Creates a mesh in a shape defined by parametric math expressions.
This node creates a mesh whose vertex positions and texture mapping are defined by a set of math expressions. The expressions can use the variables u and v. This node calculates each expression for evenly spaced values of u and v ranging from 0 to 1. Each calculation becomes a vertex in the resulting mesh.
Time
— The time at which to calculate the expressions. (This only affects the output if the time
variable (with a lower-case “t”) is used in the expressions.)X Expression
, Y Expression
, Z Expression
— The math expressions for the (X,Y,Z) position of each vertex. Typically, the values of X Expression
should increase as u increases, and the values of Y Expression
should increase as v increases. (Otherwise, the triangles that make up the mesh may be facing backwards, which means they won’t be drawn.)U Expression
, V Expression
— The math expressions for the texture coordinate of each vertex. This defines how an image or other texture will be stretched across the mesh when the mesh is combined with a shader to create a 3D scene object. Typically, the values of these expressions should fall between 0 and 1, and should either always increase or always decrease, as u and v range from 0 to 1.Rows
, Columns
— Each of the above expressions is calculated for Rows
number of values of u and Columns
number of values of v. The total number of vertices in the mesh is rows X columns
.U Closed
, V Closed
— If true, then the mesh surface will wrap around from the vertices calculated for u=1 or v=1 to the vertices calculated for u=0 or v=0. If false, then either the mesh surface won’t wrap around or, if the math expressions do cause it to wrap around, any 3D scene object created from the mesh may have a visible seam.The math expressions can use numbers, operators such as + and -, functions such as sin(u) and log(u), and the constant PI. For a complete list of the operators and functions available, see the Calculate
(vuo.math.calculate
) node’s description.
For help understanding the math used by this node, see Introduction to parametric equations and Introduction to parametrizing a surface with two parameters.
Keywords: expression, grid, math, plane, shape, surface