys or dynamics) item. The object will perform exactly the same movements as the parent body and follow its animation path. When you click on the hyphen, RealFlow will open a new window with all suited nodes.
Color
This is the basic colour which will be used to display the emitter’s particles. If an emitter is selected, RealFlow displays a colour range for an attribute adjusted under “Display”. If the emitter is not selected, you will see all particles in grey by default. You can choose any available colour or RGB value from your operating system’s colour picker.
Xform particles
This setting is exclusively available for fluid emitters and only makes sense with animated emitters. You can see two options: “No” or “Yes”. “No” creates a particle trail behind the emitter, while “Yes” makes them following the emitter.