Dynamic Baking 

Some Ornatrix modifiers have an option called Dynamic Baking. It can be used to cache the output of the modifier and apply it directly to the input bypassing the modifier evaluation.

The output of the modifier is referenced relative to its input in object-space, meaning that if the input changes the output will be updated accordingly to preserve the object-space deformation of the modifier. Creation of strands as well as modification of hair data is also preserved.

This feature is useful for various reasons:
  • If a procedural effect of a modifier causes temporal artifacts such as "flickering" or "popping" of hair this option freezes the result, avoiding any such artifacts
  • If modifier evaluation becomes very slow, such as in case of collision resolution (e.g. via Resolve Collisions modifier) caching the output avoid the costly re-evaluation while preserving the result
There are also downsides to using this approach:
  • If the base mesh or the hair deforms due to animation the modifier's effects won't be updated and will look incorrect
  • Saving the cache will take up more HDD and/or RAM (depending on the Change Cache Behavior option) space
 

Cache Behavior 

There are different ways that dynamic baking can be applied, controllable via the Change Cache Behavior option:

  • Off
    Dynamic baking is not used, modifier is re-evaluated at each time. Default behavior.
  • Stored
    The output cache of the modifier is stored at the first/next evaluation of the modifier and not updated unless you change some of the modifier's parameters. It is stored with the scene, thus making the .max files larger. It will also guarantee the consistency of the output, even as the scene is reloaded.
  • Precomputed
    Same as Stored option above, but the cache is not stored with the scene. Instead it is (re)computed on the first evaluation of the modifier after a scene opens. This option doesn't require any additional scene memory and only affects RAM.
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