tyFlow MultiFracture Operator Rollout Visibility

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GENERAL MULTIFRACTURE ROLLOUT INFO BELOW ON PAGE 1

MAY 3 2024 – VER 1

COMMON ROLLOUTS TO ALL MODES

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Page # 1
Multifracture Rollout BACK

Bounds fracture: fractures will be computed along the object-oriented

bounds of a mesh, depending on the ratios between the longest mesh axis,
and subsequently smaller axes.
TIP
Use this mode to subdivide overly long meshes into smaller meshes.

Edge fracture: fractures will be computed along the corners/edges of the

convex hull of a mesh, depending on the relative angles of those
corners/edges
TIP
Use this mode to simulate erosion/damage over the edges of a mesh

Hull fracture: fractures will be computed across random faces on the

convex hull of a mesh.
TIP
Use this mode to simulate general erosion/damage over the entire
surface of a mesh.

Paint fracture: fractures will be computed along hand-drawn strokes

painted over a mesh.
TIP
Use this mode to draw fracture lines directly onto a mesh.

Planar fracture: fractures will be computed along planes scattered across a

mesh.
TIP
Use this mode for general, randomized mesh fracturing.

Radial fracture: fractures will be computed using a procedural radial-

fracture pattern.
TIP
Use this mode to simulate fractures in brittle material, like glass.

Texmap fracture: fractures will be computed using a specified texture map

TIP
Use this mode to control fracture patterns precisely, using the grayscale
values of an image or texture.

Voronoi fracture: fractures will be computed using points in space to

generate enclosed cells within a volume.
TIP
Use this mode to gain more fine-tuned control over the size and
distribution of fracture chunks.

NOTE
The Voronoi fracture mode requires at least 2 or more fracture points in
order to generate proper Voronoi cells. Read the “Fracture points” rollout
documentation for more info.

Page # 2
 Multi Fracture Rollout Continued:
Operation
Slice (surface): when enabled, meshes will be sliced as if they are thin shells
- the resulting fracture chunks will not have thickness or depth.
Slice (volume): when enabled, meshes will be sliced as if they have volume
- the resulting fracture chunks will have thickness and depth.
INFO
In order for the volume slice mode to function correctly, input meshes
should be composed only of closed surfaces. The surfaces may self-
intersect, but should not have any open edges. If open edges are
present, topological artifacts may appear in the resulting fracture
chunks.

Subtract (volume): when enabled, a boolean subtract operation will be

used to remove the fracture mesh from the input mesh, rather than a slice
operation.
NOTE
When the subtract operation is selected, fracture meshes will be
extruded using shell settings available in the Fracture meshes and
Fracture shell noise rollouts. The extruded fracture meshes will then be
straight-forwardly subtracted from the input mesh. Typically, this
fracture mode produces less optimal/desirable results than the slice
modes, however there may be circumstances where it is required.

Fracture display Rollout BACK

The Fracture display rollout offers controls for how intermediate fracture data is displayed in the viewport. This data can
be useful to visualize aspects of the procedural multifracture workflow.

Fracture points: when enabled, individual points used to generate fracture

meshes (ex: points used to generate Voronoi cells) will be displayed in the
viewport.
Fracture planes: when enabled, planes used to place and orient fracture
meshes (ex: gizmo-aligned planes used to place planar fracture meshes) will
be displayed in the viewport.
Fracture patterns: when enabled, radial/texmap patters will be displayed in
the viewport, aligned to the fracture planes used to place them.
Fracture meshes: when enabled, generated fracture meshes will be
displayed in the viewport.
Fracture intersections: when enabled, surface intersections between input
meshes and fracture meshes will be displayed in the viewport

Page # 3
Fracture input Rollout BACK

The Fracture input rollout has parameters which allow you to tune how input meshes are pre-processed, prior to
fracturing. Certain parameters are only visible when using the Multifracture operator, over the tyMultifracture
modifier, and vice-versa.

Use face selection: when enabled, only the selected faces/elements of a

mesh will be fractured.
INFO
Due to the way the multifracture algorithm processes meshes and
their faces, if you enable “use face selection”, the selected faces will
be detached from the mesh for the fracture operation and converted
into a separate mesh element prior to being fractured. If your face
selection consists of full mesh elements only, the detachment process
will have no detrimental effect on the resulting mesh. However, if
your face selection consists of only partial mesh elements, the
detachment process will disconnect the selected faces from the rest
of the mesh and those faces will remain disconnected after the
fracture operation is complete.

World-space scale: when enabled, various coordinate-relative

parameters (ex: noise strength) will be adjusted to match the input
mesh’s scale.

Process open surfaces: when enabled in combination with a subtract

operation (instead of a slice operation), open surfaces (which normally
cause problems for the subtraction operation) will be treated as thin
shells, alleviating those problems in the process.
NOTE
Open surfaces treated as thin shells will not maintain their volume
after the subtract operation is completed.

Perturb vertices: when enabled, the vertices of operand meshes will be

perturbed by a random amount prior to the fracture operation

Per-element fracture: when enabled, input meshes elements will be

split apart and fractured individually, rather than as a single mesh.

Randomize seeds: when enabled, various fracture seeds will be

randomized on a per-element basis

Page # 4
 Fracture Input Rollout Continued:
Relative to surface area: when enabled, various fracture point counts
will be multiplied by the ratio between an individual element’s surface
area relative to the specified threshold values.

Min/max threshold: these values determine the threshold range of the

ratio multipliers. For example, if you set the “max threshold” value to a
surface area of 100, and an element has a surface area of 200, its
fracture point count will be multiplied by 2 (prior to being clamped by
the “min/max mult” values.

Min/max mult: these values clamp the threshold multipliers. For

example, if you set the “max threshold” value to a surface area of 100,
and an element has a surface area of 1000, its base fracture point count
multiplier will be 10 - but if you set the “max mult” value to 5, the
multiplier will be clamped to 5.

TIP
Adjusting the “relative surface area” parameters can give you fairly
fine-tuned control over how many fractures an element will undergo,
relative to its size. This prevents scenarios where fracture settings
which apply to very large elements will also apply equally to very tiny
elements, and vice versa. For example, you may want to fracture a
large element 1000 times, but fracture tiny elements only once or
twice. By tuning the “relative surface area” parameters, you can exert
this level of fracture control over elements in a single
modifier/operator.

Raycast: when selected, a raycast-based face classification method will

run during the operation, to classify faces as either inside or outside of
operands. For closed meshes, this is very accurate. For open meshes, this
method can produce artifacts.

Fast winding number: when selected, a fast winding number face

classification method will run during the operation, to classify faces as
either inside or outside of operands. This offers more accuracy than the
raycast method when meshes contain holes and open edges (at the cost
of some performance). This method does not track nested elements, and
is not suitable for situations where meshes are meant to have interior,
nested cavities.

Page # 5
 THIS IS AVAILABLE IN THE OPERATOR ONLY (Not the Modifier)

Randomize seeds by ID: when enabled, fracture seeds will be

randomized on a per-particle basis.

Randomize seeds by time: when enabled, fracture seeds will be

randomized depending on the frame the fracture takes place.
Fracture point counts

Relative to property: when enabled, various fracture point counts will

be multiplied by the ratio between an individual particle’s property
relative to the specified property and threshold values.

Min/max threshold: these values determine the threshold range of the

ratio multipliers. For example, if you set the “max threshold” value to a
surface area of 100, and a particle has a surface area of 200, its fracture
point count will be multiplied by 2 (prior to being clamped by the
“min/max mult” values.

Min/max mult: these values clamp the threshold multipliers. For

example, if you set the “max threshold” value to a surface area of 100,
and a particle has a surface area of 1000, its base fracture point count
multiplier will be 10 - but if you set the “max mult” value to 5, the
multiplier will be clamped to 5.
TIP
Adjusting the “relative property” parameters can give you fairly fine-
tuned control over how many fractures a particle will undergo,
relative to its size. This prevents scenarios where fracture settings
which apply to very large particles will also apply equally to very tiny
particles, and vice versa. For example, you may want to fracture a
large particle 1000 times, but fracture tiny particles only once or
twice. By tuning the “relative property” parameters, you can exert this
level of fracture control over particles in a single operator with limited
filters.
Limited recursion: when enabled, you can limited how many times a
particle can be successive re-fractured by the operator.

Max depth: controls how many times a particle can be refractured by

the operator, before it will simply be ignored by the operator.

Channel: the custom float channel where the fracture depth for a given
particle (and its children) will be stored.

TIP
By enabling “limited recursion”, you can have a Multifracture operator’s timing set to something other than ‘on
entry’, without re-fracting the same particles over and over, leading to an exponential explosion of particles. For
example, you may want to ensure a particle is only refractured once (so it will be fractured, and then it’s children
will be fractured, but its children’s children won’t be fractured) by setting the “max depth” to 2.

Limit affected particle count: when enabled, the total number of particles fractured by the operator per time step will
be limited by the specified value. If the initial number of particles to be fractured is greater than the specified max
value, the particles will be sorted by size (largest to smallest) and the sorted list will be clamped to the max value.
Page # 6
FRACTURE BOUNDS ROLLOUT BACK

The Fracture bounds rollout contains parameters for the “fracture bounds” fracture mode.

Mode: controls whether the bounds fracture operation will compare the
length of the specified fracture axis to the length of the next-shortest
fracture axis (and compare that ratio to the specified length ratio thresh), or
compare the length of the specified fracture axis to the specified length
threshold directly.

Axis: controls which OOBB axis will be used for the bounds fracture
computation.

Length thresh: the initial number of slices will be computed by dividing the
length of the specified object-oriented bounding box axis by this value.

Length ratio thresh: the initial number of slices will be computed by dividing
the ratio between the length of the specified object-oriented bounding box
axis and the length of the next-shortest object-oriented bounding box axis by
this value.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Max slices: the maximum number of slices that will be assigned to a mesh
along the primary object-oriented bounding box axis.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Uniqueness
Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Page # 7
Fracture edges Rollout BACK

The Fracture edges rollout contains parameters for the “fracture edges” fracture mode.

Edge settings

Edge fractures are generated along edges of the input mesh’s convex hull,
that meet the angle threshold criteria.

Angle thresh: the minimum angle that must exist between the faces of an
edge on the mesh’s convex hull in order for a fracture mesh to be assigned to
the edge.

Probability %: the random probability that a given edge (which meets the
angle threshold) will be assigned a fracture mesh.

Depth: fracture meshes will be placed at this depth along the negative
surface normal of each qualified edge. Larger values will move fracture
meshes inward towards the center of the mesh hull.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

- -

Fracture corners: when enabled, mesh corners will be fractured.

Corner settings

Angle thresh: the minimum angle that must exist between the faces of a
vertex on the mesh’s convex hull in order for a fracture mesh to be assigned
to the edge.

Probability %: the random probability that a given vertex (which meets the
angle threshold) will be assigned a fracture mesh.

Depth: fracture meshes will be placed at this depth along the negative
surface normal of each qualified vertex. Larger values will move fracture
meshes inward towards the center of the mesh hull.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

- -

Cull fractured meshes: when enabled, fractured parts of the input mesh that
lie above the fracture meshes will be culled. Disable this setting to retain all
fracture meshes after the fracture operation is completed.

Page # 8
Fracture hull Rollout BACK

The Fracture hull rollout contains parameters for the “fracture hull” fracture mode

Points: the number of random fracture points to generate on the convex hull
of an input mesh. A fracture mesh will then be placed at every generated
fracture point.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Depth: fracture meshes will be placed at this depth along negative surface
normal of each random fracture point. Larger values will move fracture
meshes inward towards the center of the mesh hull.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Cull fractured meshes: when enabled, fractured parts of the input mesh that
lie above the fracture meshes will be culled. Disable this setting to retain all
fracture meshes after the fracture operation is completed.

Page # 9
Fracture paint Rollout BACK

The Fracture paint rollout contains parameters for the “fracture paint” fracture mode.

Canvas orientation: controls whether a view-aligned plane will be used for

painting, or an axis-aligned plane.

Stroke segments

Min length: when enabled, stroke segments will be reduced so that the
minimum length of any given segment is no less than the specified value.

Stroke meshes

Iterations: when set to a value greater than 1, the stroke meshes will be
duplicated N times (where N is the number of iterations greater than 1), and
each iteration of stroke meshes will be assigned a different set of per-vertex
noise values, offset by the specified phase variation values.

Stroke mesh offset

Amount: controls how much to offset stroke meshes generated after the first
iteration (ie, iteration 2 and above, unless symmetrical mode enabled - see
below), along their vertex normals.

Symmetrical: when enabled, all stroke iterations will be divided into two
groups, and each group will be offset in the opposite direction of the other.
So, if your iteration count is 2 and your offset amount if 1, one stroke mesh
will be offset by 0.5 units along its surface normals, and the other by -0.5 units
along its surface normals.

Noise phase variation: phase variation applied to any extra iterations of

stroke meshes that are generated, based on the iterations parameter.

Page # 10
Fracture planes Rollout BACK

The Fracture planes rollout contains parameters for the “fracture planes” fracture mode, as well as any other modes
which generate intermediate fracture planes for their fracture meshes (ex: edge fracture mode).

Fracture planes are initially scattered at the center of any fracture points generated by the specified fracture mode.
Then, based on the current fracture mesh settings, they are subdivided prior to any noise that is applied and finally are
used to fracture the input mesh.

Count: the number of fracture planes to generate at a given fracture point.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Spread

Local/absolute: controls the reference coordinate system that the fracture

planes will be spread within.

Radius: controls the maximum spread radius that the fracture planes will be
spread within.

X/Y/Z %: controls the percentage of per-axis effect the spread radius will have
on the fracture planes.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Orientation

Orientation mode: controls which axis of the input mesh the fracture planes
will be aligned to. “[Default]” mode will use the up vector of the fracture
points as the alignment vector, which may not be oriented to a particular axis,
depending on the fracture mode (for example, fracture planes of the hull
fracture mode will be aligned to the nearest convex hull surface normal.

Local/absolute: controls the reference coordinate system that the fracture

planes will be aligned within.

Divergence: controls the amount of orientation divergence that will be

applied to the fracture planes.

X/Y/Z %: controls the percentage of per-axis effect the divergence will have
on the fracture planes.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Page # 11
 FRACTURE PLANES ROLLOUT CONTINUED

Normals scale

X/Y/Z: these are multipliers applied to the orientation vector for the fracture
planes. You can use them to bias the orientation of the fracture planes along
a particular axis.
Size

Full coverage: when enabled, the fracture planes will expand to cover the
plane-oriented bounds of the underlying input mesh’s convex hull. This
ensures that all fracture planes will fully cross the input mesh surface
boundary, leading to more consistent fracturing. When disabled, depending
on the size parameters, planes may not fully cross the mesh surface boundary
and therefore may not generate a fracture at those locations.

Length/depth: the size of the fracture planes when full coverage is disabled.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Noise
[Noise A/B] Element-space: when selected, noise distortion applied to planar
cutting meshes will be applied in the coordinate space of the input mesh
element (direction of noise displacement from initial plane mesh surface will
be independent of plane mesh orientation).

[Noise A/B] Mesh-space: when selected, noise distortion applied to planar

cutting meshes will be applied in the coordinate space of the input mesh
(direction of noise displacement from initial plane mesh surface will be
independent of plane mesh orientation).

[Noise A/B] Plane-space: when selected, noise distortion applied to planar

cutting meshes will be applied in the coordinate space of the planar mesh
(direction of noise displacement from initial plane mesh surface will be
dependent on plane mesh orientation).

Affect X/Y/Z %: controls how much influence noise values will have on
displacement of fracture mesh vertices, relative to the corresponding local
fracture plane axis.

Phase variation

Noise A/B: controls the amount of per-plane noise phase variation to apply to
fracture meshes generated from fracture planes. Increasing these values
ensures that fracture planes do not share identical noise distributions.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Page # 12
 FRACTURE PLANES ROLLOUT CONTINUED

Enable child planes: when enabled, each fracture plane will generate the
specified number of child fracture planes. Their corresponding spread and
noise parameters have the same effect as those affecting their parent.

Page # 13
Fracture radial Rollout BACK

The Fracture radial rollout contains parameters for the “fracture radial” fracture mode. In this mode, a radial fracture
pattern is generated and applied to fracture planes scattered over fracture points on the input mesh.

Radial fracture patterns consist of two elements: radial lines and concentric lines. Radial lines extend outwards from the
center of the fracture pattern, and concentric lines trace around the center of the fracture pattern, connecting the radial
lines.

Count: the number of radial lines to generate outward from the center of the
fracture pattern.

Resolution: the number of sub-segments each radial line will be composed of.

Probability %: the probability that a given radial line will not be culled.
Decreasing this value will increase the chances that a given radial line will be
removed from the fracture pattern, thereby increasing its randomness.

Size %: the overall size of radial lines, relative to the size of the underlying
fracture plane.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Crop center: crops radial lines, from the center outwards, by removing sub-
segments. Increasing this value decreases the density of radial lines closer to
the center of the fracture pattern.

Crop border: crops radial lines, from the outward edges inward, by removing
sub-segments. Increasing this value decreases the length of radial lines.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Random walk

Enable random walk: when enabled, radial lines will be affected by random
walk noise as they expand outwards, causing them to expand outward in more
random patterns.

Prevent intersections: when enabled, radial lines will be prevented from

intersecting each other, during their random walk outwards.

Influence

Distance/falloff: controls the amount of influence the random walk noise will
have on radial lines, from the center of the fracture pattern outwards.

Page # 14
 FRACTURE RADIAL ROLLOUT CONTINUED

Resolution: the number of sub-segments a concentric line will be composed of.

Note: the actual number of sub-segments a given concentric line will be
composed of is relative to its coverage of the fracture pattern, in degrees,
multiplied by this value. If resolution is set to 100 and a given concentric line
only has 180 degrees of pattern coverage, it will be composed of only 50 sub-
segments.

Every nth: controls how many concentric lines will be generated, relative to the
resolution of the radial lines. For example, if radial lines is set to 100 and “every
nth” is set to 5, then 20 concentric lines will be generated (1 for every 5 radial
line sub-segments).

Ring %: controls the probability that a given ring of concentric lines will not be
culled. Increasing this value decreases the density of concentric lines.

Segment %: controls the probability that a concentric line segment (a

concentric line spanning two radial lines) will not be culled. Increasing this value
breaks up concentric lines which would otherwise travel all the way around the
fracture pattern.
Seed: the seed value for all varied
parameters.
Jagged %: controls the probability that a given concentric line segment will
undergo “jagged” transformation (that it will connect to mis-aligned sub-
segments along its corresponding start and end radial lines, based on the
“jagged max” parameter).

Jagged max: controls the maximum amount of mis-alignment that a concentric

line segment may undergo.

INFO
Normally, concentric lines will connect at the same sub-segment index
located on its start and end radial lines. For example, if two radial lines
have a resolution of 100, the concentric line that connects them at their
center will start at sub-segment 50 on the first radial line, and connect to
sub-segment 50 on the second radial line. However, by increasing the
jagged parameters, the sub-segment indices that the concentric line
connects at will be more random. If the “jagged max” parameter is set to
5, the start sub-segment index might be 45, and the end sub-segment
index might be 55. This would tilt the concentric line relative to its
start/end radial lines, giving the interior fracture a more jagged
appearance.

Density curve: this curve allows you to control the density of concentric lines
within the fracture pattern, relative to their distance from the center of the
fracture pattern.

Noise influence: allows you to control how much influence fracture noise A/B
will have on the pattern, relative to the center of the pattern

Page # 15
Fracture animation Rollout BACK

The Fracture animation rollout contains parameters which allow you to control how fracture patterns (patterns
generated in radial/texmap fracture modes) are animated.

Grow %: controls the growth of a fracture pattern, outwards from the center
of a given fracture plane.

Branch offset: controls how much to offset the growth of a given pattern
branch, randomly.

INFO
Pattern branches are continuous groups of pattern sub-segments. For
example, in a radial fracture pattern, each radial line is considered a
branch. When “branch offset” is set to a value greater than 0, the growth
of each branch will be offset/randomized by the specified amount.

Distance mode

Distance along branch: branches will grow relative to the distance of each
sub-segment along the branch.

Distance to center: branches will grow relative to their distance from the
center of the fracture pattern.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Page # 16
Fracture texmap Rollout BACK

The Fracture texmap rollout contains parameters for the “fracture texmap” fracture mode. In this mode, a fracture
pattern is extracted from a texture map and applied to fracture planes scattered over fracture points on the input mesh.

Texmap: the texture map from which to derive the fracture pattern.

Preserve aspect ratio: when enabled, the aspect ratio of the texmap will be
preserved, even if it does not match the default scale of the underlying
fracture plane onto which the fracture pattern is applied.

Resolution: the sampling resolution used to extract the fracture pattern from
the texture map.

Threshold: pixel values in the texture map above this luminosity value will be
extracted as white, all other pixels will be extracted as black.

TIP
Fracture patterns extracted from texture maps are derived from
black/white pixel values only. The threshold value allows you to control
how a texture map is converted into a purely black and white image (with
Auto-invert: when enabled, the
no intermediate grayscale values).
pattern extraction engine will
automatically invert the black and
Normalize: when enabled, input texture maps are normalized based on their
white values of the converted image,
min/max luminosity, prior to conversion to purely black/white images.
if it appears as though the black
values are what should be
Trace edges: when enabled, the edges of the input texture map will be traced
skeletonized, based on the ratio of
black-to-white pixels within the prior to conversion into a fracture pattern.
converted image.
INFO
Invert: controls whether the image The fracture pattern extraction algorithm works by finding the “skeleton”
will be manually inverted, when auto- of a black and white image (a “skeleton” in this case is a minimal set of
invert is disabled. lines that follow shaded areas of the image). By first tracing the edges of
the image, a more intuitive “skeleton” may be extracted, if the image is
not already composed of lines.

INFO
The fracture pattern extraction algorithm will create a skeleton from
white pixels, rather than black pixels (black pixels are assumed to be
bordering the patterned areas. Therefore, if the image appears to be
inverted (more white pixels exist than black pixels), the auto-invert
parameter will flip the values for optimal skeletonization.

Weld extracted curves: controls whether the splines of the extracted fracture
pattern will be welded together, prior to meshing.

Page # 17
Fracture voronoi Rollout BACK

The Fracture voronoi rollout contains parameters for the “fracture voronoi” fracture mode. In this mode, convex cells
are generated from fracture points and converted into a fracture mesh.

Iterations: controls the number of unique cell clusters that will be

generated from the fracture points, whose overall shape will be varied
by the noise phase parameters.

Noise A/B phase variation: controls how noise values applied to

voronoi cells will vary on a per-iteration basis.

Full mesh coverage: when enabled, the cell walls generated from the
fracture points will have full coverage over the hull of the input mesh.
When disabled, cell walls may not have full coverage over the hull of
the input mesh, depending on their size.

Cells

Voronoi patterns generate convex cells by default. However, by culling

various cell walls, concave cells can be generated - allowing for more
interesting fracture patterns.

TIP
When culling cell walls, it is highly recommended to enable the “cull
internal open elements” setting in the fracture meshes rollout. More
information about that setting can be found in the documentation for
that rollout.

Cull walls (any)

Probability %: the probability that any given cell wall will be culled.

Don’t cull primary walls: when enabled, only cell walls generated in voronoi
iteration 2 or above will be culled, leaving the primary cell walls intact.

Cull walls (small)

Threshold: only cell walls with a surface area below this threshold will be
culled by the small walls probability.

Probability %: the probability that a given small cell wall will be culled.

Don’t cull primary walls: when enabled, only small cell walls generated in
voronoi iteration 2 or above will be culled, leaving the primary cell walls
intact.

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 FRACTURE VORONOI ROLLOUT CONTINUED

Cull walls (large)

Threshold: only cell walls with a surface area above this threshold will be
culled by the large walls probability.

Probability %: the probability that a given large cell wall will be culled.

Don’t cull primary walls: when enabled, only large cell walls generated in
voronoi iteration 2 or above will be culled, leaving the primary cell walls
intact.

Normals scale

X/Y/Z: these multipliers will bias the angle of voronoi cell walls along each
axis. Decreasing the value for a given axis will stretch cell walls along that axis.
Increasing the value for a given axis will squash cell walls along that axis.

Affect noise scale: when enabled, noise values will be scaled along each axis
by the normals scale values specified. Enabling this setting keeps noise scale
consistent with the scale of cell walls, along a particular axis. Disabling this
setting means noise scale is independent of cell wall scale.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters

Page # 19
Fracture points Rollout BACK

The Fracture points rollout has parameters which provide control over how intermediate fracture points are scattered
on meshes. Those points are then used to scatter fracture planes, or generate Voronoi cells, etc. Some fracture modes
do not require fracture points (ex: paint fracture), so this rollout may not always appear (depending on which fracture
mode you have selected).

Certain parameters are only visible when using the Multifracture operator, over the tyMultifracture modifier, and vice-
versa.

[None]: when selected, only painted points will be used to generate

fractures.

Center: when selected, a single point will be generated at the center of the
input mesh

Gizmo: when selected, points will be generated inside the modifier’s sub-
object gizmo.

Gizmo type: controls the shape of the sub-object gizmo.

Random

Count: controls the number of points generated in the sub-object

gizmo.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Separation: controls the minimum distance that will be enforced

between points positions. If a new point is within the minimum
distance threshold to previous point, several attempts will be made to
move the new point to another position with a valid minimum distance
to previous points. If the re-attempts all fail to find a valid position, the
point will be culled (ie, setting this value to greater than 0 may result in
fewer points being generated than the specified number of points).

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Page # 20
 FRACTURE POINTS ROLLOUT CONTINUED

Objects

Objects: when selected, points will be generated at the location of specified

objects in the scene.

Closest point on mesh: when enabled, generated points will be moved to the
nearest location on the input mesh.

Object proximity: when selected, points will be generated on the input mesh,
if those locations on the input mesh are within proximity to the specified
objects in the scene.

Proximity points

Distance threshold: the maximum distance a proximity point on the input

mesh must be to a point on the specified proximity objects’ surface, to avoid
being culled.

Density: the number of points to generate on the input mesh, for proximity
measurements. This value is relative to the surface area of the input mesh. If
density is 1.0 and the input mesh has a surface area of 100, then 100
proximity points will be generated.

Location interp: this value interpolates fracture points between their origin
on the input mesh and their respective proximal location on the proximity
objects’ mesh.

Spread: a random spread applied to proximity points, so that they don’t all lie
uniformly at their point of origin.

Max count: controls the maximum number of non-culled proximity points

that will be converted to fracture points.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

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Particles: when selected, points will be generated at the location of particles

in the specified particle system.

Use this flow’s particles: when enabled, only particles from the operator’s
source flow will be used. When disabled, a user-specified particle system can
be chosen.

Simulation/export groups: these settings allow you to filter which particles

will be used for generating fracture points

Random (surface): when selected, points will be randomly generated on the

surface of the input mesh.

Random

Count: controls the number of points generated on the surface of the input
mesh.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Random (volume): when selected, points will be randomly generated in the

volume of the input mesh.

Random

Count: controls the number of points generated in the volume of the input
mesh.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

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Splines: when selected, points will be randomly generated along the specified
splines.

Random

Count: controls the number of points generated on the splines.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

Baked points

The “baked points” parameters allow you to paint fracture points directly
onto input meshes, using your mouse. These baked points can be used in
combination with procedural points, or on their own.

Bake all points: when clicked, all procedural points will be converted to
baked points. Since baked points can be individually erased with the erase
brush, this allows you to erase points which were previously fully procedural
(and thus, not individually modifiable).

Randomize

Spread: a random spread applied to baked points, so that they don’t all lie
uniformly at their point of origin on the input mesh surface.

Seed: the seed value for all varied parameters.

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Clusters

Clusters generate extra points around the initial fracture points, to

procedurally increase point density. They are especially useful for the Voronoi
fracture mode, which requires at least 2 points to generate fracture cells
(some fracture point modes may only generate a single fracture point, so
clusters are necessary to achieve a fracture point count of 2+).

Enable clusters: when enabled, cluster points will be generated on the initial
fracture points.

Point count: controls the number of cluster points to generate on a given

fracture point.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Point scale: controls the maximum size of an individual cluster of points may
be around a given fracture point.

Variation %: the per-particle percentage of variation to apply.

Spread: the maximum amount an individual cluster point’s distance may vary,
from its parent fracture point to the “point scale” value.

Optimization

Cull points beyond hull: when enabled, generated points that are further
from the radius of the input mesh’s convex hull, multiplied by the specified
distance threshold, will be culled. This prevents distant points (that are too
far away from the input mesh to affect its fracture mesh) from slowing down
fracture mesh computations.

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The Fracture meshes rollout has parameters which provide control over how fracture meshes (meshes generated by the
various fracture modes to slice an input mesh) are created.

Square/circle: for fracture modes that use planar meshes to cut input
meshes (ex: planar fracture mode), this controls what shape the planar
mesh will take. In some situations where having visible edges on planar
meshes is undesirable, the “circle” mode can be selected.

Segment size: controls the maximum length of a subdivided edge, on a

fracture mesh. When disabled, fracture meshes will not be subdivided.
When enabled, lower values generate more dense fracture meshes
(resulting in more detailed fractures).

Max segments: controls the maximum number of subdivision segments that

may be generated for a given axis or dimension of a fracture mesh. Smaller
values will prevent fracture meshes from being generated with too many
segments, regardless of what value is specified for the segment size
parameter.

Material ID: controls what material ID value will be assigned to all fracture
meshes.

UVW scale: this value is a scale multiplier applied to all UVW coordinates
assigned to fracture meshes.

Smoothing mode: controls whether fracture meshes will be assigned

smoothing groups.

Cull external faces: when enabled, faces on fracture meshes that do not
intersect the hull of the input mesh will be culled, prior to fracture. Typically
these faces are not required (as they do not affect the fracture result), so
leaving this setting enabled will increase the overall speed of the fracture
operation.

Cull with convex hull: when enabled, the convex hull of the input mesh will
be used to cull external fracture meshes faces. When disabled, the input
mesh itself will be used to compute fracture mesh intersections and cull
external faces.
Cull internal open elements: when enabled, open elements (fracture mesh
elements with open edges) that are inside of the input mesh hull will be
culled prior to fracture.

TIP
Enabling “cull internal open elements” can help prevent fracture artifacts in cases where it is known that fracture
meshes have open elements inside the input mesh hull. For example, if you are performing a Voronoi fracture
and have enabled cell wall culling, it is likely that orphan cell walls (cell walls that don’t connect to other cell walls
at a junction) will be generated. Enabling “cull internal open elements” will remove those orphan walls, leading
to results that are less likely to contain artifacts (because the PRISM volume slice function prefers fracture
meshes that fully cross the surface boundaries of input meshes, rather than those that only partially intersect it).

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Shell

Add shell: when enabled, fracture meshes will be extruded along their
surface normals, giving them volume.

Thickness: controls how thick the shell extrusion will be.

Noise offset: controls how shell noise will be offset, on a per-fracture-mesh

basis. Increasing this setting will ensure that multiple fracture meshes will
have the appearance of more randomized shell noise.

Unify noise parameters: when enabled, all fracture modes will share the
same noise A/B parameters. When disabled, each mode will have its own
unique noise A/B parameters.

Extract meshes: clicking this will extract fracture meshes to a new editable
mesh object.

Extract intersections: clicking this will extract fracture mesh intersection

lines to a new editable spline object.

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The Fracture noise rollouts have parameters which allow you to tune how fracture meshes are displaced, prior to
fracture. These displacements are what create fracture details.

Fracture noise A/B are two separate levels of noise that you can apply to any
fracture mesh (common usage of the two levels are: one level for larger
displacements and one level for smaller, more detailed displacements -
layered together for more control over the overall shape of the noise through
the fracture mesh).

Fracture shell noise specifically applies to fracture meshes that have been
extruded with the shell settings available in the Fracture meshes rollout.
Fracture noise A/B displace fracture mesh vertices directly, whereas Fracture
shell noise varies the distance that a shell operation will extrude a fracture
mesh, at a given point in space.

Radial random walk specifically applies to the radial lines of radial fracture
patterns.

The individual noise parameters themselves are identical to other noise

parameters found throughout tyFlow (with the exception of some
Multifracture-specific noise presets available in the noise rollouts, from the
“Presets” menu button), and are not outlined further here.

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The Fracture output rollout has parameters to control how the output of the modifier/operator is processed.

MODIFIER VERSION Preserve normals: when enabled, explicit normals of the input mesh will be
preserved in the fracture meshes.
Cull elements by surface area: when enabled, fracture meshes will be
culled depending on whether or not they have a surface area smaller than
the specified thresholds.
Min area: the absolute minimum surface area a fracture mesh must have,
to avoid being culled.
Min area ratio %: the minimum surface area a fracture mesh must have,
relative to the largest surface area of any given fracture mesh, to avoid
being culled. For example, if set to 1%, all fracture meshes whose area is
less than 1% the area of the largest fracture mesh will be culled.
Cull internal faces: when enabled, non-manifold faces that are internal to a
fractured mesh (ex: remnants of slice mesh that didn’t fully cross the input
mesh bounds), will be removed.
Select fracture faces: when enabled, fracture faces (faces derived from the
fracture mesh(es) in the fracture operation) will be added to the output
mesh face selection.
Print timings: when enabled, PRISM-specific function timings will be
printed to the MAXScript listener, providing a full breakdown of the speed
of each PRISM function during the fracture operation. These timings do not
include the time spent to compute the fracture operand points and meshes
themselves - only the actual fracturing operations performed by PRISM.

OPERATOR VERSION
Center pivots: when enabled, fracture particle meshes will have their pivots
centered.

Preserve source particle: when enabled, the largest fracture mesh will be
assigned to the source particle (and the source particle will not be deleted),
thereby preserving any additional properties/binds the source particle may
have had which would otherwise be deleted.

Area threshold %: if the ratio between the largest fracture mesh’s surface
area and the input mesh’s surface area is not greater than this percentage,
the source particle will not be preserved.
TIP
Preserving the source particle can be useful in cases where you want to
preserve binds or other unique properties assigned to it, even after it’s
fractured. However, there may be some cases where you may not want
to preserve those properties - for example, if the source particle is
fractured into sufficiently small enough pieces. By adjusting the area
threshold %, you can control how big the largest fracture mesh must be
in order for it to preserve the source particle’s properties/binds. For
example, an area threshold value of 90% means the largest fracture
mesh must have at least 90% of the surface area of the input mesh, in
order for the source particle to be preserved.

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Test FALSE
Largest N fractures: controls how many of the largest fractures generated
in the fracture operation will test FALSE for any operation conditions (ex:
send out).

Interior fractures: when enabled, fractures that originate from inside a

fracture mesh (ex: inside of a fracture mesh with volume) will test FALSE for
any operation conditions (ex: send out). This setting should only be enabled
if a fracture mesh has volume (has shell thickness applied to it).

Exterior fractures: when enabled, fractures that originate from outside a

fracture mesh (ex: outside of a fracture mesh with volume) will test FALSE
for any operation conditions (ex: send out). This setting should only be
enabled if a fracture mesh has volume (has shell thickness applied to it).

TIP
There any many situations where you might only want to send part of a fracture result to another particle event.
For example, when performing an edge fracture on a mesh, you may only want to send the resulting edge
fragments to the next event, while keeping the rest of the fractured mesh in the current event. You can perform
this filtering with Property Test operators, or other methods, but by simply specifying how many of the largest
fractures you want to keep in the current event (in that example: 1), you can achieve the same result without
having to tweak specific values and settings related to particle size/volume/etc.

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