Tutorial Details
- Completion Time: 1 hour
- Program: 3ds Max, RealFlow4
- Difficulty: Intermediate
Twice a month we revisit some of our reader’s favorite posts from throughout the history of Cgtuts+. Today we’re taking a look back at Eric Schilling’s Intro To Fluid Sims In RealFlow 4. This tutorial was originally published back in September of ‘ 09, and proved to be very popular.
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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By Eric Schilling
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oh beautiful outcome.. really really awesome
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!
does it is the same way with C4D or is it different
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
Hi Eric – can’t get the intial state to work.
the rigid bodies won’t sit right after reset is hit.
I think Im in the version realflow 4.
Hey :)
Love the Preview with the wireframe!
What about a tut about the wireframe (love it) and vray`?
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?
How do you open realflow? I dl’d the demo but I don’t know where the program is installed =(
Thank you so much. I’ve been considering RealFlow for a while this has helped me make my decision. Great tutorial.
Anyone know if the Maya workflow is similar?
Another basic tutorial… useless. Go to the realflow website and get better ones.
Great tutorial! Thanks a ton!
Love this tutorial. Can you make some more realflow tutorials? Maybe little more advanced?
Thanks again
Did he says Cgtits ?
:-D
Great job Eric – I loved the detail you went into for the RF particles and meshes.
I love it!
I searched for something like this for a long time!
10x
If you have the demo plugin will it only let you export one object from C4d?
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.
Nice tut.I think the obvious next step would be a Realwave simulation tutorial.
Where is the Tutorial? The only video i can watch is the final preview one… wth?
Works fine in my browser. Anyone else having trouble with this?
no.
I’m getting the same problem in internet explorer, but it’s fine in firefox
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
Real Flow always have been a mistery to me. Not anymore! Thanks a LOT for this really helpful tutorial mate!
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!
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?
Realflow is an awesome program…good info here Eric!
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.
very nice! I always want to learn realflow.
Write a Tutorial
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 =)
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
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?
The video tutorial is no more avaible :(
Can u please fix this issue, i dont wana miss such great Tutorial
Thx in advance
thx for reuploading it team :)
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?
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
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
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
got it, u took vraylightmats 4 lighting…. so i dont need the rest…thx ;)
That\’s a mold-breeakr. Great thinking!
great jo bro.
thanks for this tutorial.
thanks for this tutorials
Love this tutorial. great explanations and im going to do a search and hopefully find allot more from you.
First time I really get something decent on Realflow, thanks to your tutorial.
Nice way to explain everything, and is really simple to follow, the only difference with mine end result I use Mental as I d’ont have vray.
Thanks
Hello
Im having a problem with rendering a segment where the fluid drops from the source into a funnel. When i try to render the segment i get the first frame of the mesh and then it just sits there, it continuies to render but the mesh is frozen. When i try ro render a frame where the water looks real awesome it works just fine.
What the f***k could be the problem?
Answer quickly please!
Hi,
first of all I would like to say that this is a very good tutorial.
But when you render in the vid it goes really quick and when I try it it’s very slow.
I don’t know why because I have a new computer with quad core AMD cpu.
Is there something in the preferences I should change or something else?
I hope someone can answer my question…
Grtz,
Frostraver
Very decent and well described
Thanks
Very nice tutorial, helped me and my friend a lot, appreciate you taking so much time and effort to make this tutorial and of course the pains to explain things in details, I can only say that this is no less than social work.
Thanks and regards.
Kim
Hi there! thank you very much for this GREAT intro tutorial. It’s the first one I ever watch for RF, and I found it so useful… I suddently feel pretty comfy with the app and its tools. You made my my life just a bit easier lol
Greetings from Madrid, Spain!
Here’s my take, but I used C4D
http://vimeo.com/18295727
URGENT!!
Hey eric, i tried to make all the things you done but when i add fluid, realflow is crashed and closes :( i don’t understand what is wrong with it.
realflow 5, 3ds Max 2011
my pc:
intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo CPU P8700 @ 2.53GHz 2.53GHz
RAM 4GB
32 byte
NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 220M CUDA 1GB
this is a awesome tut!
thx a lot!
can’t get initial state to work right – things explode on reset!
anyhelp out there?
@graham: I’m having the same problem: I modelled the things in cinema 4d, after the first simulation, clicking make initial state etc. When I click simulate again, cerials start to go crazy around the bown, like orbiting planets. Any suggestions?
Im revisiting this tutorial with a 12 core system and its running as slow as it did on my quad core system
Any suggestions?
File > Preferences > Simulation > THEN CHECK (USE MAX.Threads) or u can change it to use w/e amount of threads you wanna use.
Hehe. I did some in Cinema 4D.