Point Cache Bake Tool

The Point Cache Bake Tool is a utility that enables you to bake Point Caches to use in visual effects that rely on complex geometry. The tool takes an input Mesh or Texture2D and generates a Point Cache asset representation of it which you can use in a visual effect.

For information on what Point Caches are and what you can use them for, see Point Caches in the Visual Effect Graph.

The Point Cache Bake Tool uses a window interface that specifies the input Mesh/Texture2D as well as various properties that control the output Point Cache. To open the Point Cache Bake Tool window, click Window > Visual Effects > Utilities > Point CacheBake Tool.

Working with the Point Cache Bake Tool window

The Point Cache Bake Tool has two bake modes:

Mesh: Bakes a Point Cache from an input Mesh asset.
Texture: Bakes a Point Cache from an input Texture2D asset.

Depending on which mode you select, the window displays different properties to control the baking process. After you specify the input Mesh/Texture2D and set up the properties, click Save to pCache file… to bake the Point Cache and save the result to a Point Cache asset.

Properties

Common

These properties appear in the Inspector regardless of the Bake Mode you select.

Property	Description
Bake Mode	Specifies the type of input to bake a Point Cache from. The options are: • Mesh: Bakes a Point Cache from an input Mesh asset. • Texture: Bakes a Point Cache from an input Texture2D asset.
Seed	The random seed to use for Point Cache generation.
File Format	Specifies the format to encode the Point Cache with. The options are: • Ascii: Uses Ascii encoding. • Binary: Uses binary encoding.

Mesh Baking

This section only appears if you set Bake Mode to Mesh.

Point Cache Bake Tool's Mesh Baking section in the Inspector.

Property	Description
Mesh	The Mesh to produce a Point Cache representation of.
Distribution	Specifies the point scattering technique the Point Cache Bake Tool uses to sample the input Mesh. The options are: • Sequential: Creates a point at each triangle/vertex sequentially. • Random: Creates a point at each triangle/vertex randomly. If Bake Mode is set to Triangle, this option does not take the area of the triangle into account. • Random Uniform Area: Creates a point at each triangle randomly. This option takes the area of the triangle into account.
Bake Mode	Specifies how to bake the Mesh. The options are: • Vertex: Bakes the Mesh on a per-vertex basis. • Triangle: Bakes the Mesh on a per-triangle basis. This property only appears if you set Distribution to Sequential or Random. If you set Distribution to Random Uniform Area, this property disappears and uses Triangle implicitly.
Export Normals	Indicates whether to export vertex normal data to the Point Cache.
Export Colors	Indicates whether to export vertex color data to the Point Cache.
Exports UVs	Indicates whether to export vertex UV data to the Point Cache.
Point Count	The number of points to create for the Point Cache.
Seed	See Common.
File Format	See Common.

Mesh Statistics

This section of the window only appears if you assign a Mesh asset to the Mesh property. It contains information about the input Mesh.

Statistic	Description
Vertices	The number of vertices the input Mesh contains.
Triangles	The number of triangles the input Mesh contains.
Sub Meshes	The number of sub-meshes the input Mesh contains.

Texture Baking

This section only appears if you set Bake Mode to Texture.

Point Cache Bake Tool's Texture Baking section in the Inspector.

Property	Description
Texture	The Texture2D to produce a Point Cache representation of.
Decimation Threshold	Specifies the method that selects which of the Texture2D's pixels to ignore during the baking process. The options are: • None: Does not ignore any pixels. • Alpha: Uses the alpha channel. • Luminance: Uses the luminance of the combined RGB channels. • R: Uses the red channel. • G: Uses the green channel. • B: Uses the blue channel.
Threshold	The threshold that determines which pixels to ignore during the baking process. The Point Cache Bake Tool ignores pixels with a value lower than this. This property only appears if you set Decimation Threshold to a value other than None.
Randomize Pixels Order	Indicates whether to randomize points instead of sorting them by pixel row/column.
Seed	See Common. This property only appears if you enable Randomize Pixels Order.
Export Colors	Indicates whether to export the Texture's color data to the Point Cache.
File Format	See Common.

Texture Statistics

This section of the window only appears if you assign a Texture2D asset to the Texture property. It contains information about the input Texture.

Statistic	Description
Width	The width of the input Texture2D in pixels.
Height	The height of the input Texture2D in pixels.
Pixels Count	The total number of pixels the input Texture2D contains. This is equal to the width of the Texture2D multiplied by the height of the Texture2D.

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