emFluid3 v.3.01Type:
1st Version:
Actual Full Version:
Actual Demo Version:
Compatibility:
Note: emFluid3 is no longer the most up-to-date fluid solver for Softimage|XSI. Please check out the new emFluid4 !
ICE node
July 2007
3.01 (February 2010)
3.01 (February 2010)
Softimage|XSI 7.01 and 7.5
Softimage 2010 (SP1) and above
Windows: 32 bit and 64 bit versions
Linux: 64 bit version
emFluid3 is the successor of emFluid2 and emFluid. It is a fluid solver for Softimage|XSI's ICE and is typically used to produce smoke and fire effects.
The plug-in consists of a "DLL" file (Windows) or "so" file (Linux) for the fluid solver node (compiled C++ code for 32 bit and 64 bit versions of XSI). Additionally, there are several compounds that come along. They allow you to plug objects and/or their geometry into the emFluid2 node or compound.
You can use objects or geometry to add velocity, fuel, oxygene, density and heat to the fluid boxes in which the particles move around.
An optimized workflow as well as usefull compounds will let you create great flames and smoke (in real time) in just a couple of minutes!
emFluid3 is well integrated into ICE and you use it just as easily as all the other nodes and compounds in ICE.
Brief history of fluid solvers
In the 18th and 19th century a mathematical model was developed for fluid flows, the so-called Navier Stokes Equations.
In the middle of the 20th century, when computers started to play an important role in research and development, algorithms were developed to solve these equations, therefore allowing simulations of fluid flows. The simulations were accurate, but required enormous calculations. They were definitely not real-time.
In the 1990s Jos Stam developed a stable fluid solver based on the above mentioned equations. Its purpose was not to simulate real fluid flows, but to create visual effects that look like real fluid flows. And, most important, to allow computers to calculate those effects in real-time.
I believe the main ideas in his paper "Real-Time fluid Dynamics for Games" are found in most of the fluid solvers that are used for 3D graphics.
Summer 2007 my friend Oliver W. (pixelpanic) asked me to code a simple fluid plug-in for XSI. Actually, he had been bugging me with that for over three years :-) Anyway, I was at his place for a few days and that's where we made the first beta version of emFluid for Softimage|XSI's particle system.
Shortly after Softimage released XSI 7.0 I started coding my first ICE plug-in (called emNewton) in order to become familiar with ICE and its SDK. After it was released I started programming the emFluid version for ICE and Oliver once again was a great help during the development of the plug-in.
The little fire and flame animation on the right side was rendered with emRPC v.3.05 in 800x800 pixels with anti-alias on a Dual 2 Quad processor (average render time per frame: less than 4 seconds).
The ZIP file containing the demo version can be downloaded here:
download emFluid3 demo version (version 3.01).
The ZIP file containing XSI demo and tutorial scenes can be downloaded here:
download demo and tutorial scenes (version 3.01).
To take a look at the online documentation:
emFluid3 online documentation (version 3.01).
To purchase the full version of emFluid3 please click on the following link:
Order emFluid3 for ICE
If for some reason you have problems with the above link you can also contact me directly.
Until then, please check out my Mootzoid's Vimeo Page on which you can look at some tutorial videos in which I demonstrate how to use emFluid3, as well as the emFluid2 page which has many demo animations that of course can also be created with emFluid3.
Here is a nice test animation from Oliver's Vimeo Page. It was done with an earlier beta of emFluid3, emRPC 3.0 and mental ray. Oliver also made a "how to" - video concerning this animation, showing how he set up his ICE Tree and the rendering.
First a usefull link: emFluid3 online documentation (version 3.01).
Please note that the online documentation (as well as this whole web site is best viewed with Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer 8. Latter is especially important if you want to view the online documentation in XSI's Net View.
Remarks:
-this plug-in runs fine with Softimage 2010 SP1 and above.
Limitations:
-the documentation is a little lean.
-the fluid boxes scaling cannot be animated.
Need your feedback:
As mentioned above, the documentation is not really extensive. The two main reasons for that are 1) I am not a very good documentation writer and 2) I am a lazy documentation writer. I would greatly appreciate some feedback! So if something about emFluid3 is not well explained (or maybe even not explained at all) in the documentation then please write me a short e-mail. I will then write what is missing and/or make a demo scene.
The predecessors:
Should you be interested in a version of this plug-in for XSI's particle system then please go to the
emFluid (version 1.1) page. There you can download the demo version of emFluid version 1.0.
You can find some more example animations on the emFluid2 (version 2.xx) page.
