EC - Particle Emitters

With this option it is possible to activate export functionality for standard fluid emitters, e.g. circle, triangle or spline. This fluid type is also known as "SPH" (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics). For all standard particle emitters, RealFlow supports these file/export formats:

By default, all data are stored under the “particles” folder of your currently opened project. If you need separated locations for the individual formats or emitters, feel free to change paths with the "Path" option. The BIN format should always be activated, since this is the only format that is entirely supported. If your 3D program already supports the Alembic format, we recommend this option as well.

Particle cache (.bin)

This is RealFlow’s most common particle file format. It contains all relevant position and physical data, such as density or pressure. BIN files can be read by any plugin available for 3D programs and they are accessible via Python scripting for storing customized particle files. BIN files can be cached by RealFlow to enable simulation data playback via the "Timeline" and they can store huge amounts of data – file sizes of 100 MB or even more are quite normal. This, of course, makes it impossible to play back cached simulations in real-time and you should consider using the “Movie Player” for previews. BIN files are fully supported by RealFlow’s import and export filters and all available plugins including the RealFlow RenderKit (RFRK).

Particle proxy (.pxy)

Proxy formats are perfectly suited to saving large amounts of particle data, but not all of the information is stored on these files. Only a particle’s ID, position and velocity are considered. Depending on the adjusted quality level particles are left out during storage. There are five quality levels (best – draft) to choose from. They can be seen/adjusted with a double-click on the “Best” option right to the export resource's name. The PXY format is only one internally supported by RealFlow.

Krakatoa Particle File Format (.prt)

Thinkbox Software’s Krakatoa™ is a volumetric particle rendering system for 3DStudio Max. RealFlow is capable of writing native PRT files for direct use inside Krakatoa™. The PRT format also supports a wide variety of individual channels for all standard particle attributes. You can activate and deactivate them on demand by simply ticking the checkboxes.

Particle sequence (.pd)

The abbreviation “PD” stands for “Particle Data”. The advantage of PD is that you can select the data you want to see exported by simply clicking on the desired attributes. This feature saves disk space effectively. Since PD is also well documented, it is possible for users to write their own importer for reading out the files. As seen in the image, you can choose from a wide variety of attributes.

Particle sequence (.asc)

To write out standard ASCII files (a text format that is valid for all computers), please activate this option. Entries are directly readable and editable with any text editor. Currently, ASC is only supported for writing out files and customized data exchange, e.g. by using your own scripted or programmed readers.

Particle sequence (.pdc)

The PDC format contains similar data as PD, but without the possibility to choose from attributes. “PDC” stands for Maya’s “Particle Data Cache” and it is an exchange format.

Alembic sequence (.abc)

The Alembic format is quickly found its way into the most common 3D platforms. One of most important advantages is that Alembic is a hierarchical format. This means that the original structure of the source objects will be preserved, e.g. groups, links, connections etc. The Alembic format is also available for all major operating systems and does not require any extra plugins or exchange tools to load and process the data. RealFlow's Alembic particle files support all relevant magnitudes and properties: simply expand the Alembic tree and make your selection. RealFlow's implementation of the Alembic format supports 10 different compression levels from 0 to 9. A higher value indicates a stronger compression. As usual, the compression requires some time and so the saving process becomes slower, but it is more resource-friendly. You can also choose which particle channels you want to export with your simulation.

Arnold Scene Source (.ass)

This is the scene description format of Solid Angel's Arnold render engine. You can export simulation data to native ASS files for direct use inside Arnold.