EC - Hybrido Meshes
Meshes can be described as three-dimensional hulls around particle clouds, representing the volume of simulated fluids. Such a fluid mesh can be exported to a 3D program and then textured or shaded. RealFlow provides three different meshing methods:
Particle meshes (formerly: Particle Mesh RK)
Particle meshes Legacy (formerly: Particle Mesh Standard)
Hybrido meshes (formerly: Grid Mesh)
The export resources of the standard (now: legacy) mesh engine can be adjusted here and these are the available file formats:
| Extension | File type |
|---|---|
| BIN | Mesh cache |
| ABC | Alembic I/O format |
| ASS | Arnold scene source |
| MD | Mesh data sequence |
| OBJ | Wavefront Object file sequence |
Mesh cache (.bin)
The most common and entirely supported file format is BIN. The plugins are able to read BIN file sequences and display them in your favourite 3D application. RealFlow is also capable of showing BINs to enable playback and previews. Although, mesh BINs share exactly the same extension as their particle-based counterparts, both formats are not interchangeable, because they have completely different internal structures. RealFlow writes one BIN file per frame and mesh.
Mesh sequence (.abc)
The Alembic export resources for Hybrido meshes support channel data. Just expand the “Mesh cache (.abc)” branch and check/uncheck the desired channels. Please bear in mind that vorticity data can only be stored if the appropriate channel has been activated under
HY_Domain > Node Params > Particle channels > Vorticity > Yes
Alternatively, you can also choose the MD format if you want to save channel data with your meshes.
Mesh sequence (.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.
Mesh sequence (.md)
Like BIN files, RealFlow writes out one MD per frame and mesh node, but with this format it is possible to store different magnitudes that can be translated into vertex maps and used for shading purposes. The MD format is supported by some exchange plugins (e.g. for Cinema 4D) and the RealFlow RenderKit. Simply choose from the list which magnitude you want to store.
The MD format currently lacks a "texture" channel and therefore, it is not possible to visualize channel data via vertex maps in Cinema 4D and Lightwave.
Mesh sequence (.obj)
OBJ is another widely used format and available with any 3D modelling software. When this resource is active, RealFlow writes out one OBJ file per frame. The files can then be exchanged with other users or loaded into your 3D application, but please bear in mind that many programs do not support OBJ sequences, only single files.