The editor is where flows reside within a tyFlow object.
To open the editor for a particular tyFlow object, select ‘Open Editor’ from the modifier panel or “Editor…” for a particular object in the tyFlow viewport menu.
Unlike Particle Flow, which features a single editor for all flows in the scene, tyFlow objects each have their own editor.
The size and position of each editor window is saved to the scene file, and will be restored when loading the scene. If an editor is saved to an off-screen location, it will be automatically centered inside the current window.
By using your middle mouse button and scroll wheel, you can pan and zoom in the editor. Left-click can be used to select events/operators/connections/etc, and right-click can be used to display relevant context menus.
The grid view is where all flows are constructed. The operator list below the grid view displays all available operators. The rollout panel to the right of the grid view displays all settings for any operator that is selected.
The pan and zoom value of each editor window is saved to the scene file, and will be restored when loading the scene.
Various right-click context menus will appear when right-clicking the grid view, events, or operators. While most right-click menu options are self-explanatory, a few may require some further details:
Paste Instanced: operators that are pasted as instances will share all settings with the operator they were copied from. This menu item will only appear if an operator has previously been copied.
Make Unique: choosing this option on an operator that is an instance of another operator will make its settings fully independent from that other operator. Therefore, from that point on it will no longer be an instance of the other operator. This menu item will only appear when right-clicking on an instanced operator.
Make Instances: if multiple operators are selected, the operator that was right-clicked will become the data source of all the other operators which are selected. In other words, all operators that are selected will lose their current settings and be made instances of the operator for which this option is chosen. This menu item will only appear if multiple operators of the same type are selected.
“Make instances” is an easy way to transfer settings between existing operators. For example, if you have two independent operators of the same type and you want them to have the same settings, instead of deleting one and copy/pasting the other in its place, simply select them both and choose “make instances” on the one whose data you want to copy to the other. The other operator will be instantly converted into an instance of the one you right-clicked. In that sense, “make instances” is shorthand for “make all of the other selected operators of the same type instances of this one”.
The editor displays various bits of information around its frame to assist users in diagnosing different behaviors of the flow.
A blue outline around the frame of the editor means that realtime caching is enabled. “Caching enabled” will also appear in the bottom left corner.
A red outline around the frame of the editor means that the flow has been disabled. “Simulation disabled” will also appear in the bottom left corner.
A yellow outline around the frame of the editor means that the flow is in render-only mode. “Simulation enabled (Render Only)” will also appear in the bottom left corner.
A pink outline around the frame of the editor means that the flow is logging its simulation progress to disk. Relevant information about the location of the log will also appear in the bottom left corner.
Grey text labeled “Static: [range]” appearing in the bottom left corner displays info about which frames of the simulation are static.
A static frame is a frame which requires no additional simulation steps because it contains particles which do not change over time. A completely static flow with no moving particles will only need to evaluate a single simulation step, allowing for fast updates and timeline scrubbing.