Turning on this option causes the RBD solver to use a volume representation of this object for collision detection.

The volume representation results in very fast collision detection and very robust results that are tolerant of temporary interpenetrations. The disadvantage is that a volume representation cannot be used to represent a flat object such as a grid, or a hollow sphere.

When this toggle is turned off, the collision detection is geometry-based rather than volume-based. In this case, the collision code will track the trajectories of moving objects over time to find out whether collisions occurred. This allows more accurate results than volume-based collision detection. For this to work, Cache Simulation must be enabled on the DOP network.

The internal representation used for collision detection is converted to visible geometry. This is useful for debugging problems with collision detection.

This parameter controls the color of the guide geometry.

If Non Square is chosen, the specified size is divided into the given number of divisions of voxels. However, the sides of these voxels may not be equal, possibly leading to distorted simulations.

When an axis is specified, that axis is considered authoritative for determining the number of divisions. The chosen axis' size will be divided by the uniform divisions to yield the voxel size. The divisions for the other axes will then be adjusted to the closest integer multiple that fits in the required size.

Finally, the size along non-chosen axes will be changed to represent uniform voxel sizes. If the Max Axis option is chosen, the maximum sized axis is used.

When By Size is chosen, the Division Size will be used to compute the number of voxels that fit in the given sized box.

Controls the creation of the volumetric representation of this object. This should be set fine enough to capture the desired features of the geometry.

The resolution of the key axis on the voxel grid. This allows you to control the overall resolution with one parameter and still preserve uniform voxels. The Uniform Voxels option specifies which axis should be used as the reference. It is usually safest to use the maximum axis.

The explicit size of the voxels. The number of voxels will be computed by fitting an integer number of voxels of this size into the given bounds.

In laser scan mode the volumetric representation is built by sending rays along the primary axes. Only the closest and farthest intersections are used. The space between these two points is classified as inside, and the rest outside.

The laser scan mode will work even with geometry which has poorly defined normals, self intersects, or is not fully watertight. The disadvantage is that interior features can’t be represented as they are not detected.

When laser scanning is turned off, the volumetric representation is still built by sending rays along the primary axes. All intersections are found, however. Each pair of intersections is tested to see if the segment is inside or outside. This relies on the normal of the geometry being well defined (i.e., manifold, no self intersections), and the geometry being watertight. Complicated shapes with holes can be accurately represented, however.

Even with the best made geometry, numerical imprecision can result in incorrect sign choices. This option will cause the volumetric representation to be post-processed to look for inconsistent signs. These are then made consistent, usually plugging leaks and filling holes.

This takes time, and can be turned off in cases where the volumetric representation is known to generate without problems.

The Fix Signs method alone will smooth out, and usually eliminate, sign inversions. However, it is possible for regions of wrong-sign to become stabilized at the boundary of the volumetric representation. This option will force all voxels on the boundary to be marked as exterior. The Fix Signs method will be much less likely to stabilize incorrectly then.

If you want a hollow box, one method is to build one box inside the other and not use Laser Scanning. A more robust method is to just specify the inner box and use sign inversion. This treats everything outside of the box as inside, allowing the more robust Laser Scanning method to be used.

After the fix signs process is complete there can still be inconsistent areas in the SDF. Large blocks can become stabilized and stick out of the SDF. A second sign sweep pass can be performed to try to eliminate these blocks.

The sign sweep threshold governs how big of a jump has to occur for a sign transition to be considered inconsistent. If the values of the sdf change by more than this threshold times the width of the cell, it is considered an invalid sign transition. The original geometry is then ray intersected to determine inside/outside and the result used to determine which sign is correct. The correct sign is then propagated forward through the model.

The sign sweeps are repeated until no signs are flipped (ie, all transitions are within the threshold) or this maximum is reached. Too low of a sign sweep threshold may prevent the process from converging. Otherwise, it tends to converge very quickly.

A constant amount to offset the signed distance field by. This can be used grow the object slightly or shrink it. Note that it can’t be grown much beyond its original size or it will hit the bounding box of the signed distance field.

This specifies the tolerance used for ray intersections when computing the SDF. This value is multiplied by the size of the geometry and is scale invariant.

The geometry which will be used rather than the base geometry for computing the SDF. This can be a volume or VDB in the case of Volume Sample mode to allow one better control over the cached data.

Controls the operation for this object’s volume data.

The name of the file to access according to the choice of File Modes above. This is always .simdata file format. Saving to a .bgeo extension will not save a .bgeo file.

Chooses between colliding points against volume or colliding edges against volume.

Optionally, the point attributes nopointvolume and noedgevolume may be added to the geometry to disable individual points/edges from participating in collision detection against a volume object. An edge is disabled if either of its endpoints is disabled.

This enables conversion of primitives (such as spheres) in the geometry into polygons. Only polygons are used for collision detection.

When this flag is turned on, polygons in the geometry are triangulated.

This controls the Level Of Detail of the triangulation. It is used to specify the point density in the U and V directions.

The barycenters of each polygon can be included in the collision detection as points or edges (connected to the vertices of the primitive).