Atoms proxy (AtomsMaya/AtomsHoudini)

You can create an Atoms Proxy via the Atoms Menu: Atoms > Rendering > Create AtomsProxy Node.
You can also use the shelf button

Maya

Houdini

The Atoms proxy node is a lightweight representation of your cache.
You can assign an atoms cache, a variation file, a cloth cache and groom cache to it.

The AtomsProxy node is connected to the time node by default .

If you only care about showing some agents you can specify their ids in the "Agent Ids" field, where 0 is the first index available:

0-6: will show all agents with id between 0 and 6.
0, 2, 4: will show the agents with id 0, 2 and 4
!(0-6): will hide the agents with id between 0 and 6.

Atoms Proxy attributes (please note, not all the attributes might appear on the proxy in your host application):

Time: the time driving the cache
Time Offset: an offset value for the time
Variation Path: a variation file which will override the variations loaded in the scene.
Cloth Cache: cloth cache path.
Cloth Caches: other cloth cache paths.
Groom Cache: groom cache path.
Groom Curve Cache: groom curve cache path.
Agent Ids: field for filtering out agents
Draw: the draw mode.
Draw Agent Cache Ids: Draw the agent ids in the viewport.
Mesh Filter: Filter variation meshes. Wildacards with ? (one or more matches), * (zero or more matches) or ! (no matches).
Agent Type (Override): Specify an override for the agent types of this atoms proxy agents. You can override one character using a string in the following format: agentId@AgentTypeName (i.e. 1@man)
Agent Variation (Override): Specify an override for the variations of this atoms proxy agents. You can override one character using a string in the following format: agentId@VariationName (i.e. 1@casualSummer)
Agent Variation Override (Override): Specify an override for the variation overrides of this atoms proxy agents. You can override one character using a string in the following format: agentId@VariationOverride (i.e. 1@with_glasses)
Agent Variation Geometry Filter (Override): Specify a geometry filter override for this atoms proxy agents. You can override one character using a string in the following format: agentId@GeometryName (i.e. 1@glasses_GEO)
Agent Variation Geo Mat Filter (Override): Specify a geo-mat combination override for this atoms proxy agents. You can override one character using a string in the following format: agentId@GeometryName-MaterialName(i.e. 1@glasses_GEO-boy_glasses_black_MAT)
Agent Lod (Override): Specify an override for the lod of this atoms proxy agents. You can override one character using a string in the following format: agentId@LodName (i.e. 1@loda)
Agent Metadata (Override): Create or modify agent metadata (i.e 10@myIntMetada#10 10-25@myVector3Metada#1.0;2.0;3.0 10-25@myDoubleMetada#12.5 10-25@myStringMetada#test)
Disable Variation Materials: You can specify a list of materials that will not be used by the atoms procedural. Wildacards with ? (one or more matches), * (zero or more matches) or ! (no matches).
Scene Materials: Materials from the scene that will replace the variation materials. (Arnold only - please enable the "Export All Shading Groups option" under the "System" tab in the render settings)
Material Overrides: you can use this attribute to connect a material to a mesh overriding the data stored inside the variation table. The syntax is meshName:materialName.
Disable Default Material: disables the default green material. The Atoms procedural uses this material when it doesn't find the right material inside the variation table.
Displacement Post Prefix: If you are using an Arnold material inside the katana scene and you want to assign also a displacement material, the latter must have the same name of the surface material followed by this postfix.
Use Instances: the atoms procedural will try to instances agents with the same pose If the agent has a cloth cache or dynamic xgen ti will not be instanced.
Use frustum culling: the procedural renders only the agents visible by the frustum culling camera
Frustum culling camera: Camera used to cull agents at render time (Maya: connect the camera transform message attribute to this attribute)
Frustum culling over scan: Multiplier on the camera culling image plane
Enable batches and Number of Batches (Arnold/Maya only): if enabled the render will be split in the given number of Arnold procedurals.
Agent Offset: the agent geometry is offset by this offset. Render time only.
Generate Mesh (Houdini Only): when enabled, this node generates Houdini geometry.
Pre Roll Frames (Houdini Only): number of pre roll frames, only used when Generate Mesh is on.
Pre Roll Height (Houdini Only): pre roll height offset, only used when Generate Mesh is on.

Where in Maya you can use more than one item for most of the above parameters, in Houdini you can specify more than one value using a comma separate string.

Redshift Overrides (Maya Only)

In this section users are able to override the following values for each agent or the entire proxy :

matte alpha (when providing a value for the matte alpha, you would also be enabling the matte)
primary visibility
cast shadow
reflection
refraction

These attributes are arrays and users can change them like other overrides such as agent lods or variations.

If any element of the array contains a value like "0" or "1", that value will be used as a global value for all the agents in the proxy.

With elements like "1@0" Atoms would use 0 for the agent with ID 1. You can also use ranges like this: "2-10@1", in this case Atoms will use the value 1 for the agents having ID between 2 and 10.

Benefits of using Atoms Proxies

Atoms Proxies are much faster than having a "cacheReader" module on an Agent Group node.
Atoms Proxies will still display the correct frame even when users scrub on the timeline, unlike atoms groups.
Atoms Proxies are used for giving a visual reference to artists, for lighting and for rendering.
You can render with motion blur only when using an Atoms Proxy.
Atoms Proxies do not use an Atoms Crowd license, but an Atoms Procedural license.