![]() He explained the new features to me and implemented some of my suggestions in the latest version of the software. I have to thank Omar Zarifi from SideFX for all his support in the process. While working, I started to get used to the new solver and its new features. With the rigid body sim done, I was able to focus entirely on the emitter creation and simulation setup. He’s a great senior FX TD who’s frequently collaborating with Alps VFX and he did a great job! We had to make sure that the timing was working correctly and that the simulation was as smooth as in the references. I enlisted Francesco Giugliano to help out with this part. The emission and the combustion workflows are a bit different from the previous version of Houdini, but they actually make everything easier and faster. ![]() The workflow is actually a very standard one. And of course, we wanted to make it as cool as possible in the given time. We wanted to show how well the new solver handles this kind of situation, without having to use camera cheats and various tricks to save memory. Some technical aspects of Pyro sims have been simplified significantly and give the artist the possibility to invest more time on those critical issues I mentioned. I really think that SideFX tackled and helped out a lot in those areas with this new release. If you don’t invest enough time in it, you could have the best Pyro simulation setup in the history of computer graphics, but it won’t work if timing and quality of emission are not right. Having a good animation and a good workflow for your Pyro emission usually solves most issues with your sim. This leads to higher efficiency by having faster sims, less I/O, faster render times and less storage needed. An artist should spend more time trying to extract as much detail as possible from a simulation and write only necessary data on disk by optimizing the number and precision of fields needed. Within a production environment, creating such huge files can increase I/O and slow down everyone’s productivity. I often see users write out billions of voxels, hoping to get amazing simulations by just increasing the division size. However, they don't realize that I am just writing simple math, the one that people normally use when they go shopping or when splitting the bill at the restaurant. When I teach Houdini and Pyro, or when I show my techniques to my colleagues, they often tell me that my code, tools, and micro-solvers are too complicated and that my VEX/VOP skills are too advanced. The second issue is “data pollution” and the third is the emission phase. Firstly, some artists are afraid to experiment and push boundaries. In my experience, there are 3 main issues in Pyro Simulations.
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