Particles and Scatter node

[tschwenke]

Hi Sighman,

The Carrara particle emitter is fine but it seems to have a limit of 1000000 particles. I understand that Octane can use a CSV scatter file to import huge amounts of particle positions. Is there any chance that you can implement this feature into Carrara? Or do you have another idea how to get particles into Carrara and render it in Octane?

Best wishes,
Thomas

[Sighman]

The Carrara particle emitter is fine but it seems to have a limit of 1000000 particles. I understand that Octane can use a CSV scatter file to import huge amounts of particle positions. Is there any chance that you can implement this feature into Carrara? Or do you have another idea how to get particles into Carrara and render it in Octane?

A particle has more than just a position. It has a size, although this may be constant, and a UV coordinate, for material/color. A particle can also have a velocity vector to give it blur. What format do you suggest for the csv file? Do you have a particle simulator to generate this file? You would need to generate multiple files in order to animate the particles.

[tschwenke]

Hi,

Thx for your answer.

The file format is specified here: https://docs.otoy.com/#60The%20Scatter%20Node

I think this would do the trick. I'd write (or have it written!) a script or program that will convert PTR (=Krakatoa), BIN (Realflow) or any other file containing particles to one or several CSV files (when it comes to animations) in the format specified above. There is no need to see the particles in the Carrara view port, as the Octane IPR should be enough. All particles should then be represented by only one object as it is described in the manual when it comes to the Octane Scatter node.

Other information like temperature, speed, density, color, etc. need not to be implemented in the first place. Of course, if you want to make a statement, I won't say "no" to a plugin that supports "real" particle files such as PRT, ABC or BIN. There is quite some documentation on Alembic (https://github.com/alembic/alembic) and Krakatoa PRT (https://github.com/ThinkboxSoftware/PRT-IO-Library).

I'd also invest some money if you do contractual work and if you think that it's too much work.

Best wishes,
Thomas

[tschwenke]

Hi,

Any feedback on this one would be appreciated

Best wishes,
Thomas

[protovu]

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for pursuing this. It is important.
Was the issue on Blender vdb to Carrara ( viewtopic.php?f=79&t=57005&p=292736&hilit=vdb#p292736 ) adanced?
This was to simulate smoke and/or fluid, correct?

Rick

[tschwenke]

Hi Rick,

As far as I know, Sighman hasn't yet modified the plugin to correct the error.

Best wishes,
Thomas

[Sighman]

Hi,

Any feedback on this one would be appreciated

Best wishes,
Thomas

Still thinking about how to approach this one.

[tschwenke]

Hi once again

Then, hopefully, you will find out how to do it soon

I'd be grateful forever if I could render Particles in Carrara natively

Best wishes,
Thomas

[tschwenke]

Hi Sighman,

Any news on this?

I just had the idea to use the particle system within Carrara that you are already using in Octane for Carrara. Perhaps, this would be the best possible solution

Just a question: Can you read any information (e.g. age) of a given particle?

Best wishes,
Thomas

[Sighman]

No and that is why I don't support any particle type other than object. Carrara just does not expose any particle info that I can use. I'm just lucky that object particles appear as replicated instances.