Colors from PRT Reader not accessable in PhoenixFDParticleTexture

[TubeSmokeGuy]

Hi!

Please see my Screenshots attached:




From the simulator I can pick the RGB values for color properly.
But from the PRT Reader I get no color or RGB value in the dropdown. So I cant use the PhoenixFDParticleTexture as color map in the PHX Foam particle shader to render the PRT sequence.

Just wanted to report.

Thanks in advance!

[georgi.zhekov]

Hello,

Indeed - this is still in our to do list. I will bump the priority and we will update the thread when we have something on that.

Thank you!

[TubeSmokeGuy]

Okay. Maybe when you work on it, you could keep in mind that it would be nice to implement a wide range of channels and interfaces that can be used with PhoenixFDParticleTexture, such as native KrakatoaPRTReaders or tyCaches, etc, too. Cause the PHX Foam particle shader is a really good tool to render particles with VRay, so its a pitty that the color interface through the PhoenixFDParticleTexture is actually that limited.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Yup, exactly. I just recently upgraded what particles interfaces are suppprted by the source and the particle shader, so I am going to take this to the particle texture so there is no disparity stay tuned...

[TubeSmokeGuy]

Sounds good. I look forward to this.

[threedguy]

Is there any update on this? Mapping the PRT rgb values would be really useful!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey,

Now the Simulator can load PRT files directly without the need for a PRT Reader. Try to plug this in the Particle Texture.

Cheers!

[threedguy]

Thanks so much for your reply, this is a really important feature for me.
I loaded the prt as Input into the simulation, however I can't apply the ParticleShader and/or the ParticleTexture to it (using the 31360 nightly).
Could you please illustrate the process with a simple example?
Many thanks!!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey, check this video - are you doing the same steps?

[threedguy]

Thanks!
These are precisely the steps I took. At 4:31 in your video, selecting the simulation doesn't work in Build 31360. I installed Build 30856 and it works.

So now I'm a bit confused: which is the current tested and working build? There are no versions in the "stable" directory of the nightlies...

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey, sorry for the very late reply!

Just installed 31360 to try and reproduce it, and these steps work for me:
- Create a Fire/Smoke Simulator, browse to the PRT caches from the Input rollout.
- Open the Material Editor, create a Phoenix Particle Texture.
- Click "Pick a Particle System" and it pops a Select From Scene dialog, allowing me to choose PhoenixFDFire001 (the particle system node has not been created yet)
- Select PhoenixFDFire001, click OK. It creates automatically the particle system node and pops another dialog: Available Events - there I see the new particle system node "Particles [PRTSystem] of [PhoenixFDFire001]" and the Simulator - "PhoenixFDFire001".
- I select "Particles [PRTSystem] of [PhoenixFDFire001]", click OK and it is linked to the Particle Texture.

an alternative approach I tried again with 31360 was:
- Create a Fire/Smoke Simulator, browse to the PRT caches from the Input rollout.
- Create a Particle Shader, pick the Simulator in the Particle Systems list.
- Answer Yes in the prompt to link the Simulator into the Liquid Simulator slot, although it shouldn't matter what you answer here.
- The Available Event dialog pops up - it contains only the newly created "Particles [PRTSystem] of [PhoenixFDFire001]".
- I choose OK.
- Then I enable the Color Map checkbox on the Particle Shader and click on No Map.
- I create a PhoenixFDParticleTex in the Browser window, then open the Slate Material Editor and drag and drop the texture from the slot on the Particle Shader. I choose Instance.
- Finally, I click "Pick a Particle System" on the Particle Texture and it opens a Select From Scene dialog, where I see both "Particles [PRTSystem] of [PhoenixFDFire001]" and "PhoenixFDFire001".
- I choose "Particles [PRTSystem] of [PhoenixFDFire001]" and click OK, and the particle system is linked into the particle texture.

Could it be that your steps somehow differ from these?

Cheers!

[threedguy]

Thanks so much for taking the time for this detailed response!
I can now see where the confusion came from: in the older build one could select the Particle System for the shader in the viewport, in 31360 the "Select from scene" dialog came up, not displaying the Particle System. This was due to filters in the dialogue box. Disabling them all resolved the issue.
Will soon check the procedure in FD version 5

Oh and btw as background, why this RGB feature is so important to me: I'm using huge 3d-scanned point clouds that (by nature) have great and important rgb values per point. Using the prts lets me apply particle simulations and render them as points (not geometry).

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Ah, dang it, I see now. The "Select From Scene" dialog in the Particle Texture remembers the filters in the global 3ds Max Select By Name (H) dialog Have to see if there is a way to have it always show with all filters enabled when used from the Particle Texture...