Voxel Plugin
2.0p-340
2.0p-340
  • Home
  • Getting Started
    • Installing Voxel Plugin
    • Installing Example Content
    • Migrating from 1.2
  • Knowledgebase
    • Using Graphs
      • Graph Preview
      • Buffers and Uniforms
    • Channels
    • Surfaces & Materials
      • Working with Surfaces
        • Distance Fields & Distance Checks
        • Applying Materials to a Surface
      • Material Definitions
        • Creating Materials from Scratch
        • Extending the Complex Material Sample
        • Technical Details
        • Detail Textures
    • Brushes
      • Voxelized Meshes
    • Foliage
    • Navmesh & Collision
    • Sculpt Volumes
    • Blueprints
      • Setting graph parameters
      • Querying voxel graphs
    • Graph Design
      • Why Landmass & MetaGraphs
      • Execution Flow & Query Data
      • Node Types
      • MetaGraph Macros
      • Adding Custom Nodes
    • Profiling & Debugging
      • Generation Performance
      • Memory Usage & Render Performance
      • Debugging plugin code
    • Platform Support
      • Targeting Mac & iOS
      • Targeting Android
  • Resources
    • Voxel Graph API
      • Exec Nodes
        • Edit Sculpt Surface
        • Execute
        • Merge Execs
        • Debug
          • Debug Delay
        • Set Sculpt Source Surface
        • Register To Channel
        • Generate Marching Cube Collision & Navmesh
        • Generate Marching Cube Surface
        • Create Marching Cube Preview Mesh
        • Write Volume Texture
        • Generate Point Collision
        • Render Mesh
      • Misc
        • Get Previous Output
        • Query with Gradient Step
        • Query with Position
        • Filter Buffer
        • Make Value
        • Is Valid
        • Get Collision Enabled
        • Get LOD
        • Get Point Chunk Bounds
        • Is Editor World
        • Is Game World
        • Is Hidden in Editor
        • Is Preview Scene
        • Get Position 2D
        • Get Position 3D
      • Sculpt
        • Get Sculpt Surface
      • Point
        • Make Chunked Points
        • Merge Points
        • Set Point Attribute
        • Get Point Attribute
        • Set Actor Property
        • Get Actor Property
        • Set Parent Point Attribute
        • Get Parent Point Attribute
        • Set Point Mesh
        • Get Point Mesh
        • Get Parent Point Mesh
        • Set Point Position
        • Get Point Position
        • Get Parent Point Position
        • Set Point Rotation
        • Get Point Rotation
        • Get Parent Point Rotation
        • Set Point Scale
        • Get Point Scale
        • Get Parent Point Scale
        • Set Point Normal
        • Get Point Normal
        • Get Parent Point Normal
        • Set Actor Class
        • Get Actor Class
        • Get Parent Actor Class
        • Set Point Custom Data
        • Get Point Custom Data
        • Get Parent Point Custom Data
        • Get Point Seed
        • Apply Translation
        • Apply Rotation
        • Apply Scale
        • Apply Point Storage
        • Generate Surface Points
        • Make Points
        • Get Points
        • Filter Points
        • Density Filter
        • Make Radial Point Spawner
        • Prune by Bounds
        • Prune by Distance
        • Raymarch Distance Field
        • Scatter Points
      • Material
        • Make Material
        • Make Float Detail Texture Parameter
        • Make Color Detail Texture Parameter
        • Make Material Detail Texture Parameter
        • Make Normal Detail Texture Parameter
        • Make Scalar Parameter
        • Make Vector Parameter
      • Math
        • Trig
          • Sin (Radians)
          • Sin (Degrees)
          • Cos (Radians)
          • Cos (Degrees)
          • Tan (Radians)
          • Tan (Degrees)
          • Asin (Radians)
          • Asin (Degrees)
          • Acos (Radians)
          • Acos (Degrees)
          • Atan (Radians)
          • Atan (Degrees)
          • Atan2 (Radians)
          • Atan2 (Degrees)
          • Get PI
          • Radians to Degrees
          • Degrees to Radians
        • Float
          • Bilinear Interpolation
          • Frac
          • Power
        • Boolean
          • NOT Boolean
          • NOR Boolean
          • XOR Boolean
          • AND Boolean
          • OR Boolean
          • NAND Boolean
        • Integer
          • Left Shift
          • Right Shift
          • Bitwise AND
          • Bitwise OR
          • Bitwise XOR
          • Bitwise NOT
        • Rotation
          • Make Quaternion
          • Break Quaternion
          • Make Rotation from Z
          • Combine Rotation
        • Operators
          • Equal
          • Nearly Equal
          • Not Equal
          • Less
          • Greater
          • Less Equal
          • Greater Equal
          • Ceil
          • Round
          • Floor
          • Add
          • Subtract
          • Multiply
          • Divide
          • % (Integer)
          • Min
          • Max
          • Abs
          • One Minus
          • Sign
        • Misc
          • Clamp
          • Mapped Range Value Clamped
          • Mapped Range Value Unclamped
          • Height Splitter
          • Interpolate
          • Lerp
          • Safe Lerp
          • Smooth Step
        • Seed
          • Mix Seeds
          • Make Seeds
        • Vector Operators
          • Cross Product
          • Dot Product
          • Normalize
          • Length
          • Length XY
          • Distance
          • Distance 2D
        • Conversions
          • To Double Vector (Double Linear Color)
          • To Double Vector 2D (Double Linear Color)
          • To Linear Color (Double Linear Color)
          • To Vector (Double Linear Color)
          • To Vector 2D (Double Linear Color)
          • To Double Linear Color (Double)
          • To Double Vector (Double)
          • To Double Vector 2D (Double)
          • To Float (Double)
          • To Double Linear Color (Double Vector 2D)
          • To Double Vector (Double Vector 2D)
          • To Linear Color (Double Vector 2D)
          • To Vector (Double Vector 2D)
          • To Vector 2D (Double Vector 2D)
          • To Double Linear Color (Double Vector)
          • To Double Vector 2D (Double Vector)
          • To Linear Color (Double Vector)
          • To Vector (Double Vector)
          • To Vector 2D (Double Vector)
          • To Double (Float)
          • To Linear Color (Float)
          • To Vector (Float)
          • To Vector 2D (Float)
          • To Double (Integer)
          • To Float (Integer)
          • To Int Point (Integer)
          • To Int Vector (Integer)
          • To Int Vector 4 (Integer)
          • To Seed (Integer)
          • To Double Linear Color (Int Point)
          • To Double Vector (Int Point)
          • To Double Vector 2D (Int Point)
          • To Int Vector (Int Point)
          • To Int Vector 4 (Int Point)
          • To Linear Color (Int Point)
          • To Vector (Int Point)
          • To Vector 2D (Int Point)
          • To Double Linear Color (Int Vector 4)
          • To Double Vector (Int Vector 4)
          • To Double Vector 2D (Int Vector 4)
          • To Int Point (Int Vector 4)
          • To Int Vector (Int Vector 4)
          • To Linear Color (Int Vector 4)
          • To Vector (Int Vector 4)
          • To Vector 2D (Int Vector 4)
          • To Double Linear Color (Int Vector)
          • To Double Vector (Int Vector)
          • To Double Vector 2D (Int Vector)
          • To Int Point (Int Vector)
          • To Int Vector 4 (Int Vector)
          • To Linear Color (Int Vector)
          • To Vector (Int Vector)
          • To Vector 2D (Int Vector)
          • To Double Linear Color (Linear Color)
          • To Double Vector (Linear Color)
          • To Double Vector 2D (Linear Color)
          • To Vector (Linear Color)
          • To Vector 2D (Linear Color)
          • To Integer (Seed)
          • To Double Linear Color (Vector 2D)
          • To Double Vector (Vector 2D)
          • To Double Vector 2D (Vector 2D)
          • To Linear Color (Vector 2D)
          • To Vector (Vector 2D)
          • To Double Linear Color (Vector)
          • To Double Vector (Vector)
          • To Double Vector 2D (Vector)
          • To Linear Color (Vector)
          • To Vector 2D (Vector)
        • Curve
          • Make Curve from Asset
          • Sample Curve
        • Color
          • Break Double Linear Color
          • Break Linear Color
          • Make Double Linear Color
          • Make Linear Color
        • Vector
          • Break Double Vector
          • Break Vector
          • Make Double Vector
          • Make Vector
        • Vector2D
          • Break Double Vector 2D
          • Break Vector 2D
          • Make Double Vector 2D
          • Make Vector 2D
        • Interval
          • Break Float Range
          • Break Integer Range
          • Make Float Range
          • Make Integer Range
        • Int Point
          • Break Int Point
          • Make Int Point
        • Int Vector
          • Break Int Vector
          • Make Int Vector
        • Int Vector 4
          • Break Int Vector 4
          • Make Int Vector 4
        • Transform
          • Break Transform
          • Inverse Transform Location
          • Make Transform
          • Transform Location
        • Distance
          • Smooth Max
          • Smooth Min
        • Box
          • Break Box
          • Extend Box
          • Make Box
          • Make Box from Radius
          • Make Infinite Box
          • Transform Box
      • Color
        • Distance to Color
      • Surface
        • Merge Surface
        • Get Merge Data
        • Get Surface Distance
        • Get Surface Material
        • Get Surface Attribute
        • Set Surface Material
        • Set Surface Attribute
        • Bind Attribute Detail Texture
        • Make Height Surface
        • Make Volumetric Surface
        • Make Sphere Surface
        • Make Box Surface
        • Invert Surface
        • Mask Surface
        • Inflate Surface
        • Displace Surface
        • Create Voxelized Mesh Surface
        • Blend Materials
        • Get Bounds Box
        • Get Surface Bounds
        • Make Bounds from Local Box
      • Channel Nodes
        • Query Channel
      • Noise
        • Advanced Noise 2D
        • Advanced Noise 3D
        • Perlin Noise 2D
        • Perlin Noise 3D
        • Cellular Noise 2D
        • Cellular Noise 3D
        • True Distance Cellular Noise 2D
      • Name
        • Append Names
      • Array
        • Length
        • Get
      • Gradient
        • Get Gradient
      • Chunk Spawner
        • Make Invoker Chunk Spawner
        • Make Screen Size Chunk Spawner
      • Random
        • Rand Float
        • Random Vector
        • Random Rotator
        • Random Select
        • Hash Position
        • Rand Unit Vector
        • Break Random Vector Settings
        • Make Random Vector Settings
      • Flow Control
        • Select
      • Actor
        • Get Transform
      • Network
        • Is Client
        • Is Dedicated Server
        • Is Listen Server
        • Is Server
        • Is Standalone
      • Heightmap
        • Get Heightmap Bounds
        • Make Cubemap Planet Surface
        • Sample Heightmap
      • Voxelized Mesh
        • Make Voxelized Mesh from Static Mesh
    • Glossary
    • Licensing
    • Release Notes
      • 2.0p-340 Release Notes
      • 2.0p-320 Release Notes
      • 2.0p-317 Release Notes
      • 2.0p-304 Release Notes
    • Roadmap
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On this page
  • 1. How Channels Work
  • 2. Creating and Modifying Channels

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  1. Knowledgebase

Channels

Fundamentals on how channels work and how they are used.

PreviousBuffers and UniformsNextSurfaces & Materials

Last updated 1 year ago

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Channels are used to send data from one voxel graph to another, and can also be .

1. How Channels Work

At its core, a channel is just a list of nodes, called in a particular order (decided by priority).

When a Register to Channel node is called, it will add itself to the assigned channel's list of nodes. Its position in the list is based on the assigned priority.

Then, when a Query Channel node is called, the most high-priority node in the assigned channel's list will be called. When querying, only nodes whose bounds overlap the current position are processed.

Channels do not store or cache any data. The data is re-generated with each query. This means generation times can quickly increase if queried repeatedly.

We do tend to call this 'reading' or 'writing' data for convenience, but that is not technically correct; the outputs are never stored or cached anywhere.

2. Creating and Modifying Channels

In order for a graph to reference a channel, it needs to first be created somewhere. Channels can be added (and stored) in two places.

By default, they are part of the Voxel Plugin section in the Project Settings. Each project starts with a Surface channel configured. More channels can be added here as needed. These channels are stored in a config file.

When something needs to work across projects, or source control is involved, storing data in a per-project config file can be a problem. To get around that, channels can also be stored in Voxel Channel Registry assets. There is no limit to the amount of Channel Registries that can exist in a project, so these can be used wherever convenient without drawbacks.

Alternatively, channels can be managed from the channel management dropdown which appears when clicking a channel field. From this widget, channels can be added from scratch in any location, as well as have their type and defaults edited by clicking the pen icon in the list, regardless of where they're stored.

Channels can be managed from the place they are stored (the Project Settings or a Channel Registry asset). From there, channels can be created, renamed (this will break existing references), and their types and defaults can be changed. Note that a channel can be either a , and this is also configurable here.

uniform or a buffer
queried by gameplay logic
This graph writes into a channel, but reads what the state of that same channel. The Max Priority being set to this brush' priority makes sure it will not be affected by brushes that are supposed to come after it.
Channels can be managed from the place they are stored.
The channel management dropdown (shown here with add/edit section expanded by clicking the arrow) streamlines channel setup.