Hi there!
Is it possible to export the simulated particles not as .prt files but as an animated mesh? Just like exporting simulations in RealFlow.
I’m using 3DsMax. Do i need the FROST Plugin?
Hi,
Phoenix does not export prt files, it is grid based and has own fotmat.
Actually, what animated format you need?
I want to simulate for example kind of thick fluids like oil. And after it got simulated in/ with Phoenix i want to export the result as a mesh, so that i can work within another programm, let’s say Maya, but without having Phoenix installed for Maya. And so i need to figure out a way to do this. The exchange format should be Alembic.
Thanks for the quick answer.
Can’t you use Frost prt files in Maya?
I didn’t try it until now. Nevertheless it’s not the way i want to solve the export/import. I don’t know exactly how it works in Realflow, but there, according to workmate, you are able to export a mesh to another program. And it would be great to do the same with Phoenix.
I don’t know how it’s working exactly in 3ds Max, but in Maya you can export a standard mesh to whatever you want. In Maya, Phoenix FD has an option to create such standard mesh and then you can export to alembic for example. This works also for creating VRay proxies.
So how does it work in Maya? It’s surely quite similar to Max. In which menu is the magic button hidden? 
In Maya if you want to export Phoenix simulation to Maya Mesh you have to choose Maya Mesh from Render Mode drop-down menu. Then you could export Phoenix simulation as a MayaMesh , VrayProxy or Alembic file.
In 3DSMax if you activate Show mesh option from Preview rollout Phoenix will generate mesh from the grid cells and then you could export this mesh to VrayProxy animation. Then you could use this VrayProxy in Vray for Maya for example.
Now that Max 2015/2016 as good alembic support can you export a sim mesh to alembic using Max?
Hello,
Currently not, we have it mind for the future, though.
I think you should still be able to export the mesh using the 3ds Max tools, just like any other mesh object. Not sure about the velocity information though.
Best regards,
Vlado
yes, the mesh is like the other standard max geometry objects, the only exception is the ocean mode, the preview mesh and the render mesh are not equal , because it’s too heavy and will introduce UI lag.
Phoenix FD to Mesh?
Hey all.
Using Maya.
Not to bump an old thread, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to bake out a mesh from Phoenix FD. From what I’ve read it sounds like it’s possible. How would one go about doing this?
Also, how can a simulation be offset? If I simulate starting at frame 1 and want it to actually start at frame 50, how can I do this AFTER the simulation has occurred? If I could figure that out I wouldn’t really need to bake out an animated mesh, but it would sure be nice to know how to do as well.
Best,
9k
Hey,
In the Preview panel, once you turn on Show Mesh, Phoenix becomes a standard max mesh - you can export it to any format you like, convert it, put modifiers on it, etc.
About offsetting the animation, you should check the help file 
Chaos Docs
E.g, if you want the simulation to start from frame 50, you should set Play Start to 50.
Cheers!
EDIT: Just now I saw we’re talking Maya - the animation settings there are the same as max, but the mesh preview in ‘Maya mesh’ mode doesn’t look okay to me with a latest nightly…
Alright! I’ll just offset the simulation. No need really to extract the mesh as I’m not bouncing around softwares.
Thanks for the pointer to the help docs. I didn’t really know what to search for in regards to offsetting.
Good luck! In maya the help has not been updated since the last release and it’s not connected with help buttons from the interface, so you can check the max help instead - but not everything is there too - we are preparing a new help that is completely up-to-date, but it’s not online yet.
Found a solution using alembic. Posting a video I made here to help out anyone that might need to do this.
WOOOO!
Sweet! GJ
Hello, fairly new around here and saw that this thread was kinda based on my question. I have a small sim of just goo comming out og a sphere and falling to the floor making a puddle and I wish to export it from 3ds max and get it into the game engine Unity 3D. So the alembic sulution does not really work seeing as alembic is not a real time friendly format and there for not supported in Unity. Is there any way of getting the sim baked to a normal object that can be exported with the FBX or OBJ exporter? Ive tried just directly exporting the Phoenix sim object to an FBX and that just turns up as nothing on the other end, wheter it be in max or in unity. Ive tried using the mesher compound object in max used to make particles into meshes, this gived me a mesh on the other end but only the single “frame” my timeline indicator was at when I exported. In both cases the FBX exporter does not fully understand what it is exporting and just converts it into a static editable mesh object. So is there any hope out there? Help is greatly apriciated!
Use crate