Blackcore releases ExplosiaFX for Softimage
Autodesk may not be developing Softimage any more, but that doesn’t mean that third-party developers have abandoned it: Ukraine’s Blackcore has just released ExplosiaFX, a new voxel-based gaseous fluid simulator.
ExplosiaFX integrates into Softimage’s ICE system, enabling users to build up complex gaseous fluid effects through a familiar node-based workflow.
Low simulation times, OpenVDB export
According to the product website, ExplosiaFX uses a dynamically resized voxel grid with a “modern multigrid solver” to minimise simulation times.
It has a CPU-based raymarched preview window capable of generating 32-bit OpenEXR images with arbitrary resolution and an alpha channel, with results “very close” to a final Arnold or mental ray render.
The tool also plays nicely in mixed pipelines: completed simulations can be exported in OpenVDB format, so they can be rendered in any application that imports .vdb files.
Pricing and availability
ExplosiaFX is available now for Softimage 2013 and above on Windows 7 SP1+ or “compliant 64-bit Linux”. A commercial node-locked licence costs $499.
If you want to try before you buy, you can register to receive a fully functional demo version of the software on Blackcore’s website, and there are a range of sample scenes to download.