RKP - Particle Files

The plugin has the capability to open more than one particle file sequence – the total number of sequences depends on your 3D platform. This allows you to combine particles from different sources or simulation frames to one single fluid cloud. When you merge several files, please make sure that they all share the same scene scale, because the RFRK does not perform any scale or plausibility checks.

Every sequence has its own panel where you can make some basic individual adjustments. Other features like “Particle Size”, “MultiPoint” or “Clipping”, on the other hand, affect all loaded sequences globally. If you want to treat different sequences separately you have to use multiple “RealFlow RenderKit Particler” nodes.

Supported file types are BIN (standard particle format), RPC (Hybrido), PXY (particle proxy), and ABC (Alembic particles).

Path and Prefix

Here you will see the path to the loaded particle sequence. You can either enter a path manually or open a file browser.

Type (MYA, XSI)

Choose which file format you want to use.

Add Sequence (3DS, MYA, XSI)

Use this button to add more particle sequences to the same “RealFlow RenderKit Particler” container.

Remove (3DS, XSI)

With this button it is possible to unload a particle sequence.

Offset (3DS, C4D, LWV, MYA, XSI)

This function does not just skip the entered number of frames, but shifts the entire particle file sequence. If you, for example, enter a value of 20 then the simulation's first frame appears directly at frame 20 instead of frame 0. You can enter positive and negative values.

Radius

With this parameter you determine the global size of the particles in the rendered image. If you want to scale the particles based on certain channels like velocity or age please take a look at the “Particle Size” panels.

Radius PP

This feature is only available with RPC files with a radius value, e.g. from HySPH splash emitters. When a splash particle is created its radius is 1.0. This radius decreases over time and turns to 0 when the particle is dying. The appropriate "Radius PP" value is then multiplied with the "Radius" parameter.

Core/Splash

The idea behind this parameter is to separate the fluid into a core fluid and a splash part. With Hybrido simulations this feature is certainly not of significant importance, because there you have the possibility of adding splashes and foam as separate passes with great accuracy. For standard particle simulations, on the other hand, it is a quick way to split the particles:

• “Core” ranges between 0 and 1 – it is normalized. A value of 0.0 means that the entire fluid will be seen as the core fluid and you cannot observe any changes in comparison to the original simulation; 1.0 removes all particles. With increasing values the particle cloud will start shrinking, because more and more particles will be removed as they no longer belong to the core fluid.
• “Splash” works exactly the same way as the “Core” parameter. It also ranges between 0 and 1, and with a value of 0.0 all particles are considered splashes. The higher the values, the less particles will be considered splashes – the particle cloud is becoming smaller and smaller.

Max Velocity

If your simulation contains very fast particles motion blur effects can be falsified or even useless. With “Max. Velocity”, all speed values will be clipped to the given value. An example: Let's assume some particles have a velocity of 100 m/s, while the majority are moving at 20 m/s. In order to get a useable motion blur effect, change “Max Velocity” to 20.

There are two ways to monitor the current velocities:

1. In RealFlow's “Statistics” panel which is available for → Hybrido domains and → SPH emitters. Under “V min/max” you can see the values.

2. In the “RealFlow RenderKit Particler” node's → “Preview Object (3DS)", → “Display (C4D, HOU, MYA, LWV)", or “RkViewer (XSI)" panel. The values are displayed under “(Current) Min/Max”.

Wait

You can start the rendering of a fluid sequence while is still being simulated. With “Wait” the render engine will be halted until the next frame becomes available.

Mute

You can switch a particle sequence on or off with the “Mute” option.

Viewport Color (3DS, C4D, LWV, MYA)

Define a RGB colour to separate your sequences visually.

Padding (C4D, LWV)

RealFlow simulation file names always contain a series of nulls – by default you can see five digits (e.g. Circle0100001). The number of nulls can be defined with this parameter.

Start frame/End frame (C4D, LWV)

Tell the plugin which part of a sequence you want to import.