An Introduction for Beginners Platige Image

Page 3 RealFlow 2014

Over the last years computers have become more and more powerful, and modern systems are able to solve complex tasks like simulations, physically-based rendering, and handling huge amounts of polygons. With increasing computer power, the de- mand for realistic luid and dynamics simulation has been growing as well. Today, you can see luids ranging from small drops to huge loods – and all these elements are often combined with rigid and soft bodies. There is hardly any commercial or fea- ture ilm without luids – and many of these effects have been created with RealFlow.

With RealFlow, you can literally dive into this world and create stunning, ar- tist-controllable, and realistic simulations of watery or viscous substances, huge amounts of interacting rigid bodies, deforming soft bodies, and ininite oce- an surfaces. An open pipeline, connectivity plugins, and sophisticated render tools make it easy to exchange your RealFlow simulations with your favourite 3D software. RealFlow also supports standards like Alembic I/O and OpenVDB.

This document is a quick guide to RealFlow‘s user interface and main tools. Once you have read through it you will be able to create your own luid and dynamics simulations. No matter whether you are a beginner in the ield of visual effects or an experienced, production-proven veteran: you will love RealFlow‘s intuitive worklow and the endless possibilities this unique simulation tool offers.

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Page 4 Why RealFlow? RealFlow also has the ability to cover all your simulation needs within a single RealFlow has unreached expertise in the ield of luid dynamics. In 1997, Ignacio package. As a RealFlow user you are able to simulate everything from small drops Vargas and Victor Gonzalez founded Next Limit and released the irst version of Re- to huge ocean surfaces – and combine luids with body dynamics. alFlow. Over the years, RealFlow experienced constant development, and has been equipped with state-of-the art technologies. Soon, RealFlow became the industry RealFlow is fast, very fast, and handles hundreds of millions of particles, thousands leader in terms of luid and body dynamics simulations, and has been used in many of objects, and complex setups. The software‘s intuitive worklow, the lat learning feature ilm and TVC productions. In 2008, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and curve, and its endless possibilities are unrivalled in the world of physical simula- Sciences has granted a Technical Achievement Award to Victor Gonzalez, Ignacio tions. RealFlow is available for Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows. Vargas and Angel Tena for the creation of the RealFlow software application, reco- gnizing the signiicant contribution RealFlow has made to the process of making These are some of the reasons why the world‘s top studios and VFX artists trust in motion pictures. RealFlow. And they know why: tighter deadlines, shrinking resources, and higher demands call for reliable and fast tools.

Information | RealFlow in Production

Productions with RealFlow (excerpt):

Pompeii, The Impossible, Resident Evil Retribution, The Great Gatsby, Dredd, Ice Age, The Avengers, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Battle of LA, Vikings, The Guardian, Despicable Me, 2012, Poseidon, and many more.

RealFlow has also been used in countless commercials and student projects, as well as in games.

RealFlow has a clearly structured, and customizable user interface, provides a com- mand line simulation engine (which can be triggered directly from the user inter- face). RealFlow‘s “Relationship Editor” gives you the freedom to describe interac- tions between a scene‘s elements simply by drawing lines between nodes. We have also included powerful Python and C++ APIs. If you prefer a node-based worklow – no problem: RealFlow Graphs are a complete visual programming interface with access to nearly any part of our simulation software.

Another, big advantage is that RealFlow can be used with almost any 3D software. We provide dedicated import/export and render tools for the main platforms: 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Lightwave, Maya, and Softimage; Modo has built-in im- port ilters. Furthermore we have open-sourced many ile formats. This makes it possible to write your own import tools. Trizz & Fusion C.I.S.

Page 5 Elements of the RealFlow Software

Particles Particles are RealFlow‘s universal “currency” for all luids, but it is also possible to create, manipulate, remove, and control them through scripting (Python, C++, Graphs – RealFlow‘s node-based visual programming tool). Particles are introduced by emitters and they can store a broad range of properties, e.g. velocity, vorticity, pressure, curvature or mass. RealFlow provides free tools for rendering particles as sprites, spheres, objects of any shape, or volumetrics inside your 3D application.

Hybrido Fluids RealFlow‘s Hybrido luid simulation technology consists of two elements: 1) HyFLIP. This system allows artists to create huge amounts of water, for examp- le loods, oceans, and breaking waves. A versatile and robust viscosity model gives you the possibility of simulating substances ranging from water to chocolate, honey, or molten glass.

2) HySPH (also known as “secondary luids”). With this luid type you add details like splashes, foam, bubbles, and mist to the HyFLIP simulation. This way you get a realistic and convincing image of real luids.

SPH Fluids This luid type is the choice when you need a high level of detail. Turbulent and vivid luids with small drops, viscous paint splashes, substances with different densities, fruit juice, lemonade, or cream – all these different types of luids can be handled by RealFlow and interact with each other.

Rigid and Soft Bodies Caronte is a powerful rigid and soft body dynamics engine and also part of the RealFlow package. Caronte is able to handle thousands of objects, provides fracture tools, and simulates deformable bodies with high accuracy. Tools like MultiJoints help you to simulate collapsing and breaking structures with a high degree of realism. MultiServos act like motors – they accelerate and decelerate your objects, and create physically correct motions.

RealWave RealWave is a fast and versatile tool for huge ocean surfaces. RealWave allows you to combine different, predeined wave models. RealWave also supports the interaction between objects and waves, and you can simulate effects like buoyancy, splashes, and secondary waves.

Page 6 Daemons These helpers introduce forces to accelerate particles and object, they are used to remove particles based on their position in space, but also attributes like speed or isolation time. Other daemons help you to customize UV data or add particles to get coherent sheets of luid.

Meshes Fluids are simulated as particles, but mostly rendered as solid volumes – so-called meshes. With RealFlow‘s fast and easy-to-use mesh engines it is possible to turn millions of particles into accurate meshes showing every little detail.

Maxwell Render With RealFlow 2013 we implemented the core of the Maxwell Render engine. Now you are able to create high-quality renders from your simulations directly inside RealFlow.

Scripting and Coding RealFlow‘s built-in tools help you to do amazing simulations, but there are situa- tions where you have to inluence particles or objects manually. Python scripting, a C++ interface, and a node-based visual “programming” system let you accom- plish simulations which require more artistic freedom.

Tools In addition to RealFlow‘s core technologies you will also ind lots of helpful tools:

• A powerful curve editor helps you to create and manipulate animation curves. Instead of keys it is also possible to deine so-called expressions for describing motions based on simple – or complex – mathematic formulas. • RealFlow‘s simulation data can be stored in many different ile formats – even simultaneously. Later you load these iles to your 3D application with dedicated plugins, where they are shaded, textured, and inally rendered. • Simulations can be post-processed and retimed using RealFlow‘s “Simulation Retime” engine. The advantage? You can change timing without re-simulating! • Furthermore, there are four fracture tools. These helpers help you to break any object into pieces.

And many more...

Pluto Page 7 The RealFlow Product Range Information | Coding and Scripting

RealFlow Standard One frequently asked question is if programming is essential for RealFlow? This is our main application, equipped with a customizable graphical user interface, The answer is simply “No!” Most of your daily simulation tasks can be solved a 3D viewport, and access to all of RealFlow‘s elements. Here you prepare your without writing a single line of code. Even if you want to inluence a simulati- scenes, apply tools, watch a simulation‘s progress, record previews, and do highly on you still do not require any programming experience: RealFlow‘s “Graphs” realistic renders. The “Standard” version is also available with a “Learning Edition” system is a node-based, visual system that lets you create programs by combi- or a “Demo” license. ning and assembling predeined elements.

RealFlow Command Line Of course, RealFlow has a strong technical background and therefore supports The command line version of RealFlow is included with the “Standard” license, Python, C++, and expressions. and it can be seen as a different way of launching the software. A scene that has been prepared in RealFlow‘s GUI can be sent to the command line version for accelerating the simulation process: due to the fact that RealFlow does not have to update millions of particles and hundreds of objects, simulating via command line simulation is 30% faster than a simulating via the GUI. A command line simulation Dvein is triggered with just two clicks.

RealFlow Nodes Nodes can be installed on additional computers of a network. A RealFlow Node does not have a user interface, and is controlled via a manager from the GUI or a web browser. RealFlow Nodes can be used to run multiple simulations simultane- ously or distribute certain parts of a project over a network, for example Hybrido splashes and foam. Please note that RealFlow Nodes are sold separately.

RealFlow RenderKit (RFRK) The RFRK is free of charge, available for all major 3D applications, and facilitates your render tasks. Fluids can be meshed inside your 3D program directly at render time, but also rendered as individual particles, or volumetric clouds.

Connectivity Plugins Connectivity plugins are free of charge and available for all major 3D applications. This set of plugins provides tools for importing and exporting particles, meshes, geometry, RealWave surfaces, and cameras. You will also ind support for a wide variety of formats, making it easy to exchange simulation data not only between different 3D programs and RealFlow, but also with other 3D/VFX artists.

Page 8 The RealFlow Pipeline 3D Scene Description Before we start to explain the fundamentals of RealFlow‘s user interface we want to tell you a little more about the exchange of data between RealFlow and your 3D (in RealFlow or 3D program) software, because this pipeline is essential for exploiting all advantages.

Geometry Exchange In most cases you will create objects in your 3D program, and import them to RealFlow, where they can interact with luids, rigid and soft bodies, or RealWave surfaces. The connectivity plugins provide tools for importing and exporting geometry data. In RealFlow, objects from external sources are imported with an Simulation easy-to-use import function (Ctrl/Cmd + I). The plugins consider animation keys, vertex displacement information, and UVW data. The RealFlow RenderKit also sup- ports the import of RealWave data.

Particle Exchange The connectivity plugins are able to load RealFlow particles, and export particles from a 3D software‘s internal particle system. With the RealFlow RenderKit it is possible to import RealFlow‘s particles and render them as particles, volumetric Simulation Data Export clouds, or meshes.

Mesh Exchange A mesh is a polygon hull around a particle cloud. The connectivity plugins support both the import and export of meshes. The RealFlow RenderKit, on the other hand, creates meshes within your 3D software at render time.

RealWave Exchange Simulation Data Import to 3D Program RealWave data is loaded to your 3D program via the connectivity plugins, but it is (Connectivity Plugins / RFRK) also possible to export any object to RealFlow. There you can use it as a RealWave mesh and displace it with a wave modiier. The RealFlow RenderKit has support for RealWave surfaces as well.

Texture Exchange RealFlow is able to write out different types of textures and maps: wet maps, vorticity and velocity maps, normal maps and Alpha maps. Textures can also be loaded to RealFlow and applied to objects, but can also be used as emission masks Shading, Lighting, Rendering for emitters, or maps for controlling properties like particle friction. Inside your 3D application, maps are treated like textures.

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