PI - Setup

Owned by thomas (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 03 Nov, 2014
5 min read

This panel contains the basic settings for loading a BIN or RPC particle sequence. Here is the place where you specify the path to the files, adjust scale, start and end frames, and much more.

 

 

File Path

The empty field is the place where the path to a particle sequence appears. You can either type in a valid path, or browse to a specific location on your hard disk with the “...” button. Network drives are, of course, allowed, but require permanent connection when you want to display or render the particles.

Once a sequence has been loaded the plugin's name in the “Object Manager” will change. Let's say the common prefix of a Hybrido domain is “HY_Domain01”. Then, the plugin's name will be “RF_HY_Domain01”. This way it is possible to differentiate between multiple importer objects, and you will immediately know which object contains which sequence.

The plugin also supports environment variables using the following syntax:

$(ENVVAR)

An example: Let's assume that the particle files from “Circle01” are stored in the user's home folder under “particles”. The path in this case is

$(HOME)/particles/Circle01.bin

The path can be relative to the scene file. When you render via the network (“Team Render”) then the path is relative to the repository path which can be set in the Team Render properties window.

Name

Here, the common prefix of the emitter's/domain's sequence appears, e.g. “Circle01” or “HY_Bubbles01”.

Cache Mode

In many cases, RealFlow's BIN and RPC files contain millions of particles, and all this data has to be displayed in Cinema 4D's viewport. Due to the large amount of particles it might be that Cinema 4D reacts sluggishly while rotating the viewport, changing perspective, and zooming. It also takes some time to load these big files. By choosing an adequate “Cache Mode” you are able to smooth your workflow:

With “Current Frame”, only the currently shown frame is cached as available in your computer's memory. This means that every new frame must be read from disk. “Core Frames” loads a specified number of frames (specified under “Core Cache”). Depending on the particle files' size it takes a moment until the data is read and cached. When “All Frames” is used the plugin will (try to) load the entire sequence. Of course, this depends on your computer's memory and the files' size. Once the particles are loaded, there will hardly be any disk access anymore.

Core Cache

This parameter is only available with “Cache Mode” set to “Core frames”. Here the number of frames is specified which will be cached in your computer's memory. The higher the value, the smoother the work with the particle files, because the amount of disk accesses will be reduced.

Start Frame/End Frame

If you do not want to load the entire number of available particles files you can specify here which parts of the simulation you want to use in Cinema 4D. Both values are set automatically when you load a sequence, but you can enter your own values, of course.

Offset

With this parameter you can shift the starting point of a particle sequence. It works together with the “Start Frame” and “End Frame” parameters.

Let's say you want to render the particle files from 10 to 20. In this case, “Start Frame” and “End Frame” are simply 10 and 20, but that is nothing special. With “Offset” you can specify when you want to render the frames. Let's assume further that you want to render these 10 files starting at frame 50. Here, the values have to be set as follows:

  • Start frame = 10
  • End frame = 20
  • Offset = 40
Level of Detail

When you have to work with very large particle files a lot of memory is allocated. It also takes some time to display all these particles in Cinema 4D's viewport. With this parameter you specify what percent of the original data is actually loaded. A value of 100 will load 100% of the particles, with 50% every second particle is loaded and cached, and with 33%, the plugin reads one third of the available particles. You can also use the slider bar to change the level of detail.

Scale

By default, the plugin performs an automatic scale conversion. This way, everything matches RealFlow's standard scale of 1 metre. But, it is also possible to change scale in RealFlow directly, and this change can be compensated in Cinema 4D again with the “Scale” parameter. If you set a scale of 2.0 in RealFlow and you want to restore the original scale in Cinema 4D a value of 0.5 has to be used in the plugin.

Blur Length

Here it is possible to control the strength of the motion blur effect. The value acts like a multiplier and accepts integer values.

Life time

RealFlow's SPH particles (= standard particle simulations) carry an age value that can be used to control their lifetime in Cinema 4D. When a particle's age is greater than the adjusted threshold the particle will neither be displayed, nor rendered. Please bear in mind that Hybrido particles do not have this value, because in Hybrido the lifetime is controlled by the fluid solver directly. Therefore, “Life Time” has no effect on them.

Keep order of particles

This option is mainly interesting for MoGraph, PyroCluster, and all actions where a particle's Id has to remain the same throughout the entire frame range. When you work with PyroCluster, for example, and “Keep order of particles” is disabled you will see a heavy flicker in the final render. To avoid that, simply activate this feature. For single-frame renders, the particles' Id does not play any role at all, and it can be left disabled.

Lock Current Frame

The current frame will be displayed all the time – even if you change the active frame in the timeline.

Lock Last Frame

Here, the last frame will be kept and displayed in the viewport.

Invert Sequence

This option allows you to invert the particle files' sequence: the last frame will be defined as the first frame, and so on.

Share all Frames (Team Render)

With Cinema 4D R15, a dynamic download of assets is not supported, and in this case it is mandatory for the clients to download all RealFlow elements. To do this, please open the plugin, and activate this option. With R16 this limitation has been removed, and it is not necessary to use the download method.