RKM - Quick Start

Owned by thomas (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 05 Dec, 2014
3 min read

RealFlow Meshing

When a mesh is created the engine places spheres at the particles' positions. The radius of these spheres determines the mesh's surface and can be adjusted for each particle sequence individually: with a small amount of particles a higher radius is needed to blend the spheres and achieve a closed surface. With lots of particles, the radius can be decreased, because the particles are close together. Sphere radius is just one criteria, and it defines whether the mesh will be thick and have the appearance of mud, or if it fits the underlying particles tightly.




The other important parameter is polygon size. This value is responsible for the spheres' resolution: the more polygons, the smoother the mesh, and the more details you will finally get:




Both, “Radius” and Polygon size” are the main factors to describe a mesh's appearance. All the other parameters are used to fine-tune the mesh. For a complete workflow description, please read the → “Particle-Based Meshing” tutorial.

RenderKit Meshing

With the “RealFlow RenderKit Mesh” tool, workflow and parameters are exactly the same as described above:

  • Add a “RealFlow RenderKit Mesh” object. This element represents a RealFlow “Particle mesh” node, and you now have to attach an emitter to this container.
  • Load a particle sequence. Some 3D programs allow you to load up to 10 sequences, while others have no limit and you can add an arbitrary number of files with the “Add Sequence” button.
  • The plugin accepts BIN, RPC, PXY, and ABC files.
  • Every sequence provides its own “Radius” parameter to adjust the mesh's “thickness”.
  • The “Polygon size” parameter is valid for the entire mesh and can be found in the “Mesh” panel. A good starting point for “Polygon size” is around 0.02. For “Radius” you can use the following formula:
    Radius = Polygon size * 1.7.
    Of course, the final values depend on the number of particles. A very fast mesh creation can be achieved when both “Polygon size” and “Radius” are equal.
  • If the mesh is too thick please use the → filters or try to recreate the mesh with the “Weighted Anisotropic” option.
  • Render the current frame to evaluate your settings, make changes, and render again.


Instead of rendering the mesh it is also possible to create the mesh in the 3D program's viewport:

  • By default, the plugin loads only a fraction of the sequence's particles to accelerate the paining process in the viewport. To get the full load, please go to Display > Level of Detail > 100.
  • Show Mesh
  • Make your changes under “Particle Files” and “Mesh”.
  • Display > Update Mesh

For 3DS the workflow is almost the same, but you have to use the → “Preview Object” instead of the “Display” panel; for Softimage there is the → "RkViewer".