Mesh Frames

Mesh Frames is a flipbook of meshes. The particle’s mesh changes through a numbered series of meshes while the particle lives. Only Part emitters have the section.

What it makes possible:

• A splash that rises and collapses. A series of meshes made in a 3D program, played with Mode OneShot.
• A rock that keeps changing shape. Mode Loop, with Start Random on.
• A series of meshes with a series of pictures to match. A flipbook from the Inventory, put on the frames one picture to a mesh.

The rows

The section starts collapsed. Expand it to see the rows.

Row	Kind	Starts at	Unit	What it does
Mode	List	OneShot		None, OneShot, Loop or PingPong.
Framerate	Two numbers	24	Frames per second	The speed of Loop and PingPong. Each particle picks a value between the two. Hidden while Mode is OneShot.
Start Random	Switch	Off		Each particle starts on a random frame.
Reverse	Switch	Off		Plays the frames backwards.
Frames	Count, with two buttons	0		The number of frames. Set from selection fills the frames. Clear removes them.

How the frames are played

Mesh frames follow the same rules as a flipbook of pictures. Decals and flipbooks gives the rules in full.

Mode	What plays	Worked figure
None	Nothing. The particle shows the mesh of the template.
OneShot	The frames once, spread across the particle’s life. Framerate is not used.	12 frames over a Lifetime of 3 seconds: each mesh shows for 0.25 seconds.
Loop	The frames at the Framerate, starting again from the first after the last.	12 frames at 24 frames per second: 2 loops a second.
PingPong	The frames forwards, then backwards, at the Framerate.	13 frames make a round trip of 24 steps. At 24 frames per second that is one round trip a second.

Playback follows the particle’s own clock. Timescale slows it, stops it and runs it backwards.

The Size rows keep setting the size of the particle while its mesh changes.

What counts as a frame

The frames are kept in a folder named MeshFrames, under the emitter. Transform does not make this folder. Set from selection makes it, and so does Insert from the Inventory.

A frame is a child of that folder that is one of these:

• A MeshPart.
• A Part with a SpecialMesh.

Frames are played in the order of their numbered names: 1, 2, 3. A name that is not a number counts as 0. Keep frame names numeric.

What the template must be

The RenderTemplate is	How the mesh changes	Frames that play
A MeshPart	The frame’s mesh is put on the particle.	MeshParts only. A frame that is a Part with a SpecialMesh is skipped, with no message.
A Part with a SpecialMesh	The mesh of the SpecialMesh is changed.	MeshParts, and Parts with a SpecialMesh.
Anything else	Nothing changes. One warning is printed.	None.

The warning reads Mesh Frames need a MeshPart or a Part with a SpecialMesh as RenderTemplate.

Set from selection

Set from selection takes the meshes selected in Studio and makes them the frames of the emitter.

Step	Control	Action	Result
1	The emitter and the frame meshes	Select together	The Properties panel shows the emitter’s rows.
2	Properties ▸ Mesh Frames	Expand	The Mesh Frames rows show.
3	Properties ▸ Mesh Frames ▸ Frames ▸ Set from selection	Press	The Frames count shows the number of frames. A MeshFrames folder under the emitter holds them.

A frame is a MeshPart, or a Part with a SpecialMesh. The Frames count, Clear, Set from selection and Insert from the Inventory treat both kinds alike.

What it accepts

Selected with the emitter	Used as
A MeshPart	One frame.
A Part with a SpecialMesh	One frame.
A Model	Every frame inside it.
A Folder	Each of its direct children that is a frame or a Model.

The button ignores the emitter itself, every other emitter, and anything inside an emitter.

With nothing usable selected, a message reads Select the frame MeshParts (or a Folder of them) together with the emitter, then press Set.

What it does

• A copy of each mesh is placed in the MeshFrames folder of the emitter.
• The copies are named 1, 2, 3 and so on.
• The copies are made invisible and are placed at the emitter.
• Frames already in the folder are replaced.

The order of the frames

• The frames are put in order by the last number in each name.
• A mesh with no number in its name takes the number from the Model that wraps it. Studio’s 3D importer wraps each mesh in a Model named after its file.
• Numbered frames come first. The rest follow in the order of the Explorer.
• If no name holds a number, the order of the Explorer is kept. A message says so.

Clear

Clear removes the frames from the MeshFrames folder. The Frames count returns to 0.

Textures on frames

A frame may carry a texture of its own.

The RenderTemplate is	A frame with a texture	A frame without one
A MeshPart	The particle takes the frame’s texture.	The particle keeps the texture it is showing.
A Part with a SpecialMesh	The texture goes on the particle’s first Decal or Texture. With neither, it goes on the SpecialMesh.	Nothing changes.

On a frame that is a Part with a SpecialMesh, the frame’s texture is that of its first Decal or Texture. With neither, it is the texture of its SpecialMesh.

When any frame carries a texture, no flipbook of pictures plays on the MeshPart’s own texture or on the first layer. The two would otherwise set the same picture. See Decals and flipbooks.

Textures from the Inventory

A flipbook in the Inventory can be put on a set of frames, one picture to a mesh.

Step	Control	Action	Result
1	Explorer ▸ the emitter ▸ MeshFrames	Select	The folder is highlighted in the Explorer.
2	Inventory ▸ a flipbook ▸ Details ▸ Insert	Press	Picture 1 is on frame 1, picture 2 on frame 2, and so on.

• With fewer pictures than frames, the pictures repeat.
• With more pictures than frames, a message reads N flipbook image(s) unused: the sequence has fewer mesh frames.
• The RenderTemplate also gets picture 1. A new particle then starts on the right picture.
• Any Folder or Model that holds meshes can be selected in place of MeshFrames. The RenderTemplate is then not changed.

The picture is written to a different place on each kind of frame:

The frame is	The picture goes on
A MeshPart	The MeshPart’s own texture.
A Part with a SpecialMesh	Its first Decal or Texture. With neither, the SpecialMesh.

CAUTION

Select the MeshFrames folder itself. With the emitter selected, or a frame inside the folder, Insert does not texture the frames. It fills the emitter’s decal layers.

A saved set of frames

The Local Inventory keeps saved sets of frames under MeshFrames. Insert on a saved set acts on the selection:

Selected	Result
One or more Part emitters	Each gets a MeshFrames folder holding the saved frames, named 1, 2, 3 and so on. The frames it had are removed. The Frames count updates.
No Part emitter	A Folder named after the entry appears in the Workspace, holding the frames. The Folder becomes the selection.

The Inventory describes how a set is saved.

Animate mode

In Animate mode the frames play on the RenderTemplate itself. The template gets its own mesh and texture back afterwards.

Limits

• Only Part emitters have Mesh Frames.
• The RenderTemplate must be a MeshPart or a Part with a SpecialMesh.
• On a MeshPart template, only MeshPart frames play.
• A frame whose name is not a number counts as 0 and loses its place in the order.