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This is the flow node which is an interfacing node among a motionPath node and lattice deformation related nodes.

The flow node communicates with the motionPath node through messages to compute and construct a set of lattice points (used by the lattice node, and the ffd node) to deform the geometry objects connected to them. 


                  (motionPath) --------------
                      |                     |
                      |                     |
                    (flow)             (transform)
                    / |  \                  |
         -----------  |   ---------         |
        /             |            \        |
  (baseLattice)   (lattice)       (ffd) -----
The "flow" command, when executed on an object animated by a motion path that has its "follow" enabled, creates a flow node and all its necessary connections to the other nodes.When the latticeOnObject attribute is set to true, the lattice points are positioned around the animated object. Otherwise, they are positioned around the path curve.
Node name Parents MFn type Compatible function sets
flow node kFlow kBase
kNamedObject
kDependencyNode
kFlow

Related nodes

motionPath

Attributes (23)

allCoords, center, centerX, centerY, centerZ, curve, defMatrixInv, defPts, inBaseMatrix, latticeOnObject, motionPath, objectWorldMatrix, orientMatrix, outBaseMatrix, parmValue, sDivisions, setFrontAxis, setUpAxis, tDivisions, uDivisions, xCoord, yCoord, zCoord

Long name (short name) Type Default Flags
latticeOnObject (lo) bool false outputinputstorable
A flag for specifying the deformation lattice placement, either lattice around the object or lattice around the whole curve
motionPath (mp) Message n/a outputinputconnectable
For exchanging messages with a motionPath node during computation of the lattice points positions
curve (crv) Generic NULL inputconnectablestorable
The curve path data
parmValue (pv) distance (double) 0cm inputconnectablestorable
The current value of the curve parameter to use
sDivisions (sdv) short 2 outputinputconnectablestorable
The lattice division in the s direction
tDivisions (tdv) short 5 outputinputconnectablestorable
The lattice division in the t direction
uDivisions (udv) short 2 outputinputconnectablestorable
The lattice division in the u direction
inBaseMatrix (ibm) matrix identity inputconnectablestorable
A transformation matrix specifying the current scaling and orientation of the bounding box of the animated object
defMatrixInv (dmi) matrix identity inputconnectablestorable
A matrix to transform the computed lattice point in the world space to the object space of the lattice
setFrontAxis (sfa) enum 1 inputconnectablestorable
An index value specifying which local axis of the animated object is used as the front direction in the motionPath animation
setUpAxis (sua) enum 2 inputconnectablestorable
An index value specifying which local axis of the animated object is used as the up direction in the motionPath animation
orientMatrix (omx) matrix identity inputconnectablestorable
A matrix specifying the current world space orientations of the animated object
allCoords (ac) double3 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 inputconnectablestorable
The current world space position of the animated object
xCoord (xc) distance (double) 0.0cm inputconnectablestorable
x-component of the current world space position of the animated object
yCoord (yc) distance (double) 0.0cm inputconnectablestorable
y-component of the current world space position of the animated object
zCoord (zc) distance (double) 0.0cm inputconnectablestorable
z-component of the current world space position of the animated object
center (ctr) double3 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 arrayinputconnectablestorable
The local space position of the center of the bounding box of the animated object
centerX (ctx) distance (double) 0.0cm inputconnectablestorable
x-component of the position of the center of the boundingBox
centerY (cty) distance (double) 0.0cm inputconnectablestorable
y-component of the position of the center of the boundingBox
centerZ (ctz) distance (double) 0.0cm inputconnectablestorable
z-component of the position of the center of the boundingBox
objectWorldMatrix (owmx) matrix identity arrayinputconnectablestorable
A matrix to transform the local space position of the center of the bounding box to its world space position
outBaseMatrix (obm) matrix identity outputconnectable
The resulting world space position of the bounding box of the animated object
defPts (dpt) lattice NULL outputconnectable
The resulting local space lattice points