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View Full Version : Making smoke flow through a tight space??

Kakkoii
10-12-2009, 04:17 AM
So I just got into 3D modeling & animation and I've been teaching myself to use Maya a bit, and I have a little conundrum.

I want to try using Fluid effects now, and my first project I'm trying is to make smoke flow through a slightly complicated bong. I want to make it start at the bowl, and flow into the bottom (where I would also like water to be sitting in), then up out of the water, up the bong pipe and out the top.

Now I'm confused about a few things..

Firstly, why does the emitter require a container? Why can't it flow freely, just placing the emitter wherever you want. Or is there a way to do so?

Second, I placed the bong inside the container, with the emitter inside the bong base. I set it to collide with it of course and hit play. The smoke doesn't seem to want to generate when inside the bong.


So I'm wondering if someone could please help me out with how I would go about doing this properly. Much appreciated, thanks.


Here's a render of the bong and some wine glasses I made:

http://fc09.deviantart.com/fs51/f/2009/283/0/6/Bong_and_Wine_Glasses_by_Kakkoii_Baka.jpg
nathansims100
10-12-2009, 04:26 AM
I would suggest picking up Gnomon's intro to fluid effects.[Link] (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/90/Maya-Fluid-Effects%3A-Fundamentals)
Kakkoii
10-12-2009, 05:06 AM
I would suggest picking up Gnomon's intro to fluid effects.[Link] (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/90/Maya-Fluid-Effects%3A-Fundamentals)

Problem is I'm enrolled full time in a 2 year 3D Modeling & Animation/Game Design course at the Center of Arts & Technology here in Canada. I have no money to pay for tutorials. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I wish they taught Maya at this school, but they teach XSI. Just started classes last week :).
DJ_
10-12-2009, 08:59 AM
It looks like you are a bit ahead of your time there. If you are on a 2 year couse, maybe you should just stick to the asignments instead of trying to do everything on one picture.

It's not like no one will help you here, but fluid effects in Maya are pretty complex (with more the 500 variables) so your problem can be 1 of 200 possible ones. By your description I would guess that you should check your scene/fluid scale, maybe your collision offset for your bong is too big for your current scene scale. But then again... this is one possibility, there are lots more.

If you really want to dive into fluids now, I sugest that you start by looking for free tutorials. Digital tutors have a bunch of sample tutorials that you can watch for free. The AgentFX blog has a few more advanced ones (that are awesome). Duncan has a few up on the Area that are rly good aswell. Also, don't be afraid of reading the 30+ pages threads about fluids on this forum. You get a lot of awesome information just by reading about how other people solved their problems, even though your problem might be different, the way of finding the solution might be very similar.
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10-12-2009, 08:59 AM
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