Hi guys, I wanted to use the particle saving as a form of particle cache as I dont have Box3. I still want to assign geometry and render it in vray.
I can save out the particles fine, but just wondering how to load it back into pflow.
Is that possible?
Cheers,
Jordan
Hi guys, I wanted to use the
particle saving as a form of
particle cache as I dont have
Box3. I still want to assign
geometry and render it in
vray.
I can save out the particles
fine, but just wondering how
to load it back into pflow.
Is that possible?
Cheers,
Jordan
Hi Jordan,
This is only partially possible in Krakatoa 1.0.1, but will be FULLY supported in Krakatoa 1.1.0 which should be available for download in the next few days (probably early next week).
Krakatoa 1.0 provides Particle Flow operators that can load a STATIC frame of particles and then apply dynamically both positions and velocities to these particles. It is assumed that the particle count will not change during the animation.
Krakatoa 1.1 provides new and improved Particle Flow operators which can load dynamic sequences of PRT, CSV or BIN files. The Krakatoa File Birth operator will compare the particle IDs of the current particles and the new frame to be loaded and figure out which particles are new in the file (in other words have to be born) and which particles are not in the file anymore (in other words should die). It then gives birth to the former and marks the latter in a dedicated Krakatoa File ID channel. Using a Krakatoa ID Test operator, these “death row” particles can be sent out to another event to be deleted or just split from the rest.
The Krakatoa File Update operator on the other hand will take the channels from the file sequence and load them back into the particle channels of the particles by ID. We provide a simple remapping mechanism where you can for example load the Density channel into a Mapping channel, the Position Channel into a Color channel, blend values from multiple channels using animatable blend factors and so on. While not as powerful as Box #3, it allows you to do some data mixing.
In order for these new operators to work, the file sequences have to contain an ID channel (the so-called Born ID channel from PFlow). Krakatoa 1.1 has that channel set for saving by default now.
In addition we have put in a Krakatoa Geometry Test that performs particle detection by geometry volume using the same technique as the particle culling in the PRT Loader. It simplifies the selection of particles inside and outside of volumes and is a nice bonus.
All current customers with a valid Krakatoa 1.0 license and support contract have automatically the right to participate in our Beta program. If you have a valid license of 1.0, we can give you access to 1.1 immediately even before its release.
Otherwise you will have to wait for the Evaluation version of 1.1 sometime next week.
The Krakatoa operators will function in evaluation mode but will not work in network rendering mode (on Backburner or Deadline), so anybody could install the Krakatoa 1.1 demo to take advantage of the added functionality inside of Particle Flow.
It’s actually better than Box#3’s cache for some things. The Krak PRT operators are closer in function to say, PointCache2.
The Box#3 cache doesn’t let you swap files out, nor can you “collapse” a particle system down.
- Chad
That sounds good Bobo, as it didnt seem like I could quite do it in 1.0.1.
Id love to get on the beta team and get the latest release 
What do I need to do to get on it?
Jordan