Mesh to Clusters

PCGEx | Mesh to Clusters

Convert mesh/geometry topology to usable clusters.

The Mesh to Cluster node transforms raw mesh geometry into clusters by extracting vertices and edges, which are then copied to input points. This is useful for leveraging mesh topology within a cluster-based workflow.

In Targets

Target points to copy mesh cluster to.

Vtx

Endpoints of the output Edges

Edges

Edges associated with the output Vtxs

Working with Clusters

Table of content

Properties

The Mesh to Cluster node converts raw geometry from meshes (either specific reference or by sampling the scene) into Clusters, using geometry’ vertices and triangles to build Vtx and Edges and copy them onto the input points, much like Copy Cluster to Points does.

details/clusters-mesh-to-clusters/lead.png

Note that the current implementation is very prototype-y : when using an actor reference, only the first primitive will be processed.

Properties

Property	Description
Graph Output Type	Defines how the raw geometry will be converted to `Vtx` & `Edges`
Static Mesh Source	Select the source for the mesh(es) to be converted. - `Constant` is a single StaticMesh picker that will be used for each of the input points. - `Attribute` on the other end lets you pick an attribute on the input points that contains an object path to either a StaticMesh or an Actor reference.
Static Mesh Constant	The static mesh to convert to a graph & copy to input points.
Static Mesh Attribute	The name of the attribute that contains a path to a StaticMesh or Actor. `FSoftObjectPath` is preferred, but supports `Fname`, `FString`
Attribute Handling	Lets you pick how the soft path should be handled, either as StaticMesh or an ActorReference. Note that this is legacy is will be removed in an upcoming update to support both. Meanwhile, you still need to choose one.

Transform Details
Inherit Scale	If enabled, cluster points will be scaled by the target’ scale.
Inherit Rotation	If enabled, cluster points will be scaled by the target’ rotation.

Misc
Ignore Mesh Warning	If enabled, skips over invalid meshes path without warning.
Cluster Output Settings	See below.
Attributes Forwarding	See below.

Graph Output Type

Output Type	Description
	Raw Uses the raw, unedited mesh topology.
	Dual Uses the dual graph of the mesh topology.
	Hollow Uses a special combination of both raw and dual graph to create more edges.

Cluster Output Settings

See Working with Clusters.

Property	Description
Edge Position	If enabled, edge point’ position will be the result of that value used as a lerp between its start and end `Vtx` point.

Pruning
Min Vtx Count	If enabled, only ouputs clusters that have more ( > ) `Vtx` than the specified number.
Max Vtx Count	If enabled, only ouputs clusters that have less ( < ) `Vtx` than the specified number.
Min Edge Count	If enabled, only ouputs clusters that have more ( > ) `Edge` than the specified number.
Max Edge Count	If enabled, only ouputs clusters that have less ( < ) `Edge` than the specified number.

Misc
Refresh Edge Seed	If enabled, `Edge` points gets a fresh seed.
Build and Cache Cluster	If enabled, pre-build and cache cluster along with the point data. This has a slight memory cost associated to it, but can offer tremendous performance improvement. If disabled, cluster processors that comes down the line have to rebuild clusters from point data, which is very costly as they are also tested for errors and possible disconnections in the process.
Expand Clusters	If enabled, also build & cache another layer of cache data. This can have a significant memory cost, as well as a minimal performance overhead, but can greatly improve certain specific operations down the line.

Attribute Forwarding

Note that at the time of writing, attribute forwarding is not implemented

Since this node merges multiple inputs together, “Carry over” settings lets you pick-and-choose which attributes & tags carry over to the new data.

Property	Description
Enabled	Whether attribute forwarding is enabled or not.
Preserve Attributes Default Value	If enabled, the node will attempt to create attributes on the data in a way that preserve the original, underlying default value of the attribute. This can be critical in order to identify which data originally belonged to which, as well as properly initializing flags to a desirable default.

Note that the filters look for a single valid match amongst the list; you cannot create and/or conditions.

Filter Details

Property	Description
Filter Mode	Chooses how the filter operates. - `All` let everything pass. - `Exclude` filters out the result of the filter. - `Include` only allows the items that pass the filters.
Matches	Lets you define a list of checks pairs: a string value, and a `Match Mode`.
Comma Separated Names	Easy to override, lets you specify a list of comma-separated names. The only caveat is that you can only pick a unique match mode used for each entry.
Comma Separated Names Filter	Which filter will be used along the Comma Separated Names.
Preserve PCGEx Data	Most of the time you’ll want to leave it to its default value. It ensures `PCGEx/` prefixed data are not captured by the filter.

Filter Modes

Mode	Description
Equals	Checks for strict equality of the filtered value and the associated string.
Contains	Checks if the filtered value contains the associated string.
Starts With	Checks if the filtered value is prefixed with the associated string.
Ends With	Checks if the filtered value is suffixed with the associated string.