File
surface node
Reads, writes, or caches geometry on disk.
This node has two modes of operation. If its input is connected, you can choose a File mode to control how the node reads, writes, or caches geometry on disk. If no input is connected, you can specify a geometry file to read in from disk and send through the node’s output.
It also supports reading, but not writing, of .sim and .simdata files created from File and File Data DOPs.
You can also write out the geometry from any surface node as a one-shot action by right-clicking the node and choosing Save Geometry.
To set up a procedural workflow where the geometry output of a surface node network is always written to disk as part of a render dependency network, set up a Geometry render driver.
Parameters
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File Mode |
How this node reads/writes the geometry to/from the disk file. This parameter is only available when the node’s input is connected.
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Geometry File |
The name of the file to read or write. |
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Reload Geometry |
Force a reload of the file. |
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Object Mask |
When loading .sim files this determines which objects should be loaded from disk. Any objects matching this pattern will be loaded. |
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Geometry Data Path |
For each object loaded from a .sim file, any data attached to the object that matches this path will be loaded. Patterns like * can be used to match multiple data. If blank, only the Geometry data will be loaded. |
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Missing Frame |
What should be done if the specified file does not exist on disk. This is only used if in Read Files mode. By default, if no file of the given name exists, the SOP will error. This can be troublesome in a network that can recover from the error. In these cases the behaviour can be set to No Geometry so only a warning is posted. Note that in No Geometry mode, if an input exists to the File SOP, it will be passed through. This allows the File SOP to become a read-only cache. |