Looping?

[duke2]

I see there is a loop option but I can't quite work it out. I have a simulation that is 128 frames long (pow2 is a bad habit) but I only want to loop 64-128 - how do I do that? I tried to turn loop on but it doesn't appear to do anything - do I have to simulate again or am I meant to use resimulation?

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey,

Everything under 'Input' are playback settings which would work over a completed simulation without running it again. Are you looping fire or liquids? Here is some info on what the controls do, but I must update it: https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...ireSmoke+Input

The important thing about looping is that you need to set Length to the length of the loop, Cache Start to the first cache of the loop, and Loop Overlap is the number of frame AFTER the length of the loop that will be used to smoothly blend between the start and the end of the loop. So if you have a loop starting at frame 64, long 64 more frames and you want to have an overlap of 20 frames, then you need at least 148 frames simulated.

Hope this helps - if you still have issues, please post your settings and describe what is the result

Cheers!

[duke2]

This doesn't loop so well:
https://youtu.be/00x0woTLTOg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6doc5utb9z...1_003.max?dl=0

I have a frame range from 0-128. It's ready to loop at 64, so I set the cache start to 64, the length to 32 and the overlap to 32. The frame blending is precise (velocity and advection origin are output).

[George Barzinski]

Hi,

Loop mode works best for scenes where cyclic simulation is present - for example burning a fire in a fireplace, burning candle, shore-waves etc. In your case, there's too much difference between start and end frames and that's why smooth blending can not be achieved.

[3dwolf]

But wouln't you expect a soft blend over a time of 32 frames overlap?

Docs: "Loop Overlap | loopjnt ? In Loop mode, specifies the number of timeline frames after the loop's end that will be blended with the loop's beginning to make for a smooth transition. "

Shouldn't there be a 'blend' or is it just an additiv overlap? Soft blend yould be nice.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

With 3D fluids, blending frames from far away parts of the simulation often looks like additive blend indeed. With adjacent frames we can follow the velocity fields and advection coordinates and figure how one frame transforms into the other, but with a couple of frames which are so different in shape there is no pretty solution - it would work out best if the loop start and end frame have similar sizes and shapes... With FLIP particles it's easier, but still it would be best if the start and end frame look similar.

[squintnic]

)never mind(