Actor operator

The Actor operator converts tyActor objects into hierarchies of actor particles and actor rig particles.


Actor

  • Input object list: the list of input tyActor objects, and their distribution properties.

Select an existing item in the actor list to modify its properties.

Distribution
  • Frequency: the distribution frequency of a particular actor in the list.

As particles enter the operator, the actor they are assigned depends on the frequency values of shapes in the list. For example, if one actor has a frequency of 10%, and a second actor has a frequency of 90%, there will be a 10% chance that particles will be assigned the first actor, and a 90% chance that particles will be assigned the second actor.

You do not need to ensure that all actor frequencies add up to 100%. Their values will be normalized automatically if they do not all add up to 100%.

Size
  • Override scale: controls whether to override the scale of particles which are assigned the actor.

  • Scale %: the scale override.

  • Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.
Misc
  • Skinned mesh ID: sets the actor’s skinned mesh ID value.

The actor skinned mesh ID value can be used to determine which actor skinned meshes will be exported by an Export Particles operator in tyCache export mode.

Actor Object
  • Input tyActor object: the tyActor object that will be used to initialize the actor.

Settings Rollout

Distribution

  • Random by frequency: each particle will choose an actor from the list randomly, taking into consideration each list entry’s frequency parameter.

  • Index from custom float value: each particle will choose an actor from the list, using a custom data float value as an index to the listbox’s entry array.

  • Channel: the custom data float channel to retrieve the index value.

  • Save index: the chosen actor index for each particle will be saved to a custom data float channel.

  • Channel: the custom data float channel to save the index value.

Mesh

  • Generate skinned meshes: controls whether tyFlow will generate skinned meshes corresponding to input tyActor objects which contain skin modifiers.

  • At rendertime only: when enabled, actor skinned meshes will only be generated at rendertime.

Initialization

  • Exclude from animation: flags actor rig particles, so that they will be excluded by their parent actor particle’s animation playback.

Material

  • Inherit instance material from objects: particle render instance materials will be derived from the respective actor objects in the scene.

  • Inherit material ID overrides: material ID overrides will be inherited from actor particles.

Test TRUE

  • Actor root particles: actor root particles will satisfy the test condition.

  • Actor rig particles: actor rig particles will satisfy the test condition.

Uniqueness

  • Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

IK Colliders Rollout

  • Enable IK collisions: when enabled, rig particles imported as actor IK will collider with objects added to the IK colliders list.

  • IK colliders: the list of collision objects to be processed by the actor IK solver.

Settings

  • By normals: if the direction to the closest point on the surface points in the same direction of the closest surface normal, the actor IK effector is considered to be inside (and therefore colliding with) the collider.

  • By raycast: if the ray cast in the specified direction from the effector position hits a face on an IK collider, the actor IK effector is considered to be inside (and therefore colliding with) the collider.

  • X/Y/Z: the specified raycast direction vector.