-There isn't alot documented on this source
-My 'source' fume grid has Temp and Velocity options checked for export. So does the destination.
-The output paths are unique.
-start frame is the same for both grids
-resolution is the same for both grids
-W, L, H is the same from both grids
-There are some 'calculations' but I never visibly see a result.
-with only the 'fumeFX source the adaptive grid never 'adjusts to fit 'anything' (stays in corner).
-simple sources do work with the same grid.
From here it doesn't seem to work yet with parameters set to Read or Set 100 ?!
Will 3.5 3 maybe help?
I tried again with about as 'default' a test scene as i could make.
Same thing. FumeFX sources don't seem to work at at all in maya/Linux...
Hello,
Could you please post the scene?
Thank you.
Kresimir Tkalcec
Ah shucks. In my simple scene it works today.
I'll re-visit if i can't sort it in my working scene...
I'm getting back to this with some more tests.
The issue seems to be everything about the position of the ffxFumeSource emitter in relation
to the source FumeFX grid. And it doesn't seem to be quite controlled by simply the boundaries of the fumefx grid either. It seems a little 'odder' than that.
Testing in 3.5.3 linux. I'll get backatcha if i can confirm if it is 'logical' or a 'bug'.
A few issues I've found makes this tool kinda unuseable as it stands.
1. It needs to be well documented how important it is that the ffxFumeSource stays aligned in 3d space to
the Fume grid it references. And that the new Fume grid -that is reading the ffxFumeSource at least overlaps
this grid as well (or you will generate 0 byte caches).
Its easy as a user to think all this is working with default setups with everything sitting at the origin. But with production scenes-to scale- the fume fx grids are *NEVER* at the origin. Depending on what you have selected the ffxFumeSource may get created at the origin and not aligned to the fumefx grid you'll want to select for reference later.
2. Selecting a reference FumeFX source grid and doing a FumeFX>FumeFX Source does NOT
'Attach selected' that reference fumefx grid to the resulting ffxFumeSource1 object. It should. You have to do this by hand afterwards. Buggy. See the workflow for attaching an object source to see the expected workflow (with the geometry correctly 'attached').
3. (the biggy) FumeFX Sources only seems to understand sims with a single simple source! Which makes it not realistic for production. At first I thought it was the type of source (only simple) but now it seems having anything more than ffxSimpleSource1 (see scene attached) won't show up as expected in the result.
Repro steps (scene attached)
a) load scene and localize the FumeFX cache output paths to an appropriate location for all FumeFX grids.
b) Sim FumeFX1 so you have a cache to ref.
c) You will notice that fumeFX1 has three sources - two simple sources and an object ('pPlane1_source')
d) sim FumeFX2 (which is reading the ffxFumeSource1) it will only create a fluid from ffxSimpleSource1
and not any of the other two.
e) set up a similar scene with fumeFX1 using just a single object source (like pPlan1_source) to generate the reference cache. You'll get another 0 byte cache aka no result.
f) I bet a particle source would also fail-but i haven't tried it. But worth checking while you fix the others.
Hello,
Here is a proper setup of the FumeFX source.
Like any other source, it will be applied only within its volume.
FumeFX source reads data from the location it occupies inside grid1 (the source grid) and emits it into the second grid.
As for the 2. "2. Selecting a reference FumeFX source grid and doing a FumeFX>FumeFX Source does NOT 'Attach selected' that reference fumefx grid to the resulting ffxFumeSource1 object"
This is how everything works in FumeFX - newly created source is attached to the selected FumeFX grid. Object/particle source is exception where FumeFX knows exactly how things should be connected.
Thank you.
Regards,
Kresimir Tkalcec
Many thanks Kresimir that helps!
>This is how everything works in FumeFX - newly created source is attached to the selected FumeFX grid. Object/particle source is exception where FumeFX knows exactly how things should be connected.
Yes actually it does work-if you have two fume boxes created already and you select them in the correct order it does work as expected.
For#3
Ah-see-now i get it finally. I would add some notes to the doc then. Its very easy to get no result with the defaults (with production scenes and contexts) as the source defaults volume size is extremely small.
Dimension Parameters - Depending on selected Shape, you can set dimensions, such as
Radius, or Width, Length, and Height.ADD Important: Use these parameters to encompass all desired source/s scales and positions for an expected result. Those sources outside these boundaries will be excluded from the sim.
Hello,
I'm glad that it helped.
I have added this note to the help file (thanks to pointing this out). It now reads:
Important: Use Dimension Parameters to encompass all desired voxels from the source FumeFX grid that will be passed to the FumeFX source.
..it's not that it reads where the sources are, but it can read any voxel.
Regards,
Kresimir Tkalcec
Works for me-thanks for that!
I daresay this had me convinced it wasn't quite working for *years* (MAX production included)!
Another comment on this issue as i am playing with it again.
From where does the ffxFumeSource get its orientation?
Its hard to know which way is 'up' currently. I guess this is what the arrow suggests-but why is my source
completely askew off my fume box and positioned part way outside of it?
So if I type the W, H, L, values to match my source fume fx I seem to be 'way off' the orientation by default. Tested on an 'off 0,0,0' production scene.
Seems like it would be really smart to have a couple of additional options for this source because of the nature of it.
'Adopt orientation of source fumeffx'
'Adopt position of source fumeffx'
'Adopt dimensions of source fumeffx'
I'd like to see these added to the UI of this source. I think they would get used 95% of the time by users frankly. At least as starting points. Or if not at least make this the *default behavior* and if somebody wants something much smaller let them 'shrink it' and 'move it' themselves. The current behavior seems too counter productive for the 'goal' of this source.
I also suggest the 'box' shape as default-as fume grids are boxes too. I can't see using the sphere shape for this source much at all.
Hello,
Creating FumeFX and source from the FumeFX menu and setting the same dimensions will result in the same boxes in the scene.
Actually, this source was not designed with the idea to encompass the whole FumeFX grid, but only a portion of it.
Thank you for sharing ideas - we appreciate it.
I have put those on the wishlist for FumeFX 4.0.
Thank you.
Regards,
Kresimir Tkalcec
It is the same, but for some reason unknown to me, width, length and height are not ordered in the same manner in FumeFX and in FumeFX Source.
Regards,
Kresimir Tkalcec
So for best results should i set H,W,L and rotate to fit?
Or keep the orientation and 'fudge' the value so it encompases what I want?
One thing i was hoping to do here was to use this tool to 'cheat' as an initial state but at a new (lower) resolution and/or a larger/smaller fume box.
