Simulation Cache Save Path | simoutput – This is the directory and the name template for the output cache files. It uses the $(scene_path) macro by default, and there are also other available macros as listed below. To set up rendering and simulation cache paths manually, see How to change the default Phoenix paths on the Tips and Tricks page.
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Click Here to Expand Additional $(VARIABLE) Information
$(scene_path) – $(data_dir)\$(scene)_Phoenix_frames\$(nodename)_####.aur $(scene_dir) – $(data_dir)\$(scene)_Phoenix2_frames\ND$(handle)_$(nodename)_####.aur $(implicit) – Same as $(scene_dir) $(dir) – The scene directory. $(data_dir) – The default directory where cache files are written. By default this is $(dir), meaning that the cache files are written next to the scene file, but it can be overridden with a custom directory from the Phoenix Global Preferences. $(scene) – The scene file name. $(handle) – A unique number of the node. $(nodename) – The name of the node. $env(<variable_name>) – An environment variable. See Using Environment Variables below.
#### is the frame number formatted with at least as many digits as the hash signs. If the frame digits are less than the hashes, the number is padded with zeroes to the left. For example:
Appending a .vdb extension after the Output Path tells Phoenix to write its data in the OpenVDB format.
Particle data can also be exported using the .aur or the .vdb format. Phoenix can convert particles from already simulated Phoenix .aur caches into the .prt format as a post-process using the Phoenix Export PRT Particles dialog or to .vdb format using the Cache Converter tool.
Note that due to the difference between the compression algorithms used by Phoenix's Aura format and the OpenVDB format, exported VDB caches may produce a slightly different result at render time compared to Aura caches when the Storage Quality is set to a value lower than 20 (i.e. Lossless).
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Clicking the "..."button will open a menu with the following options:
Browse - Opens a dialog where you can select where the simulation caches will be written to. The filename you type in must contain # signs so each simulation frame will be written to a differently numbered file. Also, you can choose between two file formats - AUR and VDB cache files. In order to write the simulation caches to VDB in the default simulation path, you can just edit the Simulation Cache Save Path to $(scene_path).vdb.
Delete Cache Files - Clears the cache files matching the provided Simulation Cache Save Path pattern.
Reset to Default - Resets the Simulation Cache Save Pathto default.
Help - Opens this Help page.
Cacheless Simulation | cacheless – Only the last simulated frame will remain in RAM and no caches will be written to the storage. This will speed up simulations which are bound by slow reading or writing to the hard disk or by compression and decompression of the grid or particle data. You can use this option when iterating on the simulation settings in order to speed up your iterations. It can also be combined with the Render On Each Sim Frame option under the Simulation rollout, or the Save Images During Simoption of the extended GPU Preview viewport, so you will get a ready image sequence if you leave the simulation unattended and then return to check it.
Storage Quality | storage_quality – The output grid and particle channels are compressed by default in order to increase the performance (faster cache loading) and to avoid excessive memory consumption. This parameter can range from 8 to 20 - 8 is the smallest size, while 20 is the best quality and is uncompressed. If this value is set too low, different artifacts may start appearing depending on the type of scene. For grid channels, artifacts shaped like horizontal slices may appear in preview and rendering.
