Hi people! I’ve just downloaded RealFlow3 from NextLimit, and I’ve found it can export as .obj format, which you can then of course import into Blender.
The problem is that each .obj file is only one frame in the animation.
Therefore, I could do with a script that imported all .obj file sequences from a location, but only makes them visible (on the correct layer) for the frame that they are required.
I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to start learning Python. I have a bit of experience coding, but not much (all VB, HTML and Pascal!).
So, I was wondering if you guys could give me a few clues on how to start, what methods I need to use, etc.
Hmmm… importing multiple objects you say?
How about importing these multiple objects, and then storing the diferent object’s vertex positions as VERTEX FRAMES of a single object?
That way you only work with one object, instead of hundreds…
That’s my idea…
RealFlow is fuild simulations, I’d highsuggest just using 1 object and justimport the numbered obj file as a frame, so your just changing the vertex’s position each frame rather then recreating a new mesh. And have the script linked on FrameChange.
Just dont expect it to be blazingly speedy, realflow uses huge amounts of vertices
At the moment I’ve got the .obj import script from Blender itself, and am just playing around with it a little.
However, I have no idea how to add different .obj models as different RVKs, etc.
Does that help?
I made a post on this awhile back, and I had the same idea about just IPO’ing the .obj in and out on its frame, because I think blender handles multiple objects better than a ton of vertix’s… but I could be wrong.
Anyway, the .obj portion of this script will only work for particle’s that have been “meshed” in realflow.
Another very important feature is to write a “.sd” importer, which tracks motion of dynamic objects…
Realflow is great for setting up many rigid bodies and calculating the phsyics of how they interact and deflect with realistic gravity, friction, ect.
The .sd file isn’t in plaintext though… perhaps might have to contact realflow for any info on the file.
Finally, I am a programmer(but who has never touched blender or python), but if someone could point to a good documentation to start(how to extract vertex information from an .obj, how to store it as vertex frame inside blender, ect) I’d be glad to help on this, because I have many cool things cooked up in RealFlow that I have been dying to get into blender.
Absolutely, mcgyver. I’ve also been investigating it and it looks like the .sd files would be the most important think to start work on. I’ll investigate further…
…but really I’m limited by my programming ability at the moment. If I find anything useful I’ll post it.
well I am really limited by my time, not programming ability(I spend like 70% of my time cranking out software anyway).
If you can get any information about the .sd filetype from realflow or on your own(like where/how values are stored) and get my any information on how to use python to script in IPO’s based on the .sd info(this could just be a page on python<->blender, but honestly I dont have time right now to search for the specifics). And finally how to use python to effect changes in vertex positiotns and vertex frames, I can do the actual coding.
So get any information and the idea of how its suppose to work together, and if you get stuck on programming, I can program it.