More fun with Maya Fluids

#1

hey guys!

I am sharing my case study or say a recent achievement on creating realsitic candle flame behaviour.
I initially thought getting the look wont be tricky that much but the behaviour would be little complex. But as soon as I started the look development things fell in my favour & I got what I was looking for.
I actually developed a candle flame system for the project “Scared Shrekless” a short film by dreamworks animation still in production.
the system was pretty much simple & was able to handle fast moving candle transformation ( thanks to Duncan). I also added some user control like force multiplier to control the acceleration force on the velocity grid, temperature color change control etc-etc.
So In few cases the animation/transformation of the candle was pretty extreme so in such situation having a user control on velcoty grid was extremely helpful.
Anyway I wont talk about how I went but I`ll share what I have got so far…:slight_smile:
hope u guys find it useful!
so I took some refernce from google :

#2

& this what I have got so far from maya :

the key to get this look is quite simple. I just used a high amount of temp buoyancy like 50-70 & a good amount of density dissipation like 12-14. this will chop the flame in a manner where u`ll start getting a leaf shape on the top area.
I also made the Y-velocity of the fluid to something like 1.2 & no swirl.
there is a slight temperature diffusion which helps me to give smooth color transition along the edges & in the bottom from blue to bright hot yellow.
this doesnt require any high detail solve ON so I have set it to OFF.
the resolution of the fluid is very low like 40 40 40 in all the axis.
One can go even low like 30 30 30 & can get very decent result.
I have set color to black in color shading tab as I am totally driving the color with incandescence shading. have look at my setiings here :

& for the opacity :

Ill soon post the animation/simulation render, thers is alot to come & Ill post all my findings here. hope you guys would like it much.
Stay tuned,
Best
Vik

#3

hey vik nice man . im working at paprikaas . … ur infos r very helpful to me … hope i can also do someting on dis . ill try to match ur images over here . anyways keep up the good work… it helps a lot

#4

here`s a small test :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtK9yA8SJoU

currently the noise in fluid looks little rigid so I did few more test by playing only with turbulence & temperature turb.
these two are the main key to get the flickering or ondulating movement in the candle.
temp turb also controls the speed in the up/down movement of how fast it should ondulate.
the turbulence gives nice smooth up-down ondulation & also little wavy motion if you try to increase the turb value much.
will post another test with more variation in the candle movements soon.

#5

Enjoy My first File:Candle Flame

#6

so heres another second & last quick up update with maya 2010 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMXUkbYSNTI

I m switching to maya 2011 fluids.
I will revisit all my earlier test & will try to get the better version especially the fire & nuke.
hope my findings & sharing will help me improve myself much.
I`ll try n keep this thread as informative as possible!
Best,
Vik

#7

@ruchit:
good going man, hope to see the simulaiton/final render.
keep it up!

#8

Looks nice Vik, not as easy as it looks, very convincing! Keep it up bro.

#9

Here is my test…
PlayBlast
Render_Output
i got major difference between Play Blast & Render Output…Don’t know why??

#10

Hi Ruchit, nice flame there although it looks too solid for real candle flame, good shape and movement though, keep it going!

#11

really nice flames, amazing work again Vik :thumbsup:

#12

Now this is one realistic candle there AWESOME O_O.
I dont know if this is the place to post,but well one link playing with new options in maya (self attraction and repulsion+tension :> ).
Maybe we can make this topic for maya 2011 projects xD?

#13

My candle flame in maya 2011. :slight_smile:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx99zz49SH0&feature=channel

#14

I’m gonna be honest…That’s a damn good candle flame. I made something similar for some fx for an indie game but I did it using a 2d fluid. That candle flame is great. I’m convinced.'It’s so good I’m willing to call you a liar sir and say it’s stock footage. Haha of course I’m kidding. Great job m8

#15

Nice results guys :thumbsup:
This is my candle:

What bugs me most is the shape (this kind of sphere-shape at the bottom of the candle).
Any advice to avoid this?
Also rendered out a shot mov (3 sec.)
candle.mov

#16

Congratulations Vikas.
Fantastic work.

#17

@ Vteixeira : thanks much for ur comments.

@ Skoczylas :
Is emiiter surface bigger than candle stick?
I prefer to keep small or same as wick & then play around density scale & opacity input bias to compensate the look.
I think you are almost there…good work though. can you slightly increase the temp turbulence to something like 1.5 - 3.
just play around with turbuluence as well with higher frequency like 4 & magntiude/strength around 1.1 to 2,
turb & tepm turb used in conjuction gives very realistic result.
If u wanna make ur candle flame long & skinny just increase ur temperature scale & u`ll see a good difference in hieght!

best,
Vik

#18

Great work on this Vik, its a subtle effect and you’ve got the small details to bring it to life. Next is candle wax eh? hah.

#19

I actually did some candle tests a while ago and i used another emitter with a negative value to kill the fluid in the center where the fuel is. helped a little to get the same effect u are getting in the middle where its more transparent.

#20

Hey Vik! Been trying to recreate your candle flame for a self project of mine, having a huge amount of difficulty however when it comes to the color of the flame. I created everything follow your instructions and turning the shading color to black and setting up the incandescence. But the fluid just keeps coming up as a white cloud, i bet their is an easy fix for this but I am fairly new to fluids so kinda lost. Not sure what the solution could be, but if ya know love to hear it thanks .