import particle sequence

[michael.w.catt]

I'm trying to visualize some research data using nParticles using Maya 2020.  I have XYZ, RGB, could have Velocity, Opacity, etc.  Just depends on what I can import and set to help visualize the data.  I can get the format in PLY, PTS, CSV, maybe a couple others, but I haven't been able to find anything that will import into Maya.  In the past I have written a python script to read through the file, but this has 18 million points in one time step, with around 400 timesteps, I believe.  Anyone have any suggestions on how to bring this data into Maya?  

I have also been researching writing the data to a nCache file, externally,  and importing the nCache.  However, I cant locate documentation on the .mcx file structure.  I found the cacheFileConverter.py file in the DevKit, but it appears to only read the .mc file.  I also found a pdf here, http://100cells.com/downloads/MayaCacheDLL/MayaCacheBitstreamDocumentation.pdf  , but that is also for the .mc file.  I can't seem to find any documentation on mcx. 

Finally, we're also looking into openVDB, but can't compile it on Windows, and don't immediately have access to anything else, atm.  Anyone know of any way to write VDB? Maybe pre-compiled windows converter?

Thanks in advance.

[morten.bojsen-hansen · Accepted solution]

I can't answer about Maya in general, but for Bifrost we have a number of ways to read and write particle data. We support OpenVDB particle data with the read_OpenVDB and write_OpenVDB nodes. We also support particles stored in Alembic with the read_Alembic and write_Alembic nodes. You can also read BIF caches written from Maya using read_bif_particles and, finally, we also support PDC particle data using read_PDC. Hopefully, some of these options are useful to you.

[brinsmeadd]

For importing to nParticles you could transfer your  data to the nCache format:

http://100cells.com/downloads/MayaCacheDLL/MayaCacheBitstreamDocumentation.pdf

(sorry this  info does not seem to be provided on our own help site... there might be some stuff in the Maya api dev docs)

or the older pdc format:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/Maya/fil...

However if you import into Bifrost you will have more programmatic control than nParticles. My  recommendation would  be to try importing to bifrost unless you really need nParticle specific capabilities.

[michael.w.catt]

Thanks Morten, 

I didn't realize Bifrost actually allows import of Alembic.  I'm looking through some materials right now to make sure this will work for me, and if it does, I think this will be good enough to mark as a solution... going to give it a try.

[michael.w.catt]

Hey Morten,

The Bifrost Graph has given me the functionality I am looking for!  It's also looking useful for other projects where the built in particle system just doesn't seem to give me the control I need...  Thanks for pointing me in that direction!