JangaFX releases EmberGen 1.2
A recording of yesterday’s livestream announcing the new features in JangaFX’s software. The section on EmberGen 1.2, its gasesous fluid simulator, starts at 00:15:40.
JangaFX has released EmberGen 1.2, the latest version of its real-time volumetric fluid simulator for game development, VFX and motion graphics.
The update makes simulation domains movable, making it possible to keyframe their motion, or to parent them to objects or characters within a 3D scene.
It is also possible to record gizmo and parameter changes from EmberGen’s timeline.
A popular real-time volumetric fluid simulator for games and VFX
Publicly available since 2020, and officially released last year, EmberGen is a GPU-based volumetric fluid simulator that makes it possible to create fire and smoke effects of a complexity previously only seen in offline tools in real time.
Data can be exported to other DCC apps in OpenVDB or Alembic format, or rendered in EmberGen as flipbook image sequences for use in game engines like Unity and UE5.
The software is GPU-agnostic, and has fairly low minimum hardware requirements: a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD equivalent.
EmberGen 1.2: Major new features
So what is new in EmberGen 1.2?
In the livestream announcing the relase, JangaFX CEO Nick Seavert rather disarmingly admitted: “There’s not a whole lot, but what we do have is really cool.”
The biggest change is support for movable simulation domains, making it possible to keyframe the motion of simulation volume, or parent it to a mesh within a scene.
The recording of the livestream shows a demo of a golem with a flaming hand, with the fire simulation parented to a bone in the character rig.
The ability to parent emitters themselves was added in the previous release.
The other main new feature is mouse movement recording, making it possible to create quick test animations by moving an emitter around in the viewport, and recording the results in the timeline. You can see the workflow at 00:18:00 in the video.
Workflow improvements
The other changes in EmberGen 1.2 are mainly workflow improvements and bugfixes.
They include a redesigned curve editor widget, making it possible to right-click on any curve editor within the software to pop it out.
It is also now possible to snap to frames in the timeline.
Price and system requirements
EmberGen 1.2 is compatible with Windows 10+ and Linux.
Indie subscriptions, for artists earning under $1 million/year, cost $19.99/month, with users getting a perpetual licence after 18 months. Indie perpetual licences cost $299.99.
For studios with revenue up to $100 million/year, perpetual node-locked licences cost $1,399.99; floating licences cost $2,299.99. See more pricing options here.
Read a full list of new features in EmberGen 1.2 on JangaFX’s website
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