Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

...

General

...

Section
Column
width60%55%

Anchor
CachePath
CachePath

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.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%40%

 

 

UI Expand
titleClick Here to expand additional $(VARIABLE) information

$(scene_path) – $(dir)\$(scene)_Phoenix_frames\$(nodename)_####.aur
$(scene_dir) – $(dir)\$(scene)_Phoenix2_frames\ND$(handle)_$(nodename)_####.aur
$(implicit) – Same as $(scene_dir)
$(dir) – The scene directory.
$(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:

 

Align
aligncenter
 Result
Frame Number#######
11010001
1010100010
1000100010001000
UI Text Box
typenote

Since version 3.00.02, Phoenix can export VDB grid data. Check the How to export Phoenix FD simulation to OpenVDB format video.
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 Chaos Phoenix Export PRT Particles dialog or to .vdb format using the Cache Converter tool.

...

Storage Quality | storage_quality – The output grid and particle channels in AUR files 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. For particle systems such as Liquid or Foam, the artifacts would look like ordered lines of particles , as in the following comparison (click to zoom in):(see the Particle compression artifacts example below).

Anchor
BackupInterval
BackupInterval
Backup Interval | backup – The frame interval between backups of the full simulation state. A stopped simulation can be restarted from such frames (see the Restore option in the Simulation rollout). To make restoring possible from every frame, set this value to 1. A value of 0 means no backup frames will be exported. 

...

UI Text Box
typeinfo

The particle export parameters share a user interface to keep the user interface compact. Each particle system can be selected individually from the drop-down list, and the output settings can be selected for that particle system. When a particle system is selected again, the same settings are retained.

Section
Column
width60%55%

Compress Particles prtcompress – Enables compression of the simulated particle systems when they are written to AUR cache files. VDB cache files exported from Phoenix do not support particle compression. Simulations with very high particle counts, such as 50 million or more, will produce large caches, so particle compression will help reduce the cache sizes significantly. If you are writing or reading the cache files over the network or to a disk drive, this could significantly speed up simulation and rendering. However, if you are writing the simulation caches to an SSD drive or other fast storage, and you can afford to have large cache files, then disabling the compression could actually speed up the simulation.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%40%

 

 

Section

Example: Particle compression artifacts

 

 


UI Text Box
typeinfo

For particle systems such as Liquid or Foam, the artifacts would look like ordered lines of particles, as in the following comparison (click to zoom in):

Section
Column
width33%

Storage quality = 19

Column
width33%

Storage quality = 14
(artifacts in the lower left corner)

Column
width33%

Storage quality = 8

...

UI Text Box
typeinfo

This section determines which channels are exported to cache files in the form of a voxel grid. Currently, only the liquid particles can be automatically converted to a grid during export, while all the other systems (e.g. Foam, Splash, etc.) are exported only as particles.

Section
Column
width60%55%

Grid Liquid |   keep_t – Export the liquid amount. This is needed so that you can render the Liquid as a mesh and also preview it as a mesh in the viewport.

Grid RGB | keep_rgb – Export the RGB color. You can use this for simulations where you are mixing different liquid colors or materials through a Phoenix FD Grid Texture.

Grid Velocity | keep _vxyz – Export the velocity. This is needed for motion blur of the liquid mesh.

Grid Viscosity | keep_visc - Export the Viscosity channel. Required for variable Viscosity simulations  You may also choose to enable this if, for instance, your setup requires that you use the Viscosity channel as a mask through a Phoenix FD Grid Texture.

Grid Texture UVW | keep_texuvw – Export the Texture UVW channel. Enable this to generate texture mapping coordinates that follow the movement of the fluid. 

Special | zmr – Export internal or special channels into the Special channel (alias to the Smoke channel) so they can be visualized using one of the volumetric shaders of the FireSmoke Simulator (with Mode set to VolumetricVolumetric Geometry, or Volumetric Heat Haze). Such channels can also be read by the Grid Texture and used for rendering.

Solid Voxels – Exports the solid voxels as smoke. Voxels covered by many obstacles contain more smoke.
Divergence Symm – Exports the negative divergence of each voxel.
Divergence Smooth  – Exports the blurred negative divergence of each voxel.
Vorticity – Exports the length of the curl of each voxel. Can be used for whitewater shading.
Vorticity Smooth  – Exports the blurred length of the curl of each voxel. Can be used for whitewater shading.
Velocity Gradient –  Exports the length of the gradient of the velocity field.
Injector  – Exports the pressure term created by sources in Inject mode or formed during the simulation.
Liquid Surface – Exports the surface created by the simulation.
Solid Geom Type – Exports the internal geometry type in each voxel.
Hydrostatic Pressure – Exports the pressure of the liquid at each voxel due to the effect of gravity.
Voxelization Issues – Exports voxels where the solver would produce wrong results during simulation. Such voxels are near overlapping triangles, inverted normals, open edges or other geometry issues.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%40%

Anchor
environmentVariables
environmentVariables

...