Bypass Points position attribute

[Austin Facey]

Where is the default "p" attribute instantiated? I have a fluidsim algorithm that would normally use a SOA approach to position with xy&z separated from each other due to simd reasons. I do not use a deformer to move my points currently and I have a simple custom BuildMoveMapsOp implementation that allows me to move my points using these separate xyz attributes but I would like to forgo the ram cost of the default position attribute hanging in the background.

Thanks! 

[Dan Bailey]

Hi Austin,

Position is a mandatory attribute, so you wouldn't be able to remove it. However, when you first create the points grid, it will be set to a uniform zero value per-leaf by default which will use very minimal memory. If you're converting from an existing data set, you can also explicitly "drop" the values of a position attribute by calling attribute.collapse() which will set it back to a uniform zero value again.

Regarding BuildMoveMapsOp, I'm happy you've been able to create your own custom implementation, but just to note that I've been working on a much improved implementation of point moving that is based around the PointPartitioner to extend functionality to transforming and merging multiple point grids which I hope to share at some point. 

Cheers,