RKM - Particle Files

This panel provides everything you need to load and manage particle file sequences. It is possible to load more than one sequence, and you can either create a separate "RealFlow RenderKit Mesh" object for each file pool or combine them within a single node.

We recommend reading the → “RKM – Quick Start” chapter for a brief workflow description.

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

When a mesh is created the engine adds spheres to represent the particles. These spheres are then blended to create a smooth and closed surface. Here, the radius of the spheres is determined.

Subtractive

It is not only possible to merge different particle files – they can also be subtracted. When you enable this checkbox, the appropriate particle sources will be considered as subtractive.

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

When you enable this feature, the radius value will be read from the loaded particle files. “PP” stands for “Per Particle”.

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.

Display Mesh (HOU)

You can decide whether you want to show the mesh in the viewport or not. If the mesh is too coarse please consider increasing the “Viewport LOD” (= level of detail) under “Mesh”.

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.