Driving sim with image sequence - workflow bug

[GrahamMac]

I have a surface in the sim grid with UVW mapping and an animated black and white texture of a growing line applied (black line on white)
I copied the bitmap in the material editor and inverted it (becomes white line on black) and use instance of this for PhoenixSource smoke map slot.
So far it all works as expected when I run a simulation.

If I put the inverted bitmap into a composite map and then instance that composite map to the PhoenixSource smoke map slot the simulation will only work as expected when the material editor is open.
If I close the material editor whilst the Max timeslider is on frame X for example, and run the simulation the fluid is emitted but the bitmap within the composite map is stuck on frame X.

If I open the material editor and start the simulation again, the bitmap animates correctly and all is fine!

[Ivaylo Katev]

thanks for the report Graham, this is obviously an texture update problem, i will try to reproduce it.

[Ivaylo Katev]

i failed to reproduce the problem, could you attach a scene?

[GrahamMac]

Example scene attached

I've also supplied some of the image sequence files used by Phoenix.
Using 3D studio Max 2011 64bit sp1 (vray 1.5 sp5)
The supplied max file is set to use the composite map containing the bitmap sequence within the phoenix source smoke slot.
If you run the simulation with the material editor open it will work (although a little slow due to material editor refresh).
Whilst simulating, if you close the material editor the smoke will stop it's advancement across the plane as if the image sequence is stuck on a particular frame.
If you then open the material editor again the smoke generation will jump to catch up to the latest image sequence frame.

Let me know if you are able to get the same results.

[Ivaylo Katev]

thanks, i found a similar problem reported (and fixed) four months ago, i think the problem here is the same but appears because the bitmap is hidden behind the composite map.