FLIP Fluids Addon: A liquid fluid simulation tool for Blender

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Weekly Development Notes #36 – UI Organization And Noise Generation

Covering the week of October 12th – October 16th, 2020.

Hey, it’s our 36th development update for the FLIP Fluids liquid simulation addon for Blender!

Last week’s development mainly involved learning and implementing some 3D noise generation techniques as port of an in-progress turbulence force feature. I had also found some time to organize, cleanup, and fix some bugs related to the addon UI – many from user feedback and testing, thanks!

3D Noise Generation

Procedural noise generation is something I’ve had little experience with in the past, but I’m finding these Unity + C# resources from Catlike Coding excellent for learning and understanding some techniques:

We need to develop some noise generation methods directly within our FLIP Fluids simulation engine in order to efficiently generate noise data to drive an in-progress turbulence force field feature. We’re developing our own methods because as an addon, we do not have access to the data of Blender’s noise generation features. And even if we did have access to the data, exporting and sending the data to our simulator would require long export times and large file sizes. By implementing our own methods, all we have to do is export a few parameters – just a small set of numbers – from the addon to the simulator and the engine will do all of the hard work of generating the data.

Here is a visualization of 3D Perlin Noise generated by our simulator! I’ve been importing the data into Blender to help debug and visualize the noise. In this animation, a 2D plane slices through a 3D grid of noise data. The intensity of the noise is visualized on the slice by displacing the plane like a height-map.

https://gfycat.com/scalyscornfuldogwoodtwigborer

Next up I’ll be implementing more noise techniques extending these generators to 4D so that the 3D noise can be animated to evolve smoothly over time.

Force Field Experimental Version 9.0.9.08

This new experimental version update does not have any changes related to our in-progress force fields feature set, but includes many small changes to the UI including organization, bug fixes, and small features – many requested by testers!

Want to try out these change? They can be tested in our Force Field Experimental Builds Package in the latest version!

Release Notes v9.0.9.08

Release notes for other versions can be found here.

  • Update mainly consists of changes to the UI including bug fixes, organization, and small workflow features.
  • Blender Market product downloads have been renamed to use more consistent naming format that includes the date that the file was last updated (See FLIP Fluids Downloads).
  • Added a README.html file to the Blender Market product downloads that contains info and links for how to get started with the addon.
  • Added Force Re-Export On Next Bake feature for FLIP Fluid/Obstacle/Inflow/Outflow/ForceField objects. Notes:
    • When enabled, this option will force the addon to re-export the object’s mesh data the next time that the user bakes or resumes the simulation.
    • This option overrides the Skip Re-Export option.
    • After the object has been re-exported, the force export option will be automatically disabled.
    • This option is only applicable if the _Skip Re-Export option is enabled.
    • Useful for if you have a complex animation or object with a lot of geometry with the Skip Re-Export option enabled to save time during export. Use this option if you make an update to your mesh and want to easily mark the object to update the next time you bake/resume the simulation.

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  • FLIP Fluids Helper Menu organization and cleanup – many changes based on user feedback, thanks!
    • Submenus can now be collapsed/expanded.
    • Renamed submenus and rearranged operators within submenus.
    • Check For Updates operator has been removed from the Helper Menu and is now only available in the FLIP Fluids Preferences Menu.
    • Bake Simulation submenu now includes the current cache directory.
    • Added prompt/warning to Bake Simulation submenu to warn that the .blend file has not been saved. Includes operator to open the save file menu.
      • Note: it is not required to save the .blend file in order to run a simulation, but some addon features were designed to work better if the file is saved.

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  • FLIP Fluid Simulation > Settings and Mesh Export submenu organization and cleanup.
    • Submenu can now be expanded/collapsed.
    • Object list can now be filtered to display objects by motion type: Static, Keyframed, Animated, or all objects.
    • Added the new Force Re-Export On Next Bake option to be displayed in the list.
    • Added operators to Enabled or Disable Skip Re-Export or Force Re-Export On Next Bake_ options for all objects in list.

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  • The Enable Stable Rendering operator now toggles to Disable Stable Rendering if enabled, as a quick way to undo the operator (Blender 2.8+ only).
  • Obstacle Friction list in FLIP Fluid World panel can now be expanded/collapsed.
  • Default name of the domain object has been renamed to FLIP Domain when using the Create Domain operator.
  • Whitewater Wavecrest/Turbulence/Dust Emission Rate settings have been renamed to Max Wavecrest/Turbulence/Dust Emission Rate as better descriptions for the settings.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error that could be triggered if the Organize Outliner operators were used without a Domain object in the the scene.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug where stray FLIP Fluid objects could remain behind after using the FLIP Objects to Collections operator.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug where toggling render visibility for a FLIP Force Field object would not also toggle Cycles ray visibility.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug in Blender versions 2.9+ where toggling a FLIP object’s render visibility would not update the object visibility in the viewport rendered mode.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug where command line tools would not be displayed for MacOS/Linix operating systems.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug in versions of Blender 2.9+ where newly created Domain objects would not be highlighted after using the Create Domain operator.

Featured Artwork

Post on our Facebook Page, or tag us @FLIPFluids on Twitter or @flip.fluids on Instagram for a chance to be featured!

Viscosity Comparison – Created by Kevin Nolan

@nolankucd on Twitter | Join the discussion on Reddit | Jupyter Notebook

Kevin Nolan is using Blender to create visualizations that help teach fluid mechanics to students as part of their New Dimensions project! You can vote for New Dimensions in the 2020 Media and Learning Awards here.

kevin_nolan_feature

Blender River Simulation + Breakdown – Created by Sebastian Pawlicki

Sebastian Pawlicki on Vimeo

pawlicki_feature

Infomercial – Created by Morten Jensen

@mortenlu.kungfu on Instagram | Morten Lu on YouTube

Wash your hands!

jensen_feature

Is this green enough? – Created by Janine Pauke

@liandi_cgi on Instagram | Liandi CGI – 3D Product Animation

Using the experimental curve guided force field feature!

liandi_cgi_feature

Lyric Video for Royalty – Created By Junsuina Yüri

@junsuinayuri on Instagram |juyuri.com

The Royalty music video can be watched on Visiteur’s YouTube channel!

royalty_feature

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I’ve got another question/suggestion - is there any way to make the inflow create fluid that disperses in a cone pattern?
I’d like to achieve something like this: https://youtu.be/p6mC4J2bv1Q?t=46
I need to control the width of the stream without changing the size of the emission object. I tried a couple of things but couldn’t get anything to work.
Is there a workaround that can be done now and if not can a feature like that be added in the future? Right now I’m learning Houdini to achieve the effect I want but as you can imagine it’s not easy :stuck_out_tongue:

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At the moment, a single inflow is limited to emitting in a single direction. Perhaps varied inflow emission is something we could experiment with in future development.

If multiple directions are needed, I think the best way would be to emit from multiple inflows in different directions. However, the multiple inflows can have odd results if they are touching and can result in inconsistent spraying patterns as the different velocities mix and average out. This can happen if the resolution is too low and ends up blurring the stream velocities together.

Here is an example using the Track To Blender constraint to focus the inflow direction on an Empty:

To easily set the direction of the inflow, the Empty object was used as a target for each inflow. By setting a negative speed, the inflows emit in the opposite direction of the Empty, creating the cone-like stream. In the next addon version we have added a setting to emit from the object’s local axis to bypass needing a target object to control direction.

But if you need fine spray and mist as in the YouTube animation, this type of simulator may not be the best tool for the effect. The water is quite quick in the video and the trajectory of the water follows a simple ballistic path, which could make using a liquid simulator overkill or require too much processing power. Here is an example of a single stream + whitewater that likely required most of a day to simulate: https://youtu.be/rYWN1NnOYn0

It may be easier and quicker to use a particle system effect that follows a ballistic trajectory (Such as Blender’s Newtonian particles), possible combined with a smoke simulation. Misting effects are commonly handled using a smoke fluid simulator rather than a liquid simulator.

Hope this info helps!

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Weekly Development Notes #37 – New Guide: Mastering Bubbles, Spray, And Foam

Covering the week of October 19th – October 23rd, 2020.

Hello, it’s our 37th development update for our FLIP Fluids liquid simulation addon for Blender! Last week’s development mainly involved expanding on and researching noise generation techniques that we will be using for an upcoming turbulence force field feature.

I also had a chance to spend some time testing the addon/simulator and working through the user experience of updating the addon to the next version and how this affects support of older files. For the next stable version, it looks like we will be able to safely support older files created in the previous version. The addon will be able to automatically handle and update .blend file compatibility issues. There are just a few bugs that need to be addressed for this to work and I’ll continue that during this week!

New Video: Mastering Bubbles, Spray, and Dust

Part two of our whitewater guide is now online! This video will help you understand how to setup the simulator for bubble, spray, and dust generation, as well as help you find the right settings for your scene:

Don’t forget to subscribe to our youtube.com/FLIPFluids channel! And if you missed part one on mastering foam, you can find the video here: FLIP Fluids Addon | Mastering FOAM (3a).

Featured Artwork

Post on our Facebook Page, or tag us @FLIPFluids on Twitter or @flip.fluids on Instagram for a chance to be featured!

Statue of Liberty – Created by Andre Zimmermann

@kwrrk on Twitter | KWRRK Design

zimmermann_feature

Whisky Product Animation – Created by Janine Pauke

@liandi_cgi on Instagram | Liandi CGI – 3D Product Animation

paulke_feature

Alien Food? – Created by ole_in_3d

@ole_in_3d on Instagram

ole_feature

whisper mauve goo – Created by lumpynose

Check it out on Reddit

lumpynose_feature

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Thanks! That actually does help a lot. The solution with setting a negative speed and a track to constraint is really neat! I’m definitely going to try that as it looks very close to what I want to achieve actually!

A local axis inflow velocity is a really nice quality of life addition. It’s actually my biggest complaint about Mantaflow - it doesn’t have neither local axis velocity nor target object.

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Hello @RLGUY

I have a question:

How much RAM do simulations most often require? You said that the stress test (invisible box) took 16 gb of memory. But this is a very rare occurrence. I am wondering how much memory is used in average simulations.

Are you planning to make it possible to collect statistics on RAM usage? So that RAM usage is recorded for each simulation frame.

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The amount of RAM that a simulation requires will depend a lot on the context of the effect, such as simulation setup, what features are used, and amount of detail. In general, the amount of RAM is somewhat proportional to the total number of grid voxels and number of fluid particles. But the amount can vary a lot depending on where the liquid is located and spread out within the domain (some calculations ignore memory of empty space in the domain).

We see simulation setups that require a large range of memory usage. Small simulations that run in minutes to hours that only need a few hundred MB of ram to less than 8GB. Larger simulations that may take many hours to a day to run that require up to 16GB. And very large simulations that take days to run and need up to 32GB. Its more rare to see simulations require more than 32GB since the runtime of the bake often exceeds the patience of the artist.

We do not have plans to record stats on RAM usage. We leave all memory allocation for the operating system to handle (and also the compiler’s implementation of C/C++) and do not manage our own memory. It could be made easier to predict or measure how much RAM a simulation could use if we managed our own memory, but this complexity is likely outside of the scope of this project for a small feature. There is also the trouble of measuring the amount on Blender’s Python side while the simulation runs.

If you want to measure RAM usage, it would probably be best to use an application performance monitoring program to track memory while the simulator runs.

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Weekly Development Notes #38 – Vortex Fields, Resolution Upscaling, And Bug Fixes

Covering the week of October 26th – 30th, 2020.

It’s our 38th development update for the FLIP Fluids liquid simulation addon for Blender! Last week’s development mainly involved bug fixes, initial experimentation with a vortex force field, and a new feature that allows for upscaling a simulation to a higher resolution when resuming a bake.

Resolution Upscaling

We have added functionality to upscale a simulation to a higher resolution when resuming a bake. A helpful workflow feature to save time for certain simulation effects! Notes:

  • If resuming a bake at a higher resolution, the simulator will automatically upscale the simulation data to the new resolution.
  • Useful if you have a simulation that takes some time to generate motion before you want to render the animation. For example, the initial motion and fill of a river could be simulated at a low resolution quickly, and then upscaled and continued at a higher final resolution.
  • Functionality to downscale a simulation to a lower resolution will be added at a later date.

https://gfycat.com/affectionatespectacularindigobunting

In Progress: Vortex Force Field

I had a chance last week to start an initial implementation of a vortex force field. It looks like the vortex field will be one of the simpler force field features to implement! I am able to re-use a lot of code from the curve guided force field as a vortex field is quite similar to generating a rotating field around a straight line curve. Here’s a frame from an early test of a whirlpool:

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Next Video: Solving Common Issues

The next tutorial video that is in production will be about solving common issues with the FLIP Fluids addon! As an example: a common question we are asked is how to start/stop and inflow. This can be done by simply animating the inflow Enabled option.

Here is a quick export preview to show how a square wave f-curve can be used to turn on/off the flow:

https://gfycat.com/tinycontentdassie

Tip: most settings in the FLIP Fluids addon can be keyframed or f-curve animated. If you right click on a setting and you see an Insert Keyframe, then animating this setting is supported.

Force Field Experimental Version 9.0.9.09

This new experimental version update adds fixes to bugs introduced in the last few experimental updates, as well as the new resolution upscaling feature.

Want to try out these changes? They can be tested in our Force Field Experimental Builds Package in the latest version!

Release Notes v9.0.9.09

  • Update mainly consists of bug fixes and a feature to upscale simulation resolution on resume.
  • Added functionality to upscale a simulation to an increased resolution on resuming the bake. Notes:
    • If resuming a bake at a higher resolution, the simulator will automatically upscale the simulation data to the new resolution.
    • Useful if you have a simulation that takes some time to generate motion before you want to render the animation. For example, the initial motion and fill of a river could be simulated at a low resolution quickly, and then upscaled and continued at a higher final resolution.
    • Functionality to downscale a simulation to a lower resolution will be added at a later date.
  • Material UI dropdown lists have been copied from the FLIP Fluid Material panel into the FLIP Fluid Display Settings panel.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where the simulation mesh could be loaded into the viewport during animated object export, causing a very slow export process.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where Empty type objects could be exported to incorrect locations within the simulator.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where implementation and functionality of the Disable Changing Topology Warning was missing.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where rectangle artifacts could appear in the fluid surface preview mesh (issue #491).

Featured Artwork

Post on our Facebook Page, or tag us @FLIPFluids on Twitter or @flip.fluids on Instagram for a chance to be featured!

RND Fluid Test for short film – Created by Paul Nelson

@PaulNelsonArt on Twitter

Soft Drink Commercial Tutorial – Created By cgDroid

@cgdroid65 on Instagram | Tutorial on the cgDroid YouTube Channel

HAPPY HALLOWEEN – Created by Morten Jensen

@mortenlu.kungfu on Instagram | Morten Lu on YouTube

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Weekly Development Notes #39 – Experimenting And Testing!

Covering the week of November 2nd – 6th, 2020.

Hello! This is our 39th development update for the FLIP Fluids liquid simulation addon for Blender. Last week involved very little amount of coding and was dedicated to testing and experimenting with the addon.

The experimental versions of the addon are testing very well in both our testing and from user feedback. We are getting ready to move many new features, tweaks, and bug fixes into a new stable version 1.0.9 of the FLIP Fluids addon.

FLIP Fluids Version 1.0.9

During the next two weeks we will continue to extensively test the addon to ensure that it is stable and ready for a new release before Black Friday at the end of this month. Black Friday always brings us many new FLIP Fluids users and a lot of the changes in the new version help make the addon more beginner friendly, more intuitive, and with a more polished workflow.

Notes on the next release:

  • All of the features and changes up to experimental version 9.0.9.09 (and a few more) will make it into the stable 1.0.9 version.
  • Some features that are currently in development, but not yet considered ready for testing will continue on in the experimental builds of the addon. When stable, they will be added to the next stable version (such as 1.0.9a).
  • Detailed release notes on version 1.0.9 will be made available next week or the week after.

Experimenting and Testing

Over the last week we have been working on a few animation projects to test the latest version. Some projects will become part of our example scene files that you can use to learn and experiment with.

As one animation project, we’re building you an example scene that uses tracked video footage so that you can experiment with compositing a fluid simulation into a live scene. Here, a staircase is modeled to scale so that it can be used as an obstacle in a fluid simulation, and as a shadow catcher for compositing:

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Here is a short test animation created by placing an inflow on one of the steps. The liquid simulation is composited over the video footage, which is just a background video:

https://gfycat.com/evilevenfoal

Featured Artwork

Post on our Facebook Page, or tag us @FLIPFluids on Twitter or @flip.fluids on Instagram for a chance to be featured!

Collectible beer from Benevento Calcio

A beer ad created by Riccardo Fasoli and Tom Allen for the Benevento Calcio football club. View it on YouTube!

Experimenting With Large Scale FLIPFluids simulations – Created by Yahya Elnaggar

@yaya_elnaggar on Twitter | Join the discussion on Reddit

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Hi! I’ll have to create a scene that involves a stormy ocean with boats navigating.

I am assessing what’s the best approach. I am more inclined to use less simulations to keep the complexity down, but I was wondering if there are tools that might come useful here.

  • How does flip fluids deal with a full ocean simulation?
  • would there be a good way to limit the simulation to just the white water interactions for the boats? So basically using an ocean modifier for the surface and just use flip simulations for the white water and sprays of the boat?

Thanks!

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Hi! I’ve got to say that this type of effect isn’t as straightforward using our FLIP Fluids addon with Blender compared to other software. It will likely be complex. See this topic for more information: Tips for Creating Ship Simulations.

Houdini would be the best tool for the job in this situation. I am not sure of a good and easy solution in Blender.

  • would there be a good way to limit the simulation to just the white water interactions for the boats? So basically using an ocean modifier for the surface and just use flip simulations for the white water and sprays of the boat?

The whitewater simulation feature will need to have the regular simulation running in order to work. The whitewater simulator relies on the underlying fluid simulation data to simulate the whitewater motion and generation.

Hope this info helps!

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Thanks for the help! Yeah I thought it wouldn’t be straight forward, and you’re confirming that within blender it’s probably best to keep things more “handmade”, although the quality will definitely be lower.

THanks again!

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After baking the simulation I hid the fluid and didn’t render it. The bubbles, foam, spray, and dust got semitransparent materials. And I didn’t render the container, an open top cylinder.

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Sharing an animation, I did this weekend, 400 res, the main focus was to get the underwater caustics seen through the water. Unfortunately I didn’t notice the wetmaps dry speed until the render was complete.

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I’ve recently changed my CPU from i7-4790K to Ryzen 7 5800X. I quickly set up a FLIP Fluids sim as a benchmark. The sim is a 90 frame shower scene - the emitter is an array of small elongated spheres (single object with a 10x10 array applied) - just like a large shower head. To get the jets of water sort of the correct size I had to crank up the resolution to 650. I also enabled surface tension with a very low amount, and set the minimum time steps to 2. There’s 2 obstacles - a non animated character and a wall.

On the i7 the sim completed in almost exactly 10h, while on the Ryzen it completed in 6h. In both cases the “other” calculations took a little over 50% of the total calculation time.
This seems a little high for something that’s labeled as “other” with no explanations of what actually goes there. So my question is what exactly “other” is?

Another question is what hardware has the most impact on the simulation time? CPU speed, single core/multi core, RAM speed, RAM latency, storage speed, storage access time?

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The reason why the Other category can become a large portion is a side effect of the Stats area of the addon not being updated in a long time. The last time the Stats part of the codebase was updated was in version 1.0.4a on August 24th, 2018. Since this date, all added features that add extra time to the baking process end up being lumped into the Other category.

The Stats section is a bit of a mess and needs to be completely re-written. Every update to the stats section can make .blend files created with the previous version incompatible with new versions, which is not something we like. Re-writing the stats section with a better design will allow us to more easily add extra categories without invalidating older .blend files. There is A LOT of helpful information that we can add to the Stats panel, just need to find time for development of this.

A more detailed report of the timings can be found in the log files (cache_directory/logs) or in the Blender System Console window while running the simulation.

Here is an example of what this report looks like. The underlined processes are currently the ones that get added to the Other category.

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In general, the most beneficial aspect of a CPU for this type of simulator is a high clock speed and a high single threaded boosted clock speed. More information on how the CPU is used can be found in this topic: https://github.com/rlguy/Blender-FLIP-Fluids/wiki/Frequently-Asked-Questions#my-cpu-is-running-under-100-usage-while-simulating-is-this-normal

Hope this info helps!

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Weekly Development Notes #40 – FLIP Fluids Version 1.0.9 Is Now Available!

Covering the week of November 16th – 20th, 2020.

Hey, we’re back with our 40th update for the FLIP Fluids liquid simulation addon for Blender!

It’s been a busy few weeks getting ready for the new FLIP Fluids version 1.0.9 release: testing, updating documentation, and packaging the new addon version. The last version was an incredibly stable version and 1.0.9 is looking to be as well!

FLIP Fluids version 1.0.9 is now available on the Blender Market. Already own a copy? The new version can already be found in your Blender Market account. All version updates to the FLIP Fluids addon are provided at no extra cost.

Blender Market Black Friday Sale

The Blender Market Black Friday sale begins tomorrow and will run from November 7th to 30th. During this time, the FLIP Fluids addon as well as hundreds of other fantastic Blender products will be available for 25% off!

https://gfycat.com/ampleminiaturechimneyswift

Check us out on the Blender Market!

New FLIP Fluids Free Trial

With a new FLIP Fluids release, we also have a brand new free trial containing all of the new features, changes, and fixes!

We have removed some of the previous limitations: No more frame limit and no more object limit. Now you can use the demo to follow along with tutorials and documentation, and create more complex simulations.

The Blender Market Black Friday Sale begins tomorrow, so now is the perfect time to take it for a test drive!

Try out the new demo today!

New Example Scenes

FLIP Fluids version 1.0.9 adds a new force fields feature set. We have added 7 new example scenes to showcase our new force field modes:

https://gfycat.com/amusedlongkitfox

FLIP Fluids Version 1.0.9 Release

FLIP Fluids version 1.0.9 is our biggest update yet. Some of the features added to this new version have been in the works for over a year! This version includes a large new force field feature set as well as many other features, tweaks, and workflow improvements. Thank you to all of the testers who helped us develop this new version!

Release notes for older versions can be found here.

Release Notes: version 1.0.9 (Nov 26 2020)

  • Compatibility notes older .blend files:
    • FLIP Fluids 1.0.9 is fully compatible with .blend files and caches created in 1.0.8, however some settings have been replaced and updated. If opening an older .blend file, you may want to check the following settings and adjust if necessary:
  • Changes to default behavior:
    • Default value change: Update Settings on Resume in FLIP Fluid Simulation panel is now enabled by default.
    • Default value change: Surface Subdivision in FLIP Fluid Surface panel is now set to 1 by default. Tip: set to 0 (low quality) for quicker iteration when prototying a simulation.
  • Added 4 new force field modes (Documentation):
    • Point Force – A force field that attracts fluid towards a single point.
    • Surface Force – A force field that attracts fluid towards the surface of a mesh.
    • Volume Force – A force field that attracts fluid into the volume of a mesh.
      • Can be used similarly to Blender’s older Fluid Control feature that was removed since Blender 2.82.
    • Curve Guide Force – A force field that attracts towards or along a curve, or to spin around a curve.
    • More force field modes are in development! Try our experimental versions here.
  • Added 7 new example scenes to showcase the FLIP Fluids force field feature set, including detailed notes about the simulation setup and settings (Blender 2.82+, 2.9+ only).
  • Added force field debug visualizer to FLIP Fluid Debug panel. See development update #13 for detailed information.
  • Added Force Field Resolution option to FLIP Fluid World panel.
  • Added a README.html file to the Blender Market product downloads that contains info and links for how to get started with the addon.
  • Added a Grid Info section to the FLIP Fluids Simulation panel to display info about the simulation grid including tooltips to help explain the simulation grid.
  • Added feature to upscale a simulation to an increased resolution on resuming the bake (Documentation).
  • Added functionality for Inflow/Fluid objects to emit fluid in the direction of the object’s local axis.
  • Added functionality to Skip Re-Export of static and keyframed meshes in addition to skipping animated meshes.
  • Added a Force Re-Export On Next Bake feature for FLIP Fluid simulation objects.
  • Added expanded functionality for skipping/forcing mesh data to be exported in Settings and Mesh Export submenu in FLIP Fluid Simulation panel.
  • Added functionality to link exported geometry data from another cache directory in FLIP Fluid Cache panel (Documentation).
  • Added exponent precision editing for viscosity and surface tension values.
  • Added preferences option to rename the FLIP Fluids Helper menu panel name.
  • Added preferences option to display links to relevant documentation in the UI.
  • Added UI reminder that displays in the physics panel if the preferences Beginner Friendly Mode is activated.
  • Added functionality for Enable Stable Rendering operator to also undo this operation (Blender 2.8+ only).
  • Added prompt/warning to Domain UI to warn that the .blend file has not been saved. Includes operator to open the save file menu.
  • Added features to and organized the FLIP Fluids Helper Menu panels.
    • Added domain bake and cache operators to the FLIP Fluids Helper menu.
    • Added Create Domain operator to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu to generate a domain depending on the context of what type of objects are selected and in your scene.
    • Added operators to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu to select all simulation objects of a certain type (Obstacle/Fluid/Inflow/Outflow/ForceField).
    • Added operators to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu to help organize your simulation objects in the Blender Outliner.
    • Added Override Frame settings to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu that works similar to the setting of the same name in Blender’s Alembic Cache modifier.
  • Updated for compatibility with latest version of OctaneRender.
  • Updated addon packaging, distribution, and testing processes to be automated to reduce issues related to human-error.
  • Updated Blender Market product downloads naming conventions to use a more consistent naming format that includes the date that the file was last updated (See FLIP Fluids Downloads).
  • Removed Rigid/Deformable mesh option for Inflow object. The simulator will now automatically detect whether the object is rigid or deformable.
  • Removed Preserve Foam options from FLIP Fluid Whitewater UI. These settings were not working as expected and are no longer needed.
  • Fixed: potential compatibility issues on MacOS systems.
  • Fixed: bug where command line tools would not be displayed for MacOS/Linux operating systems.
  • Fixed: issue where rectangle artifacts could appear in the fluid surface preview mesh (issue #491).
  • Fixed: bug in Blender versions 2.9+ where toggling a FLIP object’s render visibility would not update the object visibility in the viewport rendered display.
  • Fixed: error during export that could be triggered by exporting an Empty type object as a fluid/inflow target.
  • Fixed: issue where Empty type objects could be exported to incorrect locations within the simulator.
  • Fixed: issue where the simulation mesh could be loaded into the viewport during animated object export, causing a very slow export process.
  • Fixed: bug that could cause a crash if viscosity feature was enabled while simulating small amounts of fluid.
  • Fixed: bug that could cause a crash if a object contained all vertices outside of the domain.
  • Fixed: issue where changing particle size in the FLIP Fluid Debug particle debugging tool would not affect the draw size.
  • Fixed: issue that was causing inflow object to require too much memory. More info in development update #14.
  • Fixed: issue where Strawberry Splash example scene was not compatible with newer versions of Blender.
  • Fixed: bug where a rare divide-by-zero error could cause the simulation to collapse in on itself.
  • Fixed: issue where a mesh containing a zero-area triangle could cause a crash.
  • Fixed: issue where an Attribute Error could be displayed when selecting the Domain object.
  • Fixed: possible FLIP Fluid Stats alignment issue when selecting a frame that was outside of the cache range.
  • Fixed: issue where FLIP Fluid Stats panel could display out-of-date info after a cache reset.
  • Fixed: issue where FLIP Fluid toolshelf menu was missing operator to select the whitewater dust object.
  • Fixed: Fixed potential crash issues that could be triggered when using Blender’s Undo (Ctrl+Z) after creating a domain.
  • Fixed: bug where FLIP Fluid Simulation panel would not be drawn in the case that the user has run out of drive space during the previous simulation.
  • General performance improvement of 10% – 15% for medium to large simulations (Detailed notes in Development Update #33).
  • Improved speed and flexibility of geometry export system (Detailed notes in Development Update #28).
  • Improved accuracy of surface tension calculations to improve stability (prevent blow-ups).
  • Improved multithreaded performance of adding new fluid particles into simulation domain.
  • Improved performance in grid initialization.
  • Improved performance in handling FLIP Fluid Obstacle objects.
  • Miscellaneous UI tweaks, usability, stability, reliability improvements.
  • New Documentation: What is the domain simulation grid?.
  • New Documentation: FLIP Fluids Helper Menu.
  • New Documentation: FLIP Fluids Preferences Menu.
  • New Documentation: Current Status of the Preset System.
  • New Documentation: Updated installation instructions using Blender 2.8x screenshots.
  • New Documentation: Limitations of the FLIP Fluids addon.
  • New Documentation: Expanded CPU Usage Topic.
  • New Documentation: What is the difference between Blender’s Mantaflow fluid simulator and the FLIP Fluids addon.
  • New Documentation: Does my obstacle object need to be completely contained by the domain?.
  • New Documentation: Tips for Creating Ship Simulations.
  • New Documentation: Scene Troubleshooting: Fluid behaviour changes when increasing resolution.
  • New Documentation: Whitewater Rendering Tips.
  • New Documentation: notes on potential feature of Motion Blur Support on Alembic Exports.
  • New Tutorial: Episode Eight: Layering Fluid to Make Delicious Sweets.
  • New Tutorial: Complete Guide Episode: Mastering Foam (part 3a).
  • New Tutorial: Complete Guide Episode: Mastering Bubbles, Spray, and Dust (part 3b).
8 Likes
1068

Hello, @RLGUY
What is the domain resolution, bake time, fluid particles count, substeps, memory usage in this simulation?
https://twitter.com/i/status/1332411538393554944

1 Like
1069

Hello! Resolution:

grid_info

Timing/mesh stats (on Intel i7-7700 @ 3.60 GHz):

timing_stats

Largest frame:

largest_frame
largest_frame354×765 54.3 KB

Note: for rendering, I set the whitewater particles to only render 50% to speed up the render. 9h45m render at 720x720 resolution on a GTX 1070 8GB.

I’m not sure about the exact memory usage, but it was definitely under 16GB. During testing I was running this simulation two times simultaneously and I am limited to 32 GB total memory.

I didn’t expect this simulation test to be as popular as it has turned out, so I may clean up the .blend file and add it to the example scenes.

2 Likes
1070

@RLGUY Yes, I would like to get this example of a scene.