Is there a demo version of phoenix?
I am trying to create a nebula, and was thinking phoenix might be the way to go, I have attached an image of what I am trying to accomplish, if anyone can recommend a means that would be great. I am currently using Vray Environmental fog on displaced and shelled objects, but getting the look in the image is a monumental challenge.
The second pic is my first stab at it, spent two evenings playing around with it, again just a start.
Any input would be greatly appreciated, I am diving into something crazy here.
Archaine
You can apply for a trial version of Phoenix (scroll to the bottom of the page for Phoenix) - Free trial | Chaos
Thank you! I looked around, feel silly for not seeing it.
Ok, so Phoenix seems like the way to go for the task at hand, I will have to play around with turning smoke into fire, and getting forces to be centralized around a single point, but I think it is doable.
I do not have access to the Phoenix Forum since I am working in demo mode at present, but I have a few questions after completing hours of tutorials.
1. PhoenixFD and exposure. I usually work with realistic exposure, ie. Vray sun with intensity of 1 and camera exposure at 200s for outdoor daytime scene. I noticed in the gasoline explosion tutorial, the sun is set to .02 (the old way to do things) and there is no camera exposure. I change the sun intensity to 1 and added exposure, smoke and ground looks good but light emitted by fire is now muted. What is the proper way to adjust PhoenixFD light emission for a given exposure. Do I play with Gamma Correction under atmosphere, or just increase the Fire Multiplier, or something else?
2. Does the volume of an emitter relate directly to the fire released? In the gasoline explosion tutorial there are the 3 fuel barrels, is the resulting explosion (with the final tutorial settings) realistic based on the barrel size, or is this just artistically estimated? I read over the fire source emit mode documentation several times, but it is unclear what gives the most realistic result. The docs talk about surface based release, and hint to this release being based on the object volume, is this correct?
3. Should Optimized atmos. evaluation be on for PhoenixFd simulation renders?
So far Phoenix is pretty awesome! I will continue tutorials and see if I can’t produce a great nebula.
Thanks again.
Archaine
PS: is there any way to search a particular forum for key words, I tried searching “exposure” but it seemed to look across all forums and I only want to search phoenix forum.
Hey,
1> Just boost the fire multiplier. A default Phoenix simulator has the Physically based option set to 1 and a pre-made curve that corresponds to realistic fire emission for the temperature used in the simulation (the Phoenix temperature is in Kelvins).
2> Phoenix is an artist’s software in the first place. If something can be given a scientific notion without making the software less accessible, we do it. If there is something that can be represented in both the artist and scientific terms, artists perspective wins 
So, you have 3 emit modes:
- Surface force creates velocities along the normals of the emitter geometry. Anything this velocity manages to drag away from the geometry gets filled with matter.
- Volume Inject fills the volume of the emitter geometry with matter. It also adds pressure that creates realistic velocities since they the pressure gets plugged directly in the fluid solver. If you don’t have the Inject Pressure animated for just one frame, but instead add pressure all the time, then the volume of the produced matter will get larger not only the larger the geometry’s volume is, but also the higher the pressure is, since the emitter’s volume will constantly get re-populated with matter once the pressure pushes it out.
- Volume Brush works by just gradually changing the grid values towards a desired value over time (or instantly, when the Effect is at 100%)
3> In some cases it helps, but don’t expect too much from it If you want to optimize volumetric rendering, the Phoenix light cache speedup and the render step will be the greatest contributors to the volume itself, and you can also decrease the light resolution of Phoenix in order to speed up the illumination over the scene. You can also experiment with the Probabilistic shading from the Phoenix atmosphere properties.
Cheers!
… ah, sorry - yes, there is a way to search a particular forum only - check out the arrow next to the search bar.
Hey,
There are monthly rentals of Phoenix workstation licenses that should be quite affordable - check the bottom of the product page: Chaos Phoenix - Liquid, Fire & Smoke Simulation Software | Chaos
Also note that you can still use the Ocean texture and render Phoenix effects without a license - you can find more info here: Chaos Docs
Cheers!
Also, first of all, please wait for a reply for the sales guys
Hey,
You can try to bake the z-depth indeed, though I’m not really sure that will give the best results.
Unfortunately I can’t think of another way. Fingers crossed.
Hi Archaine,
Here is the scene file and one rendered frame.
Best,
Hammer
nebula-tutorial.zip (2.25 MB)
Looking very nice! Btw, if you are exploring the particle road, try the Phoenix Particle Shader’s point mode + Count Multiplier - it will create more particles at render time inbetween the original ones.
Cheers!
Hey,
Check the docs on the Mesh render mode - you’ll find how to control the surface there,
If you don’t want a billowy smoke, then don;t increase the conservation quality - decrease it instead. Also, switch to a different advection or conservation method and see which one works best for you.
Cheers!
Going to have this thing taking off next.
Svetlin, I saw you did a rocket launch tutorial some time back. I was going to start with the gas stove template and move up from there. Do you have any jet engine or rocket engine scene files laying around?
