Chaos Group ships Phoenix FD 3.10 for 3ds Max and Maya
Chaos Group has released Phoenix FD 3.10, the latest update to its fluid simulation software, adding support for liquids of variable viscosity, plus a number of smaller workflow features.
The software, which is compatible with both 3ds Max and Maya, simulates gaseous fluids like fire and smoke and, more recently, liquids.
Simulate lava, ice cream, goo and other fluids of variable viscosity
The biggest new feature in version 3.10 is the the update to the FLIP solver, first introduced in version 3.0.
The solver now supports supports liquids of variable viscosities, as evidenced by the demo above, which features some nice test shots of lava, ice cream and unspecified purple goo.
Smaller changes include the option to loop Phoenix FD’s procedural Ocean Texture when generating a water surface.
New features specific to Phoenix FD 3.10 for 3ds Max
The 3ds Max edition also now caches simulation frames to improve performance when using Phoenix FD operators to control Max’s native Particle Flow particle simulation system.
3ds Max’s XForm modifiers can also now be used to manipulate sims in volumetric render mode.
Other new features added since Phoenix FD 3.0
Although not quite as frequent as the version number would suggest – in both editions, it jumped straight from 3.05 to 3.10 – the releases are the latest in a steady stream of Phoenix FD 3.x updates.
Other significant recent features include the option to load the OpenVDB caches generated by one simulation to use as the starting point for another.
Similar functionality, which avoids the need to constantly re-calculate the ‘run up’ to a simulation, was also recently added to Maya’s native Bifrost toolset and 3ds Max’s new Fluids toolset.
It is also now possible to submit distributed simulations to a render farm via 3ds Max’s Backburner system or Thinkbox Software’s Deadline render manager.
Pricing and availability
Phoenix FD 3.10 is available for 64-bit 3ds Max 2014+ and Maya 2015+. New workstation licences of either edition cost $830, while extra simulation licences cost $210 each.
Read a full list of new features in Phoenix FD 3.10 for 3ds Max in Chaos Group’s online changelog
Read a full list of new features in Phoenix FD 3.10 for Maya