Stitcher

In RealFlow, simulation data can be stored in the Alembic format, for example for Hybrido fluids, objects or RealWave splash emitters. All these export resources are stored in separate files and there is one file per frame. The question is why is all this data is stored individually, instead of in one ABC file per frame?

The answer is that it is (currently) not possible to open an ABC file, add more data, and close it again. One way to bypass this restriction is to keep the ABC file open until the simulation has been finished. The problem with this method is that is not a very reliable solution: imagine your scene crashes or your hard disk runs out of space. In such cases, all previously simulated data will simply be lost.

Another idea is to let RealFlow merge the different ABC files automatically. Here, RealFlow could write temporary files and stitch them once the simulation is finished. From a technical point of view, this is possible, but not really practicable because we are dealing with several Gigabytes of data here. The result is a one huge file that is very difficult to handle; additionally it is not very safe to have everything stored in a single file.

For all these reasons we have added a tool called “Stitcher”. With this handy feature you can decide which files you want to merge together. Another advantage is that it is non-destructive. This means that the original files will be kept and the output can be found in a new file.

The "Stitcher" tool icon and its UI.

Add Files

A click on this button opens a file browser where you can select the desired ABC files for stitching them together. The chosen files appear in the empty field next to the button.

Clear

If you want to remove all files from the list at once, please use this button.

Output File

Again, a file browser is opened to specify the folder where the new file will be created. The file name itself has to be specified in the input field to the right of the button. By default, it already provides “.abc” extension.

Cancel

With this button, the process is aborted and all previously made actions will be lost.

Stitch

To finally execute the stitching procedure, click here. The Stitcher will show “Done” in the “Messages” window of the main window when the stitched file is created.