Orient Mesh

Summary

Orient Mesh computes orientation frames on input geometry with additional features for creating complex surface flows. This operator is essential for preparing meshes before using them with the Move Along Mesh operator, as it defines the up vector (visualized in yellow) that determines the direction of motion across the surface.

For easy "swirling" movement over a mesh, try setting the Compute Method to "N and Up" and enable "Cross Up Vector". This will "wrap" the yellow up vector along the surface of the mesh, creating natural flowing motion paths. You can optionally add curl noise to get more swirly behavior, or enable blurring to soften rough patches and create smoother orientation transitions across the surface.

The operator offers multiple compute methods including polygon-based computation, normal and up vector calculations, and quaternion-based orientation. Combined with optional curl noise and blur stages, Orient Mesh provides complete control over surface orientation frames for advanced motion graphics workflows.

Parameters

Page: Orient Mesh

Group Group – If there are input groups, specifying a group name in this field will cause this POPX to act only upon the group specified.
Visualize Up Vector Visualizeupvector – When enabled, displays the up vector as yellow lines for debugging orientation frames.
Length Scale Lengthscale – Controls the length of the visualized up vector lines.
Color Color – Color of the visualized up vector lines.
Compute Method Computemethod – – Method for computing orientation frames on the mesh.
Compute From Polygons poly
N and Up nup
Use Orient orient
Compute Normals Computenormals – Computes surface normals when using N and Up method.
Auto Up Autoup – Automatically computes up vector when using N and Up method.
Up Vector Upvector – Manual up vector direction when Auto Up is disabled.
Style Style – – Style for polygon-based orientation computation.
First Edge first
Two Edges two
Primitive Centroid prim
Texture UV uv
Texture UV Gradient uvgrad
Attribute Gradient attgrad
Attribute Name Attributename – Attribute to use for UV or gradient-based orientation styles.
Make Frame Orthogonal Makeortho – Ensures the orientation frame vectors are perfectly orthogonal.
Invert N Invertn – Inverts the normal vector direction.
Invert Up Invertup – Inverts the up vector direction.
Cross Up Vector Crossupvector – Wraps the up vector along the surface for swirling motion effects.
Output Tangent Outputtangent – Outputs tangent vector attribute in addition to normal and up vectors.

Page: Curl Noise

Enable Curl Noise Enablecurlnoise – Applies curl noise to orientation vectors for organic swirling effects.
Blend with Original Blendwithoriginal – Blends curl noise with original orientation from 0 (full noise) to 1 (original).
Type Type – – Noise algorithm type (Perlin, Simplex, etc.).
Perlin 2D (GPU) perlin2d
Perlin 3D (GPU) perlin3d
Perlin 4D (GPU) perlin4d
Simplex 2D (GPU) simplex2d
Simplex 3D (GPU) simplex3d
Simplex 4D (GPU) simplex4d
Seed Seed – Numerical value that initializes the randomization.
Period Period – Period (scale) of the noise field.
Harmonics Harmon – The number of higher frequency components to layer on top of the base frequency. 0 harmonics give the base shape.
Harmonic Spread Spread – The factor by which the frequency of a harmonic increases relative to the previous harmonic.
Harmonic Gain Gain – Amplitude of the Harmonics layered on top of the base frequency.
Amplitude Amp – The noise values amplitude (a scale on the values output).
Exponent Exp – Sets the exponent. The internal value is raised by the power of the exponent.
Transform Order Xord – – Sets the overall transform order for the transformations.
Scale Rotate Translate srt
Scale Translate Rotate str
Rotate Scale Translate rst
Rotate Translate Scale rts
Translate Scale Rotate tsr
Translate Rotate Scale trs
Rotate Order Rord – – Sets the order of the rotations within the overall transform order.
Rx Ry Rz xyz
Rx Rz Ry xzy
Ry Rx Rz yxz
Ry Rz Rx yzx
Rz Rx Ry zxy
Rz Ry Rx zyx
Translate T – – Translate the points through the noise space.
Translate Tx
Translate Ty
Translate Tz
Rotate R – – Rotate the points around the corresponding X, Y and Z axes. Angles are given in degrees.
Rotate Rx
Rotate Ry
Rotate Rz
Scale S – – These three fields scale the Source geometry in the three axes.
Scale Sx
Scale Sy
Scale Sz
Pivot P – – The pivot point for the transform rotates and scales.
Pivot Px
Pivot Py
Pivot Pz
Translate 4D T4d – Translates the points through the 4th noise dimension.

Page: Blur

Enable Blur Enableblur – Applies blur to orientation vectors to smooth rough transitions.
Influence Type Influencetype – – Method for determining point influence during blur.
Connectivity conn
Proximity prox
Iterations Iterations – Number of blur passes to apply.
Kernal Radius Kernalradius – Search radius for proximity-based blur influence.

Page: Common

Bypass Bypass – Pass through the first input to the output unchanged.
Free Extra GPU Memory Freeextragpumem – Free memory that has accumulated when output memory has grown and shrunk.

Inputs

Input 0 POP – Input Mesh

Outputs

Output 0 POP – POPX_out1