An Introduction to Fluid Simulation in RealFlow 4 – Basix

This relaxed tutorial will teach users how to work seamlessly between RealFlow4 and a 3D package (3ds Max 2008). It will cover how to create fluid and rigid body simulations, import and export SD files, initial states, mesh filters, 3d modeling and much much more.

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Discussion 44 Comments

  1. Modisana says:

    oh beautiful outcome.. really really awesome

  2. Mastermad says:

    real great !
    Have been looking for a nice Realflow tutorial.
    This one is just perfect , you go threw all the basics , witch is perfect.
    thanks a lot!

  3. m-_g says:

    does it is the same way with C4D or is it different

    • Eric Schilling says:

      It will be very similar. The only difference will be the way you model the bowl and cereal pieces. Importing/Exporting your .sd files will still be done through the RealFlow plugin.

      -Eric

  4. Matthias says:

    Hey :)
    Love the Preview with the wireframe!
    What about a tut about the wireframe (love it) and vray`?

  5. pixel.vasco says:

    excellent!
    Love fluid simulations!!!!!!

    Guys i came across here !! Stock video | File #: 4866480
    http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-video-4866480-room.php

    As you’ll see the same animation technique was applied to everything.

    Does anyone knows how to simulate that in 3ds max?

  6. khuezy says:

    How do you open realflow? I dl’d the demo but I don’t know where the program is installed =(

  7. Tia says:

    Thank you so much. I’ve been considering RealFlow for a while this has helped me make my decision. Great tutorial.

  8. Winston says:

    Anyone know if the Maya workflow is similar?

  9. Winston says:

    Another basic tutorial… useless. Go to the realflow website and get better ones.

  10. Chris says:

    Great tutorial! Thanks a ton!

  11. Jan says:

    Love this tutorial. Can you make some more realflow tutorials? Maybe little more advanced?

    Thanks again

  12. enatom says:

    Did he says Cgtits ?

  13. daveglanz says:

    Great job Eric – I loved the detail you went into for the RF particles and meshes.

  14. 3dyuriki says:

    I love it!
    I searched for something like this for a long time!

    10x

  15. Bob Smith says:

    If you have the demo plugin will it only let you export one object from C4d?

  16. Lo says:

    Hi Eric. I’m a beginner C4D user so I couldn’t really follow along but this was my first time seeing Realflow in use. You made it very intuitive and easy to grab on to. I will be attempting to add it to my workflow. Thanks.

  17. emihich says:

    Nice tut.I think the obvious next step would be a Realwave simulation tutorial.

  18. Martin says:

    Where is the Tutorial? The only video i can watch is the final preview one… wth?

  19. poison says:

    Hi Eric,
    I saw lot’s of tutorials on RF, but this one kicked in preety good into my system :) ))

    It’s much more infomative cause we see these kind of adverts all the time on the tv.

    Hope you make few more like theese, but definatally i would rely on you for job assistanece.

    Thanks.

    po.is.on

  20. Guz says:

    Real Flow always have been a mistery to me. Not anymore! Thanks a LOT for this really helpful tutorial mate!

  21. Guz says:

    Hey there Schill, I’m trying Real Flow myself. Is there a simple way of doing a shot where the liquid is already inside some container, and THEN some piece or anything (a cereal, for exemple) falls into the liquid? Is there a way of setting the initial state to the liquid?

    Cheers!

  22. John doe says:

    I have a quad core system and a MacBook and I’m using a low poly bowl and this scene is making both co
    puters run so slow. Anyone else having this problem? If not what specs are you using?

  23. Chris Martin says:

    Realflow is an awesome program…good info here Eric!

  24. Raghava says:

    This is very good video. you don very well guy. i keep touch with you. i tried in Rf many more times. when water fall in to the container it splits in to the small drops. i want know how to make liquid perfectly. send me your mail id.

    its very good thing.

  25. Franz Francia says:

    very nice! I always want to learn realflow.

  26. CHAZZimator says:

    Thanks a lot! This was a great tutorial!

    One question though, in 3ds max, I set my unit setup to feet w/ fractional inches like yours but when I make the sphere 6″ (inches) it is bigger than the grid whilst your is much smaller than the grid have you changed some setings with your grid or something? pls reply =)

  27. Ed says:

    Awesome tutorial Schill, the only thing that turns me off sometimes is the simulation time. took 2 days for me to simulate a pouring milk from a bottle to a glass, anyhow this program rocks.

    to Guz, there is a way to make a liquid without waiting for the particles to fill a container. First create a closed object or a set of objects, meaning no holes, just solid objects. Next import it to RF, add a new emitter called Fill Object, under the Fill Object parameter click the – sign to the right of Object then select your imported object then under the Fill Volume click and make a yes. That’s it you have partilcles ready and filled for dynamic interaction in less than one minute.

    Note: note the filled object is the liquid and should be a separate object other than the bottle. Don’t think that a glass will be filled automatically when you import it, you should create an object resembling the shape of the liquid inside the glass.

    Happy RFing…

    Ed

  28. Agent_Wiz says:

    Awesome tutorial! And I just love the addition of RF4 to my workflow ;) Just one question.. What processor do you use? I noticed when I click simulate it take a few minutes to finish.. my hardware isnt the greatest but it isnt dirt..

    C2D 6300 – i know not so great..
    ati 4850 – will be modding to firegl (would that help in this case?)
    6gb ddr2 800..

    i noticed my calc times were faster in C4D in 64bit.. is this why your simulating so fast?

  29. Mirek says:

    The video tutorial is no more avaible :(
    Can u please fix this issue, i dont wana miss such great Tutorial

    Thx in advance

  30. Mirek says:

    thx for reuploading it team :)

  31. David Pearce says:

    Very Helpful, Thank you very much. I was wondering though, would the settings be different depending on the liquid, like if I did these settings with water would it still look good or would i have to mess around a little bit?

  32. telmo says:

    hi, great tutorial but I’m having troubles using 3d max 2010, I don´t know why, every time I try to import the mesh, the animation (fluid only) gets a weird bug, first it takes a shape of a square, then turns into a liquid, but very different from the one i made with realflow. if you don’t mind helping me, contact me using, paralyzed@live.com.pt

  33. telmo says:

    never mind the comment above!
    I found the problem, It seams when we use scale via Realflow 4, it messes with 3d max.

    oh and by the way, you have a really fast computer hehe
    Anyway thanks for the tutorial and continue your great job

  34. martin says:

    amazing tut, thx a lot ;)

    i know there are many tuts of vraylighting around but
    is there a way to get the vray setting of the lighting ? :/

    thx
    martin

  35. great jo bro.
    thanks for this tutorial.

  36. manas says:

    thanks for this tutorials

  37. TS says:

    Love this tutorial. great explanations and im going to do a search and hopefully find allot more from you.

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