Sitni Sati releases FumeFX 5.0.4 for Maya
Originally posted on 24 October 2018. Scroll down for news of the 5.0.4 update.
Sitni Sati has released FumeFX 5.0 for Maya, the latest version of the popular gaseous fluid simulator, adding a new GPU-accelerated viewport preview, and improving the detail and stability of simulations.
The update also improves integration with Maya, including the software’s native nParticles system; and adds a new FumeFX-Arnold Volume and support for AOVs when rendering with Autodesk’s Arnold renderer.
Faster, more stable gaseous fluid sims with more control over simulation caching
Many of the new features in FumeFX 5.0 for Maya originally debuted in the 3ds Max edition of the software, released earlier this year. We’ve summarised them below, but check out our original story for more details.
They include conservative advection, a new advection type that Sitni Sati says leads to more stable, detailed fluid flows, particularly when dealing with complex geometry.
Under the hood, the QCG solver has been redesigned: sims should calculate “up to 20% faster”, and scale better with CPU cores, and retime smoothly regardless of simulation sub-steps and retiming scale factor.
Sitni Sati has also introduced a new lossy compression format with support for per-channel settings and the option to mix lossless and lossy channels inside the same cache file.
There is also a new GPU-accelerated simulation preview – in the case of the Maya edition, integrated within Viewport 2.0 – supporting volumetric shadows, “proper” geometry occlusion and real-time shader feedback.
Better integration with Maya’s native particle systems, better support for Arnold renders
New features unique to FumeFX 5.0 for Maya include support for nParticles, Maya’s native particle toolset. nParticles can now be used with the FumeFX particle emitter.
When rendering with Arnold, there is a new FumeFX-Arnold Volume that supports Arnold’s Standard Volume shader, while the Standard Shader now supports Arnold’s normal, motion vector and Z-depth AOVs.
Updated 9 August 2019: Sitni Sati has released FumeFX 5.0.4 for Maya, adding a new multiview option for the GPU viewport, enabling users to view all FumeFX grids in a single viewport.
The update also reinstates the old FumeFX 4.x solver as an additional option for projects that need greater backwards-compatiblity with existing FumeFX simulations.
There are also new controls for generating fine detail in Turbulence Noise effects, plus a rasterised mode for the Turbulence Noise preview; and a new FumeFX Wind object.
Workflow improvements include a parameter check dialog, which shows at a glance which simulation settings have been changed from their default values.
Pricing and availability
FumeFX 5.0.4 for Maya is available now for Maya running on Windows or Linux. You’ll need to be using Maya 2015 Ext 1 or higher to make use of the new GPU-accelerated viewport preview.
A workstation licence of the software costs $695; a product bundle with one workstation licence, one simulation licence and five shader licences costs $845.
Read a full list of new features in FumeFX 5.0 for Maya on Sitni Sati’s blog
Read a full list of new features in FumeFX 5.0.4 for Maya on Sitni Sati’s blog