guide the sim by a spline

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

its the default ones, the only one i have changed is the smoke buoyancy and thats set to (-10)

[flipbook]

turn gravity off to get predictable results

Although, I haven't used spline follow since it first came out :P

[georgi.zhekov]

Yes, turn off the gravity and if you don't need fire - try setting your temperature to 300, that should do the trick.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

thanks for the input guys!
thats a bit better when you let it simulate longer but at the beginning there is a blast ))
and i get these random explosions as the time passes too

and i still get this thinning effect as the fluid travels along the path...oh dear...sorry if this starts to be annoying!

instead i need the fluid NOT to be loosing its energy - color and opacity as the time advances

just like if you run lots of particles alond the spline and turn the motion blur on - ribbon like effect but made of smoke




as you can see, the smoke is all over the place around the spline still...what were trying to achieve is a thinner stream with control over the smoke spread.

our scene is in CM, could that have the effect?

[georgi.zhekov]

What build are you using, I tried in here with the latest nightly and it seems nothing like your case. Can you share your scene file or should I make one and upload it. Seems to be working in here with your settings.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Yup, especially the blast should be fixed if it turns out to be a bug, I'd really like to check your scene if possible.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

mine is 22501 for max 2016 nightly
here is the download link
http://www.uschovna.cz/en/zasilka/HKLVZD6BVNM24YGL-Y98/

its just a test scene so feel free to have a look anyone

here is something i would like to achieve if possible:
https://www.google.cz/imgres?imgurl=...rAIQMwhcKFkwWQ

https://www.google.cz/imgres?imgurl=...9AMQMwhdKFowWg

https://www.google.cz/imgres?imgurl=...9AMQMwhcKFkwWQ

https://www.google.cz/imgres?imgurl=...vAUQMwhFKEIwQg

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Thanks a bunch for the scene, turns out the blasts are due to too bug smoke buoyancy, combined with the maximum force of the path follow helper. We left a scene to simulate overnight and we'll send it back to you tomorrow.

Basically, to get the look you want, you need to drop the Strength to about 0.9-0.95 - with a strength of 1 the smoke wouldn't be able to do its fluid behavior. Additionally, you need to drop the max distance to a length that makes sense for the size of the container - with about 50 and a fade out of e.g. 0.5 the spline will attract only the smoke that is close to it, otherwise every part of the spline will draw smoke from the entire simulator. We also increased the radial speed to about 2000 so the spline will hold the smoke closely.

With these settings above we didn't have to lower the buoyancy too - we left it at -10.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

thanks a lot for those!
i will give them a try here too.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

How did the test go guys?
i tried the same thing as you said and although i am not getting the bomb like effect, i am still gettgin the thinning of the smoke as it travels along the spline.
So i am thinking would it not be better to animate the smoke source object along this spline but still using the spline to guide the smoke thats draged behind this smoke source?

[Ivaylo Katev]

all the forces require a compromise from the user, the fluid freedom vs predictability and control. if you set the strength to 1, the smoke follows the path exactly, but it looks not like a smoke.
the less values allow the fluid features to appear, but the smoke is harder to control, it dissipates and goes away

edit: i just saw the references, you DO NOT need follow path force, you need a moving source.
in general you have hard task, because the long track requires huge container, you can try to create multiple containers overlapping the entire path and a moving source that enters sequentially in them

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hi Martin, exactly my thoughts too - if you want to achieve the result of the references, the moving source is the way to go.

Nevertheless, there is the modified scene, but path follow will not produce the result you are looking for:
followPath_modified.zip

[9k_JHT]

Not to barge in, but is this feature available for any of the Maya nightly builds of Phoenix FD yet? If so, which version and would you have an example file with it being used that I could base the setup off of? Would be of great help with a current project.

Thanks in advance!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey,

Not in Maya yet, no. At best will be in Maya in a couple of weeks, but that is as optimistic as it gets..

Cheers!

[9k_JHT]

Hey,

Not in Maya yet, no. At best will be in Maya in a couple of weeks, but that is as optimistic as it gets..

Cheers!

That sounds fantastic. Right now I'm forced to use a volume axis curve field and it must be one of Maya's single threaded solvers discussed in the documentation because it is taking a few days to crunch through the simulation. At least I can work on my high score in solitaire while it does it's thang.