def get_frame_exploded_mesh(obj, frame):
    # Set Blender to the specific frame
    bpy.context.scene.frame_set(frame)

    # Duplicate the object for this frame
    obj_copy = obj.copy()
    obj_copy.data = obj.data.copy()

    # link is needed for modifier operations
    bpy.context.collection.objects.link(obj_copy)

    #DECIMATE----------------------------------------------
    decimate_mod = obj_copy.modifiers.new(name="Decimate", type='DECIMATE')
    bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = obj_copy

    #apply both modifiers to get mesh and decimate it
    bpy.ops.object.modifier_apply(modifier="MeshSequenceCache")

    print("pre decimation : ", len(obj_copy.data.polygons))
    max_faces = 8000
    original_faces = len(obj_copy.data.polygons)
    decimate_mod.ratio = (max_faces / original_faces) * 0.96

    bpy.ops.object.modifier_apply(modifier=decimate_mod.name)

    print("post decimation : ", len(obj_copy.data.polygons))

    mesh_eval = bpy.data.meshes.new_from_object(obj_copy)

    # create new mesh instance from that and explode it and record vertex data
    bm = bmesh.new()
    bm.from_mesh(mesh_eval)

    # Triangulate all faces
    bmesh.ops.triangulate(bm, faces=bm.faces)

    # Split all the edges so no two faces share vertices
    bmesh.ops.split_edges(bm, edges=bm.edges[:])

    # Update the mesh with the exploded geometry
    bm.to_mesh(mesh_eval)

    # Collect triangle data from that frame
    faces = {}
    for face_index, face in enumerate(bm.faces):

        triangle = {}
        for vert_index,vert in enumerate(face.verts):
            co = vert.co.copy()
            normal = vert.normal.copy()  # Get normal of the vertex

            # Store vertex coordinates and normal
            triangle[f'vertex_{vert_index}'] = {
                'position': [co.x, co.y, co.z],
                'normal': [normal.x, normal.y, normal.z]
            }
        faces[f'face_{face_index}'] = triangle

    # Clean up
    bm.free()
    bpy.data.meshes.remove(mesh_eval)
    bpy.context.collection.objects.unlink(obj_copy)

    #revert back to original object reference
    bpy.context.view_layer.objects.active = active_obj

    #print("processed frame: ", frame, "with ", len(faces), "faces")
    return faces