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Experimental: This Feature is currently experimental and is subject to change in later major versions.

Point Cache Bake Tool

The Point Cache Bake Tool is an Utility Window that enables generating Point Cache Assets from Geometric Data or Textures. It provides basic functionality to scatter points and get attributes from the inputs.

Opening the Tool

The Point Cache Bake Tool Window is accessible through the menu :

Window > Visual Effects > Utilities > Point Cache Bake Tool

Using the Tool

The tool window prompts with two Bake Modes at the top :

  • Mesh : Baking point cache from a geometry.
  • Texture : Baking point cache from a texture.

Baking from Mesh

When using Mesh baking mode. The window displays the following Mesh Baking properties :

  • Mesh (Mesh) : The Mesh object to use for the Baking
  • Distribution (Enum): The Point Scattering technique used.
    • Sequential : Will Spawn a point on each primitive or vertex, sequentially
    • Random : Will Spawn a point randomly on each primitive or vertex, without taking primitive area into account.
    • Random Uniform Area : Will Spawn a point randomly on each primitive, while taking primitive area into account.
  • Bake Mode (Enum) : (Only when using Sequential/Random Distributions) Allows to select per-Vertex or per-Triangle.
  • Export Normals (bool) : Whether to export the normals into the point cache
  • Export Colors (bool) : Whether to export the vertex colors into the point cache
  • Export UVs (bool) : Whether to export the UVs into the point cache
  • Point Count (uint) : The output point count
  • Seed (uint) : The random seed used for this generation
  • File Format (Enum) : The format (Ascii or Binary) used for encoding

After Setting a Mesh into the Mesh Property, The following UI becomes visible:

  • Save to pCache file... (Button): Clicking this button will prompt you a Save File dialog in order to save the computed point cache to an Asset.
  • Mesh Statistics (Group): Statistics about the Geometry File
    • Vertices : the vertex count
    • Triangles : the triangle count
    • Sub Meshed : the number of sub-meshes contained in the geometry

Baking from Texture

When using Texture baking mode. The window displays the following Mesh Baking properties :

  • Texture (Texture) : The 2D Texture object to use for the Baking
  • Decimation Threshold (Enum): The decimation threshold mode used.
    • Alpha : Use the alpha Channel
    • Luminance : Use the luminance of the combined RGB channels
    • R : Use the red Channel
    • G : Use the green Channel
    • B : Use the blue Channel
  • Threshold (float) : The threshold value used to decimate points (if the corresponding value is inferior to the threshold property)
  • Randomize Pixel Order (bool) : Randomize Points instead of sorting them by pixel row/column.
  • Export Colors (bool) : Whether to export the colors into the point cache
  • File Format (Enum) : The format (Ascii or Binary) used for encoding

After Setting a Texture into the Mesh Property, The following UI becomes visible:

  • Save to pCache file... (Button): Clicking this button will prompt you a Save File dialog in order to save the computed point cache to an Asset.
  • Texture Statistics (Group): Statistics about the Texture File
    • Width: the width (in pixels) of the texture
    • Height: the height (in pixels) of the texture
    • Pixels Count : the number pixels (width * height) of the texture