Working with RPC Files

RPC File Properties

You can display properties and a preview of the selected RPC file, in both the Place RPC cell and Edit RPC cell tools, by clicking the Show RPC Properties button in the lower left corner of the settings window.

Properties displayed include:

Images: The number of images that are stored in a horizontal ring.
Frames: The number of time intervals stored for each image.
Rings: The number of horizontal rings that are stored. Each ring is a series of images of the object from a specific elevation.
Image size: The size (width, height) of each image in pixels.
Object size: The size (width, height) of the real world object in master units.
Gait: The distance in inches that the object needs to travel for each loop of motion.
Loop time: The elapse time in seconds for each loop of motion.

Customize Settings for RPC Cells

If the RPC cell is customizable, as with RPC 3.0 content such as Automobiles and Office Clutter, then the Customize button will be enabled. Selecting it will open the Customize RPC dialog, which lets you edit the various options available for a given RPC cell.

When using settings in the Customize RPC dialog, the following restrictions apply:

Cast Reflections (which has nothing to do with rendering reflections) is ignored, but is controlled globally through the RPC MODEL key-in.
Speed (which controls the rotation of car wheels) currently is not supported.
Jitter always is ignored and disabled.
Height should be modified only in the RPC tool settings window, not from Customize RPC dialog.

Animating RPC Files

RPC cells that contain walking people can be included in actors to allow the RPC cell to move during an animation. Animated RPC files contain 30 frames per second of animation. You can calculate the total distance in inches that the RPC cell should move during an entire animation using the following formula:

distancePerFrame = Gait / (30 * Loop time)

distance = animationFrames * distancePerFrame

where: animationFrames is the total number of frames in your animation.

Other animated RPC files (such as fountains and 2.5D people) do not have to be defined as actors in order to be animated.

Note: When recording animations, the Clear Pattern/Bump Maps Between Frames toggle does not apply to RPC cells - they always will be cleared after each rendering.

Note: The Speed setting (for animating RPC 3.0 content) currently is not supported.

Notes on Using RPC Cells

You can find a catalog of RPC files, along with sample files at the ArchVision website, www.archvision.com.