Activate this option to create a cache file of a chosen selection set so you can retain vertex animation data during export. To use this option, you must first create a selection set of the objects for which you want to retain the vertex animation in 3ds Max. Use the Selection Set menu to select an appropriate set to export the cache file.
The stored vertex animation data is stored in a folder in the same location as the FBX file.
Object animation occurs when you move a sphere from one place to another. If you rotate or scale this object, it is still considered object animation; Any TRS animation on the object is considered standard object animation and is what is kept on regular exports.
Vertex animation occurs at the sub-object (vertex) level. For example, if you were to move 4 vertices on a sphere, this animation is lost on export unless you create a Point Cache file for this animation.
A Point Cache is a local sub-object animation of an object. To export this local sub-object animation from a program like 3ds Max, every vertex position must be evaluated and stored in a file or series of files called Point Cache files. You must make a selection set of the object(s) for which to store Point Cache data because the exporter needs to know for which objects you want the vertex animation evaluated.
In 3ds Max, you create a Point Cache for your object(s) so you can have better playback for complex animating. If, for example, you had a scene with 20 controllers driving the animation of 500 different characters, creating a Point Cache file would let you store all the vertex animation and play it back on all 500 characters, so that 3ds Max does not evaluate the animation controllers for each character. This in turn, creates a more smooth playback.
By default, any Point Cache files created are in .MC format. When you activate this option, three files are generated:
The 3ds Max FBX Plug-in stores the XML and MC files in a subfolder named after the FBX file and has the suffix FPC (_fpc).
For example, if you export a scene containing a cube named box01 to the FBX file myTest.fbx, you create the following files and folders:
The plug-in keeps any PC2 or MC Point Cache files that are already recorded (within the selection set).
