Page History

Emitter Set | nodeSet – Specifies a list of objects that will emit fluid. Both geometry and particle systems can be selected here. Note that if you want to emit from an Instancer, you must select the instanced geometry in this set. Also note that you can add Simulators as emitters as well, as if the surface or the volume of their fluid was a regular geometry in the scene. This way you can use one Simulator to emit fluid into a second Simulator, so you can get effects such as burning liquid. For additional information, please head over to the Interactions Between Simulators page.

Emit Material | material –  In Maya objects can have different materials assigned to different polygons of the object. Only polygons with the specified material will emit the fluid.

Emit Mode | ifNotSolid (enum: 0 - 3) – Specifies the way the objects in the Emitter Set emit fluid.

Surface Force – The surface of the emitters will eject the selected fluid channels along the geometry normals. In this mode, the Discharge acts as Outgoing Velocity and it specifies the speed of the emitted fluid in units/sec. The displayed units will change accordingly if the scene units change.

This mode can work with both Solid and non-Solid emitters. If you use a Mask for the discharge in Surface Force mode, white areas of the emitter's surface will eject fast fluid, while darker ones would emit more slowly. Black areas will not emit at all.

Volume Brush – The fluid inside the volume of the emitters will gradually change towards the selected channel values. When this mode is selected, the Discharge acts as Brush Effect (%) and it specifies the rate at which the transition takes place. When Brush Effect is 100%, the fluid will immediately reach the selected channel values, and if Brush Effect is less, it specifies how close the fluid values will get to the values from the Source over 1 second. E.g. if the Temperature inside an emitter's volume is 1000 and the Source emits Temperature 2000 with Brush Effect of 80%, then after 1 second the temperature will have risen to 1800. Note that the Volume Brush mode can both increase or decrease the fluid values, for example if the Smoke in the Source is set to 0.5, the Source would increase the smoke in voxels that have 0.0 smoke until it reaches 0.5, but will decrease the smoke in voxels having 1.0 smoke, again - until it reaches 0.5. This mode is useful for creating standing volumes of fluid with a high Brush Effect, or alternatively - to slowly convert the fluid inside the volume of the emitters to the values selected below over a period of time. Note that you can both increase or decrease the values of the fluid channels in Volume Brush mode. When Brush Effect (%) is 0, then the Source has no effect.

This mode requires that all selected emitters are set into non-Solid mode from their Per-Node Properties. If you use a Mask for the discharge in Volume Brush mode, white zones in the volume will have the Brush Effect you have specified, while darker zones will use a smaller Brush Effect. Completely back zones in the mask would not be affected at all by this Source.

Volume Inject – The volume of the emitters will discharge the selected fluid channels with added pressure. When this mode is selected, the Discharge acts as Inject Power and it specifies the added volume of the injected fluid per second. This mode is useful for getting explosive discharge. Inject Power can be negative, in which case the Source will suck in and delete the fluid.

This mode requires that all selected emitters are set into non-Solid mode from their Per-Node Properties. If you use a Mask for the discharge in Volume Inject mode, white zones in the volume will have the Inject Power you have specified, while darker zones will use a smaller Inject Power. Completely back zones in the mask would not be affected at all by this Source.

Transfer – The volume of the emitters will transfer content from other Phoenix Simulator object(s) into this one. The Discharge acts as Transfer Effect (%).

Discharge | discharge – This parameter controls the strength of the source. Check Emit Mode for more info.

Discharge Mask | dischargeMult – Allows you to vary the Discharge over the surface or the volume of the emitters. White areas of this map will have the strongest discharge, while black areas of the map will not discharge at all. The individual fluid channels can also be modulated using dedicated maps from the options below. See the info on the Emit Mode option above for more info on how the Mask affects each mode. Make sure to enable the texture's Alpha is Luminance option. For more information on texture mapping in Phoenix, please check the Texture mapping, moving textures with fire/smoke/liquid, and TexUVW page.

Noise | noise – Varies the Discharge across the surface or the volume of the emitting geometry or particle. The variation also changes over time. This is a shorthand for using an animated noise in the Mask slot.

Temperature (K) | useTemperature, temperature – Specifies the temperature of the emitted fluid, in Kelvin. A value of 0 is absolute zero, and a value of 300 denotes room temperature. Temperature above 300 makes the fluid rise up, while temperature below 300 makes it fall down. You can find out more about Phoenix Grid Channel Ranges here.

Temperature Mask | temperatureMult  – Allows you to vary the channel over the surface or the volume of the emitters. If this is not used, the Source will emit equal temperature over the entire surface or volume of the emitters. Make sure to enable the texture's Alpha is Luminance option. For more information on texture mapping in Phoenix, please check the Texture mapping, moving textures with fire/smoke/liquid, and TexUVW page.

Smoke | useSmoke, smoke – Specifies the density of the emitted Smoke. This value is usually between 0 and 1, but it can be set greater than 1 if you wish your smoke to look thick and heavy even after traveling some distance. You can find out more about Phoenix Grid Channel Ranges here. If the Smoke channel is not enabled in the Output rollout of the Simulator, this parameter will be ignored.

Smoke Mask | smokeMult – Allows you to vary the channel over the surface or the volume of the emitters. If this is not used, the Source will emit equal smoke density over the entire surface or volume of the emitters. Make sure to enable the texture's Alpha is Luminance option. For more information on texture mapping in Phoenix, please check the Texture mapping, moving textures with fire/smoke/liquid, and TexUVW page.

Fuel | useFuel, fuel – Specifies the amount of emitted Fuel. If the Fuel channel is not enabled in the Output rollout of the Simulator, this parameter will be ignored.

Fuel Mask | fuelMult  – Allows you to vary the channel over the surface or the volume of the emitters. If this is not used, the Source will emit the same amount of Fuel over the entire surface or volume of the emitters. Make sure to enable the texture's Alpha is Luminance option. For more information on texture mapping in Phoenix, please check the Texture mapping, moving textures with fire/smoke/liquid, and TexUVW page.

RGB | useUvw, uvw – If the RGB Map is not enabled, the emitted fluid's RGB channel will contain the specified color. If the RGB Map is enabled, the RGB values from the texture map will be used instead of the color swatch. If the RGB channel is not enabled in the Output rollout of the Simulator, this parameter will be ignored. Also, note that if Emit Mode is set to Volume Brush or Volume Inject and the Map uses Projection, then the Map will be applied on the whole volume, based on the closest geometry surface.

RGB Map | uvwMult – Allows you to vary the RGB over the surface or the volume of the emitters. If this is used, the color swatch is ignored. Otherwise, the Source will emit equal RGB over the entire surface or volume of the emitters. For more information on texture mapping in Phoenix, please check the Texture mapping, moving textures with fire/smoke/liquid, and TexUVW page.

Particles | useParticles, particles – Allows the source to emit particles into the Simulator. The particle birth rate is in thousands of particles per second.

Particles Mask | particlesMult  – Allows you to vary the amount of particles over the surface or the volume of the emitters. If this is not used, the Source will emit equal amount of particles over the entire surface or volume of the emitters. Make sure to enable the texture's Alpha is Luminance option.

Particles Type | particlesType (enum: 0 - 2) – Specifies the type of particles created by this source:

Drag – The source will emit Drag particles. These are the simplest Phoenix particles and are just carried by the velocity of the simulation, without interacting with one another. They can be shaded using the Particle Shader and can be used for simulation of embers, or integration effects such as dust or sand. The RGB color of Drag particles is inherited from the Source and written in the cache files if the Simulator → Output → RGB Grid Channel is enabled.
Foam – The source will emit Foam particles. Note that Foam simulation must be enabled from the Liquid Simulator so this type of particles can be emitted into it.
Splashes – The source will emit Splash particles. Note that Splash simulation must be enabled from the Liquid Simulator so this type of particles can be emitted into it.

Lifespan (seconds) | particlesLifespan – The maximum age of the particles created by this source, specified in seconds.

Lifespan Variation | particlesLifespanRandom – Adds variation of the particles' lifespan, specified in seconds.

Output Drag Velocity | particlesOutVel – When enabled and the Particles Type is set to Drag, this parameter exports the Velocity channel to the cache files, so that you can use it for rendering with motion blur or coloring of particles based on their speed using the Particle Texture.

Output Drag IDs | particlesOutIDs – When enabled and the Particles Type is set to Drag, this parameter exports the ID channel to the cache files.

Export Drag Particle Ages | particlesOutAges – When enabled and the Particles Type is set to Drag, this parameter exports the Age channel to the cache files.

Export Drag Particle RGB | particlesOutRGB – When enabled and the Particles Type is set to Drag, this parameter exports the RGB channel to the cache files.

Direct Velocity (units/sec) | useDirectedVelocity – Creates velocities in a certain direction or based on a Map.

Direct Velocity Map | directedVelocityMap – Allows you to vary the Direct Velocity over the surface or the volume of the emitters. If this is not used, the Source will emit equal Direct Velocity over the entire surface or volume of the emitters. When using Map, the Direct Velocity is generated from the selected texture and is not multiplied by the value added in the Directed Velocity X/Y/Z slots.

Motion Velocity | useVelocity, velocity  – When enabled, moving emitters will affect the velocity of the fluid and make it follow the emitter. This effect is controlled with the specified multiplier. If the emitter is not moving, this option has no effect.