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The video is created using Phoenix FD 3.0, but the text version of the tutorial is updated and uses Phoenix FD 4.30 Official. In any case of doubt you may refer to the text.

 

System Units Setup

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Scale is crucial for the behavior of any simulation. The real-world size of the Simulator in units is important for the simulation dynamics. Large-scale simulations appear to move more slowly, while mid-to-small scale simulations have lots of vigorous movement. When you create your Simulator, you must check the Grid rollout where the real-world extents of the Simulator are shown. If the size of the Simulator in the scene cannot be changed, you can cheat the solver into working as if the scale is larger or smaller by changing the Scene Scale option in the Grid rollout.

The Phoenix FD solver is not affected by how you choose to view the Display Unit Scale - it is just a matter of convenience.

 

Go to Customize → Units Setup and set Display Unit Scale to Metric Centimeters.

Also, set the System Units such that 1 Unit equals 1 Centimeter.

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With the Liquid Source object selected, go to the Modify Panel and click the Add button located under the Emitter Nodes list, then select the Sphere.

This way the sphere will be selected as an emitter.

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The Source node is where we control the Emitter properties, like the Emit Mode ant the Outgoing Velocity. The sphere is the actual emitter of the fluid inside the Simulator.

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Select the Simulator. In the Modify Panel under the Grid rollout are located the parameters to control the resolution of the volume grid, which greatly affects the look and performance of the simulation.

Click Decrease Resolution until the Total Cells value is around 3-4 million cells. You can also set the Cell Size to change the number of Total Cells.

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Click the Start Simulation icon in the Phoenix FD Toolbar to confirm that the sphere is emitting the liquid inside the Simulator.

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Now let’s get this simulation to look more like what we had with the preset.

Right now the edges of the pour are pretty jagged.

Expand the Dynamics rollout and adjust the Steps Per Frame to 12. This provides for a more natural look but will make the simulation run slower. The higher the Steps Per Frame, the longer the calculations, so try to find the lowest setting for the effect you need.

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At this point the liquid is flowing right through the floor and disappearing. This means that the walls of the Simulator are open. Let's close them.

Open the Grid rollout, you can see the Container Walls are indeed all set to Open. Set the X/Y/Z values to Jammed Both. 

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Start the simulation again. As the simulation runs, the liquid now looks smoother and collides with the bottom and the side walls of the Simulator.

It is, however, running slowly, so we can adjust the resolution by increasing the Cell Size or decreasing the Total Cells.

 

Stop the simulation and navigate to the Grid rollout. We currently have 3-4 million cells to calculate, so click Decrease Resolution until Total Cells amount is about half a million cells. 

 

Start the simulation again and you’ll see it is running faster. While the simulation is still running, go to the Dynamics rollout and set the Steps Per Frame to 1 to speed it up some more.

 

Feel free to experiment with different settings.

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It's time to create a water material and apply it to the Simulator.

Open the Material Editor and create a new V-Ray Material.

Set the Diffuse color to RGB [ 0, 0, 0 ].

Set the Reflect and Refract colors to RGB [ 255, 255, 255 ].

Set the Fresnel IOR to 1.33.

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