Tuesday, October 21st, 2014 Posted by Jim Thacker

Navié releases Effex 2.5 for Cinema 4D

Navié – aka developer Samir Kharchi – has released Effex 2.5, a big update to its object-oriented simulation framework for Cinema 4D, adding support for Bullet physics and surface tension in liquids.

Effex provides a range of effects toolsets, including volumetrics, particles and fluid dynamics. Each works independently of the others; and can be controlled through Cinema 4D’s Xpresso nodes, or COFFEE scripting.

Rigid body/fluid interactions, surface tension and faster meshing
To that list, the latest update adds rigid body dynamics, in the shape of the Bullet physics library. Rigid bodies can interact with fluid simulations, as shown in the demo video above.

Another interesting addition to the fluid simulation toolset is the new surface tension models: a subject still being actively explored by leading computer science researchers.

According to the product page, Effex 2.5 implements “brand new algorithms based on latest research” to provide “new ways to create bubble dynamics, wiggling water droplets and similar small scale phenomena”.

The meshing system for liquids has also been improved – the changelog suggests a typical speed boost of 4-5x on complex sims – and there is a separate mesh smoother to improve the look of the resulting surface.

Another unusual addition is the inclusion of a viscosity control for gaseous fluids as well as liquids, which offers interesting possibilities for simulating dense smoke, or creating temperature-dependent effects.

There is also a new MultiVolume, which converts multiple source meshes to volumes. It works with the MoGraph toolset’s Matrix and Cloner objects, which opens up a lot of possibilities for motion graphics work.

Tools for managing complex sims
For complex simulations, there is a new Pipeline Viewer, which shows the order in which simulation nodes are evaluated in a given timestep, and enables users to change priorities by dragging and dropping.

There is also a new API for third-party developers and effects TDs.

Workflow and UI improvements
In addition, there are quite a few improvements to workflow and the user interface, with one notable addition being the new Quicktab, which lists “useful mini-setups” available for key nodes.

There are also a lot of smaller changes and bugfixes – this is one of those releases where the addition of curl noise gets relegated to ‘Other Additions’ – which you can see in the changelog via the link below.

Pricing and availability
Effex 2.5 is available for Cinema 4D R13 and above on Windows 7+ and Mac OS X 10.6+. It is currently available at a launch discount of €999 (around $1,280) for an individual licence, or €4,999 ($6,410) for a studio licence.

Read an overview of the new features in Effex 2.5

Read a full list of new features in Effex 2.5 on the Navié forum

See videos of the new features in action on the Navié YouTube channel