guide the sim by a spline

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

Hey guys,
so i downloaded the scene Ivaylo provided, simulates nicely but i cant seem to be able to render it as smoke, all i am getting is this liquidy/blobby object.
Would you please point me to the right direction?
Which of the tutorials shoud i follow to get this working?
Thanks for the pointer!!!
M

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hi Martin,

You need to switch to Volumetric render mode and then in the Volumetric Options you should choose Temperature/Liquid in the Opacity's "Based on" combo. There you should see in blue the valid range where you can adjust your opacity curve. This should be all that's needed in order for you to see something and be able to edit from then on.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

Thanks for the pointer Svetlin !

I ve tried implementing the same procedures Ivaylo did in his scene but i am having really hard time to make the simulation follow my path.
My scene is a lot smaller than his.
The sim just shoots out and follows the spline kind of but in a great distance from it.
I ve tried to locate this "strength" parameter he mentioned but with no luck.
Is it in the "dynamics" somewhere? I ve got the inertial forces at 1.
Thank you!

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

a-ha!
its in the path follow helper

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey Martin,

The strength parameter is in the FollowPath helper. If you have a fire/smoke simulator, you could also control how much the smoke is attracted towards the spline from the Smoke Buoyancy parameter in the simulator's Dynamics panel.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

Sorry for one more NOOB question but is it possible to stop the emision and certain point, but the rest of the liquid would finish following spline?
As if the tap was closed 1/2 through the animation but the rest of the water left the scene nicely?


loving it so far btw

so i left the fire and smoke color intact in the volumetric render settgins and set the smoke opacity to temperature liquid
it doesnt render anything...i am sure doing somethign wrong will have a look for some of those tuts you have on the site

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Do you see a blue area in the opacity diagram? If not, then it's not the right channel. Do you simulate liquid or smoke?

You can check a list of tutorials right here: http://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/P220N/Tutorials

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

I have exactly the same simluation Ivaylo had in his file.
Its also correct i cant see the blue in the diagram.
Will check the tuts cheers!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

You can check which channels you have in your cache in the list under the Simulation panel - any of them will work for opacity. You can choose which ones you simulate from the Output panel.

[Ivaylo Katev]

Martin, are you really need to render the liquid as smoke, or you need to make a smoke to follow a spline?

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

Hi Ivaylo,
yes we have a project where we need to drive the smoke on a spiral spline through an assembly of vents.
But the client is pretty picky about stuff and we need to have quite a big control over the way the smoke behaves.
So i though it would be a good idea?

What woudl be the best approach guys?

Thank you very much for the help!

Best Regards

Martin

[Ivaylo Katev]

then the scene you got is absolutely inappropriate, it demonstrates liquid following spline, for smoke you need at least smoke simulator, not liquid simulator.
- create a fire/smoke simulator
- create the spline
- make a smoke source near to the spline first point
- in the dynamics panel, set the smoke buoyancy to be -10
unfortunately the original smoke scene is lost and i can't attach it

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

ok so i started getting something, however its still far from being useful.

1/
the smoke starts disappearing half way through the spline
2/
i cant get rid of the smoke "mushroom" look ate the leading end of the smoke

What i am trying to achieve is "cigarette- lik" type of smoke but lead through a specific path

somethinglike here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUJ-X1rsKV4
time 0:20 and 0:56

so something more like streaks rather than fire like smoke.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

so this is what i am getting.
instead, i need to produce a very steady stream of smoke that has constant flow and constant width along the spline

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hmm, could you screenshot your Dynamics settings too?