ON - determines whether the operator is considered 'on' or 'off'. You can connect other operators to this input channel such as a Bool Helper to activate/deactivate the whole operator.

Time -  defines the local time for the operator when the user wants to override the default system time.

There are no outputs available from this node

Particle Groups - this selection box is used to select one or many particle groups to be considered for an Alembic export.

Add - press the Add button to add the selected particle group(s) to the list of Export Particle Groups

Export Particle Groups - lists all the particle groups that will be exported into one or multiple Alembic files.

Remove - press this button to remove the selected particle groups form the export list.

Include Sub Groups - check this option to include particle groups below the selected particle group hierarchy as well.

Select Record File - when clicked, a standard windows file save dialog opens; this is to specify the output path and file name of the *.abc file.

Active Time Segment - check this option to export the full range of the 3ds Max frame slider.

Range - when checked; a time range to export can be specified.

Sub Samples - defines the amount of frame sub-sampling to use for exporting the data. A value of 0 means the export will happen per frame; regardless of the sub-samples set in thinkingParticles. A value of 1 means half frame; 2 equals 90 sub-frames and so on.

Redraw Views - check this option to see the 3ds Max viewport redrawn while exporting.

Update Method - selects either the viewport mesh to be exported or the render mesh to be exported into the Alembic file.

Export Mode - there are 3 possible options.

Object per Group - exports each particle group as one Alembic object

Object per Particle - exports each particle as one Alembic object

Particle System - exports particles, only. No meshes will be exported.

ObjectPerMaterial - exports particles sorted by material. Each material gets its own alembic object. This ensures the material IDs will not change.

File Mode - can be either Single File or File per Group.

Storage Format - can be either HDF5 or Ogawa

Velocity Format - lets you choose between 2 possible options for defining the time base for motion. Choose between Seconds or per frame. The default is set to Per Second. This is how humans perceive speed and how physics defines motion.

Since the dawn of intelligent life on this planet, humans have always known that you need time (SECONDS) to reach a certain point at a specific distance. Contrary to real-world physics and millions of years of human evolutionary perception of time and space, renderer developers seem to have missed grasping this basic understanding and what we all know as the natural law of physics. Anyhow, if you encounter unnatural occurrences (e.g., Arnold), switch this setting.

Export - press this button to export the file.

Write Channels (Particle System,only) - Alembic allows to export particle systems with specific channels. The following channels can be excluded or included for export.

• Velocity
• Spin
• Age
• Lifespan
• Alignment
• Mass
• Size
• Scale
• DataChannels

The AlembicExport node will always export all thinkingParticles Data Channels when selected. There is no option to select specific thinkingParticles data channels. While it is possible to use the Alembic particle system export as a cache file; it is not recommended as the *.tpc or *.tps cache system is much more optimized and performs much better.