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This page provides example scenes for different types of Phoenix FD simulations.
Overview
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The following samples illustrate the usage of different features in Phoenix FD .
thinkingParticles Explosion
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This scene demonstrates how to use the Phoenix FD operators inside of thinkingParticles. The Phoenix FD TP Birth operator creates particles based on the smoke channel of the Phoenix simulation. Then the created particles are advected using the velocity data from the Phoenix simulation through the Phoenix FD TP Force operator. Finally the Phoenix FD TP Sample operator reads the data from the Phoenix simulation and uses the Speed channel to set the Size variation of the tP particles. The Speed data from the Phoenix simulation is also passed to the Vertex color of a cube geometry, used as a Shape instance in the scene.
For the rendering part, the particle material is using Phoenix Grid Texture that reads the Fire color from the Phoenix simulation and sends it to the Self-Illumination slot of a V-Ray Material. For the Diffuse part of the shader - V-Ray Comp texture is used to multiply a concrete texture with the Vertex color data.
Software used: Phoenix FD 4.20.00, thinkingParticles V6.8.166, V-Ray Next Update 3 for 3ds Max 2018
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This scene demonstrates how to set up a simple shower scene using Phoenix FD. The shower nozzles are added to the Liquid source with some noise for the Outgoing velocity in order to randomize the emission. The steps per frame are set to 10 in order to compensate for the fast moving liquid particles.
Software used: Phoenix FD 3.12.00, V-Ray Next, 3ds Max 2015
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This scene demonstrates how to set up a simple fountain scene using Phoenix FD. There are four different sources with added noise for the Outgoing velocity in order to randomize the emission. The rendering of the Liquid simulator is disabled and the liquid particles are rendered as points using the Phoenix FD Particle Shader. For the ground material a Phoenix Particle Texture which uses the Wetmap particles is used as a mask to blend between a dry and wet material.
Software used: Phoenix FD 3.10.00, V-Ray 3.60.04, 3ds Max 2015
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This scene demonstrates how to use Phoenix FD's Variable Viscosity capabilities in order to simulate molten lava or metal cooling and hardening. The Phoenix FD Phoenix Liquid Source used in the simulation emits liquid with a Viscosity value set to 1.0. Noise textures are used for the Outgoing Velocity, Viscosity and RGB so that the flow has some variation.
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The shader uses a VRayBlendMaterial with VRayLight material for the hot part of the lava as the base layer and a black VRayMtl for the cold lava as the coat. The two materials are then blended with a Phoenix FD Grid Texture used as a mask in the Blend Material. The Grid Texture samples the Viscosity channel of the simulator so that the liquid with lower viscosity will use the hot VRayLightMaterial and the thicker liquid will use the cold VRayMtl.
Software used: Phoenix FD 4.10 Official Release and V-Ray Next Official Release for 3ds Max 2017.
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The liquid also creates WetMap particles over the shore geometry which are used to mask wet and dry materials using the Particle Texture. Mesh Smoothing is enabled in order to remove noise from the liquid mesh's surface, and the Mesh Smoothing Particle Size is increased so the mesh doesn't shrink and reveal air pockets between the liquid and the bottom which will become visible in the rendering. The preview of voxels and the Liquid and WetMap particles is switched off in order to speed up simulation and only the preview of Foam and Splash particles remains enabled. You may re-enable the preview if you want to observe the simulation process, or alternatively, you can speed up the simulation even more by setting Read Cache for Preview to Disable During Sim from the Preview rollout.
Software used: Phoenix FD 3.10.01 nightly (24 Mar 2018), V-Ray 3.60.04, 3ds Max 2014
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This example is a sea simulation involving foam and splash. Only the zone around the ship is simulated. The rest of the ocean is simply a surface with waves. Usually, such simulations require a large container that covers the entire route of the ship. With Phoenix FD this Phoenix this is no longer needed. The container covers only the ship and is connected to it, and the Inertial forces option makes the movement of the water the same as if the ship is moving in a very large static container. For more information how this technique works, see the Tips and Tricks section.
The foam is born indirectly by the splash. For large scale scenes, this method is better than direct foam birth because it can't produce bunches of foam. The Outside life is set to 20 sec. to allow the foam to leave the container and to form the wake. The rendering of the ocean surface uses the Ocean render mode, and displacement with Ocean Texture.
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In many cases like torches, fountains, waterfalls, etc., you can save a pretty good amount of simulation time by rendering a short looped sequence. Usually, this is done in post-production by overlapping and blending the start and the end of the looped sequence. This method is not easy, and often the result is not good, especially when particles are involved. Since version 2.2, Phoenix FD has Phoenix has the ability to make this automatically. In the Input roll-out, simply select Loop in the Time Bend Controls and adjust the looped sequence. When simply repeating a sequence, the moment where the last frame switches back to the first one will not produce smooth results. The goal of the loop adjustment is to make the loop transition invisible. The grid part of the content is looped in a trivial way, the frames are just blended linearly, but the particles need more attention and that's why the sample scene is particle oriented. What we need to know about the particle looping technique? The most important is that it is age based. You need to export the Age channel through the Output rollout to make it possible. In the typical looped simulation, particles have a relatively short life span; they are constantly produced and removed. For example, in a fountain the splash droplets are born near the top, they fall down, and when they hit the ground they disappear. The typical particle, in this case, lives about one second. For good transition of the looped sequence, you need to set the loop overlap bigger or equal to this average particle life span. If this condition is not satisfied, there will be particles that disappear suddenly and the transition will be visible. In the sample scene the average lifespan of the bubbles is about 1.5 sec and the loop overlap is set to be 50 frames.
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