Learning RealFlow

Course details

RealFlow is the motion picture industry's standard tool for liquid simulations. It's a standalone application that offers robust interoperability with most popular 3D programs. In this introductory course, you'll explore the powerful features of the RealFlow core application, and see how RealFlow is integrated into Maya and 3ds Max.

You'll learn how to create small-scale effects with standard particles, create free-flowing water effects with the Hybrido solver, and simulate open bodies of water such as oceans and ponds with RealWave. Author Aaron F. Ross also shows how to control interactions between objects and fluids with Caronte, the rigid- and soft-body physics engine included with RealFlow.

Learning objectives
Understanding the RealFlow pipeline
Importing scenes from other 3D programs
Emitting standard particles
Caching data
Simulating a Hybrido fluid
Creating a Caronte rigid body
Converting particles and fluids to mesh
Exporting scenes
Rendering with mental ray

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - Welcome
02 - Using the exercise files

1. Getting Familiar with RealFlow

03 - Understanding the RealFlow pipeline
04 - Analyzing the demo scenes
05 - Setting preferences
06 - Creating and setting up RealFlow projects
07 - Browsing the interface
08 - Selecting and transforming objects
09 - Navigating in views
10 - Layout views and panels
11 - Choosing shading modes

2. Particle Simulation

12 - Importing a 3D scene
13 - Creating an emitter
14 - Adding a gravity daemon
15 - Controlling particle parameters
16 - Colliding particles with geometry
17 - Killing particles with k Volume
18 - Simulating surface tension
19 - Setting an initial state
20 - Keyframing node parameters
21 - Adjusting animation in the Curve Editor
22 - Fine-tuning a particle simulation
23 - Building a particle mesh
24 - Adjusting mesh parameters

3. Hybrido Simulation

25 - Setting the scene
26 - Creating a Hybrido domain
27 - Emitting fluid from an object
28 - Controlling cell size
29 - Choosing domain display options
30 - Adding a foam emitter
31 - Building a HyMesh

4. RealWave with Caronte Rigid-Body Simulation

32 - Creating a RealWave surface
33 - Adding modifiers
34 - Making an active rigid body
35 - Setting center of gravity
36 - Choosing Export Central cache outputs
37 - Adding crest splash
38 - Killing particles with k Age
39 - Adding object splash

5. Interoperability with 3D Applications

40 - Exporting and importing
41 - Using the Alembic format
42 - Linking to Realflow cache files
43 - Meshing at render time with RenderKit
44 - Rendering with mental ray

Conclusion

45 - Goodbye