# Simplygon Pipeline functions

The Simplygon Max plug-in exports a number of global MaxScript / Python functions. The following sections lists Simplygon Pipeline functions and examples, general Simplygon functions and Simplygon Shading Network functions are listed separately. It is recommended to read Pipeline concepts before proceeding.

# Supported Pipelines

Pipeline (API)	Components	Level of support	Description
ReductionPipeline	ReductionProcessor MaterialCaster	Almost complete	Reduces the geometries Possibility to maintain original materials Possibility to bake materials
AggregationPipeline	AggregationProcessor MaterialCaster	Almost complete	Aggregates / combines geometries Possibility to maintain original materials Possibility to bake materials
RemeshingPipeline	RemeshingProcessor MaterialCaster	Almost complete	Creates a replacement geometry Can not preserve original materials Possibility to bake materials
BillboardCloudPipeline	ImpostorProcessor MaterialCaster	Good	Creates multiple static billboards (outer shell) Possibility to bake materials
BillboardCloudVegetationPipeline	ImpostorProcessor MaterialCaster	Good	Creates multiple static billboards (within volume) within a threshold Can maintain original material in certain areas Possibility to bake materials
FlipbookPipeline	ImpostorProcessor MaterialCaster	Pending	Creates a single replacement billboard to be used from multiple directions Possibility to bake materials
ImpostorFromSingleViewPipeline	ImpostorProcessor MaterialCaster	Almost complete	Creates a single replacement billboard to be used from a specific view direction Possibility to bake materials
PassthroughPipeline		Almost complete	This pipeline itself does not generate any result, but allows the user to add other pipelines as children (cascaded pipelines). All first level children of this node will be based on the same input.

# Script functions

Function	Parameter(s)	Description
`sgsdk_RunPipelineOnSelection`	`int pipelineHandle`	Optimizes the selected asset(s) based on the pipeline object.
`sgsdk_RunPipelineOnSelection`	`string pipelineFilePath`	Optimizes the selected asset(s) based on the pipeline file.
`sgsdk_RunPipelineOnFile`	`int pipelineHandle` `string inputFilePath` `string outputFilePath`	Optimizes the asset(s) in the specified input file and stores the result in the output file. The output file will get indexed if the Pipeline specifies a LOD chain, use `sgsdk_GetProcessedOutputPaths` to get the correct paths.
`sgsdk_RunPipelineOnFile`	`string pipelineFilePath` `string inputFilePath` `string outputFilePath`	Optimizes the asset(s) in the specified input file and stores the result in the output file. The output file will get indexed if the Pipeline specifies a LOD chain, use `sgsdk_GetProcessedOutputPaths` to get the correct paths.
`sgsdk_CreatePipeline`	`string pipelineType`	Creates a pipeline of the specified type. (see supported pipelines))
`sgsdk_DeletePipeline`	`int pipelineId`	Deletes the pipeline. (created by `sgsdk_CreatePipeline` or `sgsdk_LoadPipeline`).
`sgsdk_ClonePipeline`	`int pipelineId`	Clones the pipeline. (created by `sgsdk_CreatePipeline` or `sgsdk_LoadPipeline`).
`sgsdk_ClearPipelines`	<none>	Clears all pipelines that are currently loaded. (created by `sgsdk_CreatePipeline` or `sgsdk_LoadPipeline`).
`sgsdk_LoadPipeline`	`string inputPath`	Loads a pipeline-file.
`sgsdk_SavePipeline`	`int pipelineId` `string outputPath`	Saves pipeline to file. (created by `sgsdk_CreatePipeline` or `sgsdk_LoadPipeline`).
`sgsdk_SetSetting`	`int pipelineId` `string parameterPath` `<T> parameterValue`	Sets the value of the specified pipeline parameter. (`string`, `bool`, `int`, `double`, `float`)
`sgsdk_GetSetting`	`int pipelineId` `string parameterPath`	Gets the value of the specified pipeline parameter.
`sgsdk_GetPipelineType`	`int pipelineId`	Gets the type of the specified pipeline. (`ReductionPipeline`, `AggregationPipeline`, `RemeshingPipeline`, ...)
`sgsdk_GetPipelines`	<none>	Gets all pipeline ids that are currently loaded. (created from `sgsdk_CreatePipeline` or `sgsdk_LoadPipeline`).
`sgsdk_AddMaterialCaster`	`int pipelineId` `string materialCasterType`	Adds a material-caster to the specified pipeline. (`ColorCaster`, `NormalCaster`, ...)
`sgsdk_AddCascadedPipeline`	`int pipelineId` `int pipelineToAdd`	Adds a cascaded pipeline to the specified pipeline.
`sgsdk_SetPipelineRunMode`	`int runMode`	RunInThisProcess = 0 RunInNewProcess = 1 (default) RunDistributedUsingSimplygonGrid = 2 RunDistributedUsingIncredibuild = 3

IMPORTANT NOTE - MAPPING CHANNELS

Mapping channel indices in Max are not directly translatable to texture coordinate- and vertex color indices in Simplygon.

Simplygon stores vertex colors and texture coordinates in separate lists with individual indices (starting from 0). Passing a mapping channel index to Simplygon will most likely result weird results (incorrect field is getting used) or in an error message that states that the specified field does not exist. Negative mapping channel indices as for Alpha (-2) and Illumination (-1) will not be accepted by Simplygon.

We recommend using *Name settings instead of the *Level settings as they are not sensitive to the physical order of the fields and therefor not as prone for errors. Each exported mapping channel gets the "name" of the original mapping channel index, that applies to negative mapping channels as well.

Correct: TexCoordName = "1"

Incorrect: TexCoordLevel = 1

# Examples

This section contains various Pipeline examples written in MaxScript and Python. We've left out some parts of the scripts to keep things as simple as possible.

from pymxs import runtime as rt must be declared at the top of each Python script.
reductionPipeline settings-path must be declared for both MaxScript and Python scripts where it makes sense.
a scene-selection is made before each sgsdk_RunPipelineOnSelection.

# Create a Pipeline object

Creates a ReductionPipeline, see supported pipelines for more information.

# Load / save a Pipeline object

Loads a Pipeline object from file and then saves it.

Note: Pipeline files should only be used as intermediate and are not intended to be used as presets or templates. Pipeline files are not guaranteed to be compatible with different versions of Simplygon. It is recommended to script Pipelines that saves out Pipeline files rather than loading Pipelines from file.

# Clone a Pipeline object

Clones an existing Pipeline object.

# Get / Set Pipeline settings

Pipelines can be created by calling sgsdk_CreatePipeline with the type of the pipeline as argument. A Pipeline contains settings which reflects the settings for the specific Processor in the Simplygon API. A ReductionPipeline contains a ReductionProcessor which contain ReductionSettings.

MaterialCaster is a separate object resides inside Pipelines The MaterialCaster object contains settings for material baking.

To set a reduction setting for a ReductionPipeline, let's say ReductionTargetTriangleRatio, we will have to pinpoint the path to the specific setting. sgsdk_SetSetting is function we use to work with settings. The first input is the Pipeline-object, the second is the settings-path and the third is the value we want to set. Fetching a value of a setting works the same way, except that it returns the value of the given settings-path instead of setting it, the function for fetching a settings value is sgsdk_GetSetting.

A settings-path can start with a Processor, MaterialCaster, or any other first level object depending on the Pipeline. In this case we want to set a setting in the ReductionProcessor, which is the first part of the path, the second part is the settings-object which in this case is ReductionSettings. And at last, the parameter we want to set is named ReductionTargetTriangleRatio. Let's set the value of ReductionTargetTriangleRatio to 50% (0.5).

The same goes for TextureWidth and TextureHeight, which are part of the MappingImage settings-object. In most cases we only use one mapping image, thus Output0 which is allocated by default. Let's set them to 512x512 pixels.

For material baking the initial object is MaterialCaster, and as there aren't any casters by default they will have to be created with sgsdk_AddMaterialCaster. There after we can use the index and settings of the caster to access its parameters.

Note: The material channels for the MaterialCaster in this example are intended for standard materials in Max such as Blinn and Phong, and might not work for other materials. Additional channels such as opacity can be added for baking, for Opacity the OpacityCaster is recommended (for correct baking of transparent surfaces).

# Cascaded Pipelines (LOD-chain)

Cascaded pipelines means that each LOD is based on the previous LOD, instead of the original asset which is the standard behavior. In this example we will load two pipelines, one with reduction (LOD1) and one with reduction and baking (LOD2). LOD1 will be based on the original asset and LOD2 will be based on LOD1.

If cascaded pipelines are used in combination with processing from/to file the output scene names will be appended with "_LOD" prefix and then indexed from 1 to *, where the index increments for each cascaded level. The output texture folder for each cascaded scene will be "Textures/LOD1" for LOD1, "Textures/LOD2" for LOD2 and so on. The output file names can be fetched with GetProcessedOutputPaths (gpp) which can then be used at import.

Creates cascaded Pipelines.

# Multiple LODs based on the same source (using PassthroughPipeline)

Generating multiple LODs that are based on the same source can be achieved quite easily. The first (and most commonly used method) is to simply run Simplygon multiple times on the same asset, but there is always some amount of overhead transfering data back and forth.

Another more efficient way is to set up cascaded pipelines and generate all LODs in one single call. This can be achieved using the PassthroughPipeline which purpose is to offer the user to hook up multiple child pipelines to one single source, the PassthroughPipeline itself does not generate any result. All first level children of the PassthroughPipeline will be based on the same input source.

# Next steps

For more information about Pipelines, visit the links below.

← Simplygon functions Simplygon Shading Network functions →