volumeBreaker 1.0 SP2 can be applied to virtually any mesh you can create in 3ds Max, including meshes that are 'lazy' and not a fully enclosed volume. volumeBreaker 1.0 SP2 includes algorithms that intelligently attempt to compensate for any errors within the mesh, errors such as unwelded vertices and open edges that can be the result of sloppy modelling or due to importing from CAD software or other sources.

The sub-geometry, that volumeBreaker 1.0 SP2 creates, is composed of individual elements within the parent mesh, accessible by applying an Edit Poly or Edit Mesh modifier on top of volumeBreaker which allows the user to further modify and control the end result.

Phoenix Fluid Dynamics is a new development, which perfectly combines a grid base simulator with with an outstanding rendering capabilities. Besides the usual uniform fluid behavior, Phoenix simulates some additional processes, like pressure decay, thermal radiation cooling , and mass-temperature dependence. This product promises a lot in terms of simulation times and quality of final production and will become a complete solution for simulation of fire, smoke, and haze because of your contribution to the Phoenix beta program.

A key focus of Houdini 11 is making you more productive in your day-to-day work. This means targeting our development efforts on ways for you to work faster with fewer clicks. In Houdini 11, new Voronoi-Based Fracturing tools will make it easier to break up objects either before a simulation or automatically during a simulation. Destruction sequences are a staple of Houdini-based VFX shots and now they will be easier to create and even more controllable.

Our Particle Fluids are now up to 70 Times Faster with the new FLIP (Fluid Implicit Particle) solver as compared to Houdini 10’s SPH solver, making it ideal for generating multiple iterations. In addition, this new solver is seamlessly integrated with existing particle operations [POPs] making the results highly directable. New buoyancy controls make it easier to float rigid objects and you can even smash up an object by combining these fluid tools with the new fracturing tools.

Mantra Rendering Workflow

Mantra has traditionally been used to render out VFX elements but more and more Houdini customers are using Mantra for prototyping shots or rendering all the CG elements in final plates. Noticing this trend, we have put a lot of time into creating a new shading workflow which starts with a new “Uber” Surface Model node with built-in per-light exports, physically-accurate sub-surface scattering and energy conservation. Add to that user-interface improvements to Houdini’s shader building environment such as a Shader FX menu for quickly texturing materials and you will see how professional results can be achieved faster than ever before.

Hardware Rendering has also been enhanced with high quality OpenGL shading of lights and shadows as well as GPU-assisted volumes, unlimited lights and support for diffuse, specular, opacity, environment, bump and normal maps. Houdini’s Flipbook tools now support all these FX and can capture high dynamic range beauty passes.

In addition, we have improved the lighting interface for Houdini 11. We have new light types such as Global Illumination, Portal, Sky, Indirect and Geometry. The Geometry Lights let you turn any 3D object into a light emitting surface then use a surface shader to control the light emission. The geometry can also be animating or deforming for even cooler results.

Performance, Performance, Performance

We have heard your requests for improved performance loud and clear and with Houdini 11 we are introducing much faster particle fluids, faster rendering and targeted optimizations such as extensive multi-threading for dynamics and algorithmic enhancements for Houdini in general. An example of this optimization is the attribute transfer node which is now an order of magnitude faster when transferring vertex attributes such as UVs.

While we have made many performance improvements in Houdini 11, we also have a team of developers working on even deeper optimizations for the future. These improvements will modernize Houdini and let you work with bigger files, faster, with more efficient use of memory. These big performance changes will be a significant addition to the subsequent release.

Sitni Sati is proud to announce the release of FumeFX 2.0 for Autodesk's 3ds Max platform.

New features that have been added for FumeFX 2.0 are focused on minimizing project turnaround times and providing the ability to add more detail to the simulations - quickly and memory efficiently.

Project turnaround times can be significantly reduced when there is a need to fine tune final simulation playback speed. Until now, this was only possible by running the whole simulation again with different time scale parameter. That approach has a number of drawbacks, most importantly - it is very time consuming and always results with a different fluid flow. Out proprietary Retimer algorithm operates on existing cache files to re-create missing frames. Retiming process is fast and more importantly, it preserves exactly the same flow as in original caches.

Wavelet Turbulence algorithm is well known to the CG industry for some time and FumeFX 2.0 utilizes it to create additional detail on low detail simulations. In contrast to existing Fluid Mapping code, Wavelet Turbulence scales up the grid and adds detail that is not distorted over the time domain. Computation is fast and has lower memory demands compared to the simulation using same grid spacing.

FumeFX already has been production proven in titles such as 2012, Spiderman 3, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Superman Returns, Iron Man, The Host (Gwoemul) and various games cinematics such as Warhammer Online, Classic Transformers, Dante's Inferno and others.

Key Features

- Production proven results demonstrate this technology's ability to achieve realistic smoke and fire effects for cutting-edge industry applications.
- FumeFX supplements the user's artistic vision with the power of real-world physics for the ultimate in both style and realism.
- A multitude of parameters and FumeFX helpers give users maximum control of the fluid's behavior and appearance.
- Easy to use, basic effects can be created with just a few clicks.
- Options include the use of powerful AFC and Gradient controls, which are unified through all Sitni Sati products.
- Plug-in design incorporates extensive support for Particle Flow and Thinking Particles.
- Dynamic simulations allow for bi-directional influence between FumeFX and particle systems.
- Advanced scripting via MAXScript is possible with almost every aspect of FumeFX, including access to all simulation data.
- FumeFX is capable of dynamic interaction with other scene objects.
- For those technical artists who want to write their own shaders, a standalone rendering library is avilable for Windows and Linux, both 32 and 64 bit versions.

Simulation

- Start simulations from scratch or by using other simulation results as a starting point.
- Stop, pause and continue simulations at any point.
- Simulation is multithreaded - users can select how many CPU's to dedicate to their simulation.
- Users can watch the simulation progress in the interactive Preview window.
- Draft simulations can be created in mere minutes for fast previewing.
- User has control of which data is written to output files for rendering and further processing.
- Wavelet Turbulence algorithm quickly adds extra detail to low resolution simulation caches while preserving the existing overall motion.
- Retimer is a very efficient and fast method to slow down or speed up caches without the need to re-run simulation.
- Post Processing module can significantly reduce cache size by optimizing grid size around smoke/fire. It also allows users to decide which channels will be excluded from the final caches.

Rendering

- mental ray for 3ds Max renderer support - available for both Windows and Linux.
- The Preview Window gives users almost instant feedback on render settings.
- Fast self-shadowing is produced through an Illumination Map which is integrated inside of the FumeFX object.
- A highly efficient Multiple Scattering model enhances light dispersion throughout fluid.
- Fluid Mapping integrates procedural map details with fluid motion.
- The dynamic FusionWorks atmospheric renderer provides:
- Render Elements: Fire, Smoke, Velocity
- Proper blending with AfterBurn and ScatterVL Pro.
- Balanced mixing of FumeFX and compatible atmospherics with 3ds Max Fog
- Ability to apply Image Motion Blur
- Option to affect Effect Channel
- Z depth

One of the main problem areas within computer graphics is simulating natural phenomena’s, working with fluid solvers, and particle systems. In the special effects industry, there is a demand for mimicking appearance of common special effect such as fire, smoke, and water. Autodesk Maya and FumeFx are used for exploring those methods in creating smoke and fire simulations and implementing those into a

large dynamic system, while researching the possibility to efficiently control and modify an entire dynamic system on a per object level. Final production renders results are from both Maya and FumeFx.

RealFlow is a unique fluids and body dynamics software package which allows you to simulate anything from a single drop of water to a massive tsunami crashing across a beach, sweeping debris in its wake.

RealFlow remains the definitive tool for the creation of flawlessly realistic simulations, and has been used to produce some of the most ground-breaking visual effects ever seen, in movies like “Avatar”, “District 9”, “2012”, “GI Joe”, and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, as well as commercials, TV programs, and game cinematics.

- http://www.realflow.com/index.php

RealFlow 5 represents another huge leap forward in simulation software. The latest version includes an enormous number of fantastic brand-new features and improvements, such as:

• Hybrido, the revolutionary new hybrid technology, which makes RealFlow 5 the only product on the market which enables the user to simulate large bodies of water with sophisticated secondary effects, like splashes, foam and mist
• Caronte, a cutting-edge body dynamics solver, which offers unmatched capabilities for large-scale, complex simulations
• A highly accelerated particle-based solver, which means that simulations with standard fluids are now up to 20 times faster
• New IDOCs and the new Job Manager, which enable you to spread scenes across several computers for simulation
• Each standard license of RealFlow 5 now comes with a free copy of the RealFlow Renderkit v2 for mental ray or Renderman (Windows/Linux only)
• And much, much more! To find out all the latest features and improvements, please see our website: http://www.realflow.com/rf_features.php

Five of the industry’s leading fluid experts provide a selection of tips designed to help avoid that sinking feeling when simulating (and faking) fluid-filled scenes.

Movie effects and natural phenomena have always been awkward bedfellows. The real- world behaviour of fluids is almost impossibly complex, with a huge number of variables all affecting how liquids and gases move, transform, intermingle and disperse.

Then there’s the challenge of bringing such amorphous volumes to the screen. Rendering fluids, with their ever- changing densities, opacities, degrees of reflection and levels of refractivity, is something that requires many calculations to accurately trace and render. Little wonder the visual effects industry avoided CG water for so long.

Increased processing power, better renderers and regular research paper updates and breakthroughs have all helped to push the technology on, however, enabling both broadcast and film projects to benefit from spectacular effects shots featuring all-digital or digitally enhanced fluids. And like any cutting-edge technique that quickly becomes commonplace at a professional level, so the methods and tricks used to create convincing fluids have now trickled down to general user level.

Harnessing fluid dynamics in a packages such as Maya or using a dedicated off-the-shelf fluids application like RealFlow now gives any 3D artist a massive head start. But access to these tools doesn’t automatically make realistic fluids effects easily achievable. There’s also an art involved here. In part, this involves knowing which elements to focus simulation work on and which can be safely ignored or downplayed, and in part it’s about knowing when cheats and tricks will work just as effectively as more complex solutions.

Ultimately the aim is not only to create realistic-looking effects, but to do it as efficiently and painlessly as possible. Here, five experts from leading film and broadcast studios explain how to stay in control – and stay sane – when building convincing scenes of computer-generated fluid splendour.