Entity Selector

The Entity Selector node allows to set the entities that are affected in the layout execution flow.

Add node


Entity Selector node in the Layout Graph Edition panel

Note that if entities are selected in the Simulation Cache Proxy while creating an Entity Selector node, it will automatically be configured to the current selection.

Node parameters

Parameters are accessible by selecting the node in the Layout Graph Edition panel:


Entity Selector node parameters

Name Name of the node
Active Whether the node is active or not
Entities

Expression to select entities. The expression can be:

  • the '*' wildcard to select all the entities that exists in the cache
  • a direct selection of a single entity by its ID (for instance: '1001')
  • select several entities by their ID, and separated by a comma (for instance: '1001,3001')
  • a range of entities, separated by a dash (for instance '1001-3001')
  • all the entities of a given Entity Type index (for instance 'et(0)'). (beware, EntityType index is different than EntityTypeID, inspect your entities using Simulation Cache Entity Inspector to know its EntityType index)
  • all the entities that were simulated in a given CrowdField index (for instance : 'cf(1)')
  • all the entities using the same Character File index, with or without a specific Rendering Type index (for instance : 'char(<charIndex>[,<renderingTypeIndex>])')
  • all the duplicates of an entity list / range as above (for instance : d(1001,2001)' or 'd(1001-3001)')
  • all the entities used as input of a previous node Id : if the other node selection change, this will also change (for instance : 'i(14)')
  • all the entities used as output of a previous node Id : if the other node selection change, this will also change (for instance : 'o(14)')
  • a specific entity used as output of a previous node Id : if the other node selection change, this will also change (for instance : 'o(14, 12)' is the 12th entity outputed by the node ID 14)
  • Any combination of two previous criterions, separated by a & : result will be the logical & combination of both left and right selection expressions. 

It is possible to nest expressions in d(), such as d(1001-3001) or d(i(14)), or even d(d(1001)) to get all duplicates of duplicates of 1001.

Enclosing parenthesis must be used anywhere where priorities must be handled.

'&' only handles 2 arguments, a&b&c will be an error, but a&(b&c) is OK.

The buttons allows to edit the selection based on the current selection in the Maya viewport.

Selection Filter The selection above apply as a logical 'and' filter on input selection, instead of replacing it
Kept Percent Selector will keep only x % of the potential output as real output
Random Seed The random seed used to randomize the kept percent (has no effect if percent is at 100, its default value)