Notch Notch Manual 0.9.23
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Imported 3D Scene

Imported 3D Scene

Add an imported 3D scene to the project.

Method #

This node instances a 3D scene which has been imported from one of the valid scene file formats. A scene must be set via the “3D Scene” parameter for the node to be active.

The supported formats are:

  • LightWave (.LWO)
  • Wavefront (.OBJ)
  • Cinema4D (.C4D)
  • FBX (.FBX)
  • Alembic (.ABC)

When a valid scene resource is set, sub-nodes are created for each node imported from the original scene - such as objects, lights, cameras, bones or transform nodes - and linked together as they appear in the original scene’s hierarchy. This allows complex scenes with skins, skeletons and hierarchical animation to work properly. These sub-nodes may not be deleted, their linkages may not be changed and some of their parameters, such as transforms, can not be edited - they are representations of elements loaded from the imported scene file. However other nodes from outside of the imported scene may be connected to them.

In Notch, animation playback is framerate independent:: there is no “frame rate”, and animations are interpolated accurately at any given time point. In some 3D packages, however, time is locked to a certain frame rate and there is no sub-frame interpolation of animations: the playback time is always quantised to a division based on the frame rate. This difference in behaviours can lead to errors in animation playback, when interpolations occur that were not intended - e.g. rotation going full circle when interpolating between values at two discrete frames. To resolve this issue the Lock to Frame Rate parameter may be used to force playback times to be quantised to divisions of a given frame rate as in the 3D package that authored the animation.

The outputs from this node are primarily transformation, but in the case of the Freeze Geometry node, all the geometry within the scene will be frozen.

Parameters

These properties control the 3D transforms of the node. Transforms will generally be inherited by child nodes, although they can be ignored through the Inherit Transform Channels attributes.

ParameterDetails
Position XMove along the local x-axis.
Position YMove along the local y-axis.
Position ZMove along the local z-axis.
Rotation HeadingRotate around the local y-axis.
Rotation PitchRotate around the local x-axis.
Rotation BankRotate around the local z-axis.
Scale XScale along the local x-axis.
Scale YScale along the local y-axis.
Scale ZScale along the local z-axis.

Toggle which transform channels should be inherited from the parent node. By default, all transforms will be inherited.

ParameterDetails
Position XToggle inheritance of the X Position from the parent.
Position YToggle inheritance of the Y Position from the parent.
Position ZToggle inheritance of the Z Position from the parent.
Rotation HeadingToggle inheritance of the Rotation Heading from the parent.
Rotation PitchToggle inheritance of the Rotation Pitch from the parent.
Rotation BankToggle inheritance of the Rotation Bank from the parent.
Scale XToggle inheritance of the X Scale from the parent.
Scale YToggle inheritance of the Y Scale from the parent.
Scale ZToggle inheritance of the Z Scale from the parent.
World Position OnlyInherit the world position from the parent only, rotation and scale will be ignored. Overrides above properties.
Inherit TimeToggle inheritance of time from the parent.

These properties control the core behaviours of the node.

ParameterDetails
Store Node Properties on RootStores the properties of the child nodes hidden on the root. Helps with backwards compatibility for older projects, otherwise shouldn’t be touched.
3D SceneSelect the 3D scene to import (FBX, Alembic, LightWave, Cinema 4D).
Loop StartThe start time of the section of the scene which is played.
Loop EndThe end time of the section of the scene which is played.
Playback SpeedChange the speed at which the scene is played.
VisibleControl whether the node is visible or not to the scene.
Loop ModeChange the way in which the time loops when the end of the loop is reached.
  • Repeat : The time returns to that specified by the Loop Start parameter.
  • One Shot : The time continues indefinitely and does not loop.
Reload Materials From LWSReload the material used from the original 3D object file.
Lock to Frame RateQuantise the times used in scene playback to exact divisions of the specified Locked Frame Rate.
Locked Frame RateThe frame rate at which the playback rate is quantised to.
Use CamerasUse the cameras imported within the scene node as camera nodes in the scene.
Use LightsUse the Lights imported within the scene node as light nodes in the scene.
Ignore Empty NodesIgnores and hides empty transform nodes which don’t eventually branch to geometry, cameras, or lights.
Instance Duplicate ObjectsFinds identical geometry and replaces them with instances instead, greatly increasing performance. This does mean that the geometry is no longer unique, so deformers will be applied to every instance of the geometry, and not localised per node.
Animation SetSelect an animation set from the imported scene.
Deformer ShaderOverride the shader for deformer processing.

Inputs

NameDescriptionTypical Input
Transform ModifiersApply the transforms of another node to this node.Null
Target NodeModifiy the rotations of the node to always direct the z axis towards the input.Null
Local Transform OverrideApply the transforms of another node to this node, relative to its parent.Null