RE - Hubs & Groups

Owned by thomas (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 22 Apr, 2014
2 min read

Hubs

A “Hub” can be seen as a global connector. Instead of creating individual crosslinks between the nodes, you only have to draw connections from the nodes to the hub to make them interact. By default, these connections are already drawn by RealFlow. When a new node is added to a blank scene, you can see that RealFlow creates a node pair in the editor: the item itself and a system-defined “Hub” object. When you now add another node it will be linked to the existing “Hub” automatically. There is also a possibility of adding a new “Hub” with the canvas’s right-click menu or the “Tab” menu:

Right-click menu > Add Hub

Tab key > Add new Hub

A custom-created “Hub” works like any other “Hub”, but new nodes will not be connected to it automatically. When you add a new node it will either be added to an already existing (not user-defined) hub or to a new system-defined hub. If you do not want RealFlow to establish an automatic connection between a new node and the default “Hub”, uncheck the following option:

Edit > Add > Add to Default Hub

Like any other node, the “Hub” also provides its own right-click context menu. The function set is exactly the same as with menus of other nodes and you have the ability to remove connections selectively or globally, hide the “Hub”, rename it and so on. Please bear in mind that when a “Hub” with active connections is removed, all links are deleted and you have to rebuild them.

Groups

A strong feature of the former “Exclusive Links” concept was the ability to work with groups. With groups it was easy to make large amounts of nodes exclusive with just a single drag-and-drop action. Especially with IDOCs and multiple splash or foam emitters this was a very convenient thing. The “Relationship Editor” supports this convenient workflow as well. When you group a selection of nodes in the “Nodes” window, the editor will be updated automatically and you will see a new symbol:

 

Groups and relations in RealFlow 2014.

 

A group icon can be collapsed and expanded with a double click to see the included nodes – they are arranged within a light grey box attached to the group's icon. It is also possible to rearrange the nodes inside the group node’s. The frame will be adjusted automatically. Groups in the editor can also be renamed, hidden or removed with functions from their right-click menu.