Alembic Import Settings window
The Alembic Import Settings (Alembic Importer) window allows you to customize the import of an Alembic file that is located in a folder within your Unity project.
Note: If you need to customize the import of an alembic file that is located outside your project, use the Stream Player component.
To access the Import Settings window, select the Alembic file in your Project window.
The following topics explain the properties of the Alembic Import Settings window in detail:
Apply/Revert buttons
If you change properties in the Import Settings (Alembic Importer) window, the Alembic Importer does not take them into account until you manually apply them.
| Button | Function |
|---|---|
| Apply | Applies all changes to allow the Alembic Importer to take them into account in the import process. |
| Revert | Abandons any changes you might have done in the window. This reverts all property values to their previous state and has no impact on the current import process. |
Note: If these buttons are inactive, it means that the Alembic Importer currently uses the import options as seen in the window.
Scene options
Use these options to customize the scale factor, handedness, interpolation, and which components to import from the Alembic file.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Scale Factor | Set the scale factor to convert between different system units. For example, using 0.1 converts the Alembic units to 1/10 of their value in the resulting Unity GameObject. This also affects position and speed. |
| Swap Handedness | Enable to invert the X axis' direction. |
| Interpolate Samples | Enable to interpolate animation for Transform, Camera, and Mesh components for which the topology does not change (that is, for which the number of vertices and indices are immutable). If Interpolate Samples is enabled, or velocity data is included in the .abc file, you can pass velocity data to an Alembic shader. |
| Import Visibility | Enable to import Visibility (i.e. the control of the active state of the objects). |
| Import Camera | Enable to import Camera data. |
| Import Meshes | Enable to import Mesh data. |
| Import Points | Enable to import Point (particle cloud) data. |
| Import Curves | Enable to import Curve (hair or fur) data. See Working with Curves for more details. |
| Add Curve Renderers | Enable to get a basic preview of the Alembic curves in your Scene and Game views if you don't have a curve renderer. This option is only available when you select Import Curves. |
Geometry options
Use these options to customize how Meshes are imported.
| Property | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Normals | Define whether to use the normals from the Alembic file, or to calculate them based on vertex position. | |
| Calculate If Missing | Use Alembic file normals if they exist; otherwise the Alembic Importer calculates them. This is the default. | |
| Always Calculate | Calculate the normals on import. | |
| Tangents | Determine whether or not tangents are computed on import or not added at all. Tangents are not stored in Alembic, so if you choose not to calculate tangents on import, there will be no tangent data. | |
| None | Do not calculate or add tangents at all. Choose this option if you don't need to compute the tangents. Computing tangents is resource-intensive, so choosing this option increases the speed of playback. | |
| Calculate | Calculate tangents on import. This is the default option for this property. Note: The calculation of tangents requires normals and UV data. If these are missing, the tangent cannot be computed. |
|
| Flip Faces | Enable to invert the orientation of the polygons. |
Cameras options
Use these options to customize which components to import from the Alembic file.
| Property | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Camera Aspect Ratio | Define how to set the Unity Camera's aspect ratio. | |
| Current Resolution | Determine the aspect ratio from the current resolution which is defined by the screen. | |
| Default Resolution | Determine the aspect ratio from the default resolution defined in the Project Settings window for the Player (under Edit > Project Settings > Resolution and Presentation > Resolution). | |
| Camera Aperture | Determine the aspect ratio from the Camera in the Alembic file. This is the default. |
Note: Since Materials are not supported in Alembic, the Alembic package does not import or export Materials.
Time range options
Select the time range that corresponds to the portion of the animation you want to be able to play back in Unity. By default, this includes the entire animation.
To change the time range, either drag the handles or directly enter the start and end values in seconds.