Method
The particle cache node allows you to store the animation of particles to disk. This allows them to be scrubbed in time and played deterministically rather than simulated during playback.
Particle cache files may be very large on disk.
| Example Nodegraph |
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| When the baking is finished you may disable the effectors. |
| Baking Panel |
 |
| The file extension for particle cache is *.pcache. |
Transform
| Name |
Description |
| Position X |
Move its position along the x-axis in local space. |
| Position Y |
Move its position along the y-axis in local space. |
| Position Z |
Move its position along the z-axis in local space. |
| Rotation Heading |
Rotate the object about the x-axis. |
| Rotation Pitch |
Rotate the object about the y-axis. |
| Rotation Bank |
Rotate the object about the z-axis. |
| Scale X |
Scale along the x-axis. |
| Scale Y |
Scale along the y-axis. |
| Scale Z |
Scale along the z-axis. |
Inherit Transform Channels
Toggle which transform channels should be inherited. By default, all are on.
Attributes
| Name |
Description |
| Bake Now.. |
Open baking panel and begin bake |
| Particle Cache |
Cached file |
| Realflow Animation |
Load *.bin realflow file |
| Playback Rate |
Playback speed |
| Playback Time Offset |
Offset the playback Time |
| Looping |
Enable loop playback |
| Use Node Material |
Use the particle material on this node, instead of the material baked into the cache |
Colour Control
To enable, add an input into this node.
| Name |
Description |
| Colour Selection Mode |
Choose how the input colour affects the particles.
- Input Colour, the first colour input is the only colour output.
- Selected Single Colour, Uses the Colour selection parameter to decide which colour to use from the input ramp.
- Emission Time, colour is selected based on time at which the particle is emitted.
- Random Colour, the colour is selected randomly at the particles creation.
|
| Colour Selection Parameters |
A number used to select the colour output. |
Material
| Name |
Description |
| Colour |
RGB colour of particles. |
| Diffuse |
Control how much the light is scattered from the surface of the object. |
| Emissiveness |
Control how much light is emitted by the particle. |
| Life Colour Affecter Weight |
Controls how much the result of any Life Colour Shading nodes are blended with the particle’s colour. |
| Particle Scale |
Scale the size of the particle. |
| Dof Amount |
How much depth of field effects the particles material. |
| Density |
The density, for use in some simulations. |
| Temperature |
The density, for use in some simulations. |
| Cooling Rate |
The cooling rate, for thermal dynamics simulations. |
| Density Decay |
Control the rate of decay in the density. |
| Fade In Time |
What percentage through the particles life span the particle fades in. |
| Fade Out Time |
What percentage through the particles life span the particle fades out. |
| Fade Falloff Coefficient |
Change the weighting of the fade falloff to either speed up or slow down over time. |
Inputs
| Name |
Description |
Typical Node Input |
| Colour Control Nodes |
Control the colours of the particles. |
Colour Ramp |
| Transform Modifier |
Links all transform properties to the input node. |
Null |
| Target Node |
Always faces the x-axis towards the inputs anchor point. |
Null |
| Local Transform Override |
Override the transformation values of the node, relative to its parent. |
Null |
Outputs
There are no outputs from this node.
Notes
Particle caching can generate very large files if a large number of particles is used. The frames per second will also influence the size of the cached file.
