I have a Phoenix fluid simulation with splash particles, wetmap particles and mist particles. The sim looks great but I can’t render the particles with Redshift - or anything for that matter. I check the box to create nParticles but they don’t show up.
I had this problem a couple of years back and it still seems to be present. Back then I had to restart the simulation after checking the create nParticles option. This would actually connect them - just checking the box seems to do nothing. Once a frame with particles appeared I could stop the sim and render as the cache is coming from the Phoenix sim which has already simulated.
Closing the file meant I had to go through the same process.
Does anyone here have a solution? How can I connect the nParticles to the Phoenix cache manually so it persists? Or alternately export the Phoenix particles or cache them so I can disconnect them from the Phoenix cache.
Similar issue with nParticles and caches displayed in this video - https://youtu.be/XWIhs6DGQiQ?si=XzWzSEoZlp6bIuxC
The particles appear when simulating, then disappear when sim stops
Switching DG to Serial and Parallel gives different results but none of them work. I am using Maya 2024.2 and the latest Phoenix (updated yesterday, did not fix anything)
File is attached.
TEST_nParticles.zip (25.8 KB)
Regular nParticles from the Content Browser example file are working fine - but the nParticle shape node inside the node editor looks very different to the Phoenix nParticle node - the one that is created when you check the box. I tried switching it out for the native Maya node but they don’t have the same attributes.
I can confirm this is also broken in Maya 2026
Does it work if you “pause” the simulation instead of “stopping” it? That’s how I managed to make it work. Otherwise, it seems like Phoenix 5.20 doesn’t exhibit this issue - I’ll now see which version exactly introduced it.
EDIT: Phoenix 5.23.00 for V-Ray 7, Maya 2024 seems to be working. Mind if you try it?
EDIT2: FYI, logged the issue as (PHI-7623).
Thank you, that version works. The particles can be converted to nParticles and the particles remain connected after closing and reopening the file.
I can’t seem to get motion blur working on the nParticles, although the meshed liquid works fine. And I still can’t save a separate cache to detach them from the Phoenix grid.
Moblur seems to be working fine in Arnold without any adjustments to the attached scene, so maybe something needs to be done with Redshift. Otherwise, I’ll investigate how to export a separate cache.
EDIT: The devs told me you cannot “detach” Phoenix from nParticles - you can only disable the rendering of the sim.
Well unfortunately that is the death knell for my relationship with Phoenix. I opened the test file yesterday and it was detached from the nParticles again. If I can’t render them from the grid and i can’t cache them separately I dunno what further use I can get out of Phoenix! That is really disappointing, I’ve been using Phoenix for about ten years now.
I appreciate the assistance Mr Crab.
-=CC=-
Hey folks!
Haven’t seen the Phoenix code in over 2 years now, but as far as I remember, Maya didn’t provide a way to speak to nParticles for 3rd party plugins.
So what’s going on between Phoenix and nParticles is a major hack and a miracle in the first place and it’s likely to get worse with each new Maya version in the future as I don’t think the nParticles are getting any support either…
If anything between Phoenix and nParticles works and is useful to anyone - that’s great, but otherwise sorry if it’s causing frustration.
Cheers!
That does not surprise me at all! I stopped using VRay years ago in favour of Redshift and have had trouble with Phoenix ever since due to not being able to render the nParticles.
Hey,
The issue with nParticles disappearing when stopping the Phoenix simulation should be fixed in the latest nightly of Phoenix for Maya (30 Apr 2026).
Hope this helps 
Cheers!
That’s amazing! Thanks for the update.
