texPPattrMapperNode

I made a Maya utility plug-in that maps normal and texture color of meshes to a particle.



This is a node plug-in that takes particle fieldData, ppFieldData,
texture(s), and mesh(es). It then calculates particle velocities,
gets closest intersection point on a mesh, outputs face/vertex normal, texture color, position etc. at the point.

It can search two ways (forward/backward particle moving direction) and can linear interpolate output values depending on the length from the particle to the hit points on the mesh.

In the above movie, The planes are meshes and the yellow lines are vertex normals. I mapped texture color to the particle color, and mesh vertex normal to particle normal.

























Another example.


These are the attribute descriptions.

Long name (short name)	Type	Default	Description
getDirection (gd)	enum	"fixed direction"	Valid values are "fixed direction", "velocity", "cameraCenter". If this is "fixed", it uses "direction" attribute to determine forward direction. If "velocity" it particle velocity is regarded as forward direction, and if "cameraCenter", its forward direction is radial to the position given by the camera center attribute.
cameraMatrix	matrix		Center point that is used to calculate each pariticle's forward direction. It is designed to connect camera transform's worldMatrix but any matrix attribute can be connected. This value is ignored when getDirection is not "cameraCenter".
direction (dir)	double3	(1.0, 0.0, 0.0)	Fixed direction value. Used only if getDirection is "fixed". Per particle field attribute sensitive.
asearchRadiusF	float	1.0E8	Forward search radius to detect intersection. Any hits beyond this distance will not be considered.
asearchRadiusB	float	1.0E8	Backward search radius to detect intersection. Any hits beyond this distance will not be considered.
searchCol (sc)	enum	"both"	Direction to execute mesh hit test for color. Valid values are "both", "forward", "backward". If "both" is set, it interpolates "forward" and "backward" values.
searchNorm (sn)	enum	"both"	Direction to execute mesh hit test for normal. Valid values are "both", "forward", "backward". If "both" is set, it interpolates "forward" and "backward" values.
weight (w)	double	1.0	Weight value that is multiplied to the output colors. Output normals are not affected. Per particle field attribute sensitive.
offset (o)	double	0.0	Offset value that is multiplied to the output colors. Output normals are not affected. Per particle field attribute sensitive.
minValue (min)	double	0.0	Min value that is multiplied to the output colors. Output normals are not affected. Per particle field attribute sensitive.
maxValue (max)	double	1.0	Max value that is multiplied to the output colors. Output normals are not affected. Per particle field attribute sensitive.
inMesh (im)	mesh (array)	N/A	Input attribute for mesh geometry. Connect mesh.worldMesh here.
inColor (int)	float3 (array)	N/A	Input attribute for texture. Connect texture.outColor here. It must be correspondent to inMesh, i.e. the number of element must be the same as inMesh
defaultColor (dc)	float3	(0.0, 0.0, 0.0)	Default color value. Used when no hit is found. Per particle field attribute sensitive.
defaultNormal (dn)	double3	(0.0, 1.0, 0.0)	Default normal value. Used when no hit is found. Per particle field attribute sensitive.
normalType (nt)	enum	"vertex normal"	The way to calculate normal. Valid values are "vertex normal", "face normal", "average face normal".
inputData (ind)	compound	N/A	Input attribute for particle. Connect particle.fieldData here.
inputPPData (ppda)	genericArray	N/A	Input attribute for particle. Connect particle.ppFieldData here.
hitPointF (hpf)	vectorarray	N/A	Forward hit point on mesh.
hitPointB (hpb)	vectorarray	N/A	Backward hit point on mesh.
distanceToMeshF (dtmf)	doublearray	N/A	Length between the particle position and the forward hitpoint, or minus value if no hit is found.
distanceToMeshB (dtmf)	doublearray	N/A	Length between the particle position and the backward hitpoint, or minus value if no hit is found.
hitMeshIdsF (hmif)	intarray	N/A	Array index of the mesh in the input attribute "inMesh" that is in front of the particle.
hitMeshIdsB (hmib)	intarray	N/A	Array index of the mesh in the input attribute "inMesh" that is in back of the particle.
hitPolygonsF (hpgf)	intarray	N/A	Polygon id of the forward mesh the ray hits.
hitPolygonsB (hpgb)	intarray	N/A	Polygon id of the backward mesh the ray hits.
colorF (clf)	vectorarray	N/A	Texture color at the forward hit point. Min, max, offset, weight are not applied.
colorB (clb)	vectorarray	N/A	Texture color at the backward hit point. Min, max, offset, weight are not applied.
normalF (nmf)	vectorarray	N/A	Normal at the forward hit point.
normalB (nmb)	vectorarray	N/A	Normal at the backward hit point.
outColor (oc)	vectorarray	N/A	Output texture color. Min, max, offset, weight are applied and it may be interpolated.
outColorR (ocr)	doublearray	N/A	R component of the outColor. Note that this is not a child attribute of outColor.
outColorG (ocg)	doublearray	N/A	G component of the outColor. Note that this is not a child attribute of outColor.
outColorB (ocb)n	doublearray	N/A	B component of the outColor. Note that this is not a child attribute of outColor.
outColorV (ocv)	doublearray	N/A	V component of the outColor in HSV color space. Note that this is not a child attribute of outColor.
outNormal (on)	vectorarray	N/A	Output normal value. Always a unit vector.
outNormalX (onx)	doublearray	N/A	X component of outNormal.
outNormalY (ony)	doublearray	N/A	Y component of outNormal.
outNormalZ (onz)	doublearray	N/A	Z component of outNormal.

Here a per particle field attribute sensitive attribute is an attribute you can customize the value just like you can do it for a field node attribute, i.e. you can create a per particle attribute which name is (texPPattrMapperNode)_(attribute name) and set per particle value for the attribute to customize the value.


... another example


... and two more examples
You can control particle movement with mesh face normals. (you can also use vertex normals)