LiquiGen is now available to buy
A recording of yesterday’s livestream announcing the new features in JangaFX’s software. The section on liquid simulator LiquiGen starts at 00:24:30.
JangaFX has released LiquiGen, its much-anticipated real-time fluid simulation software, in public alpha for anyone to buy.
LiquiGen 0.3, the first public release, also adds support for whitewater simulation and surface tension, and overhauls the software’s rasterization renderer.
A counterpart to EmberGen for simulating liquids rather than smoke and fire
First announced in 2020, LiquiGen is a counterpart to EmberGen, JangaFX’s popular real-time gaseous fluid simulation software, but for liquids rather than fire and smoke.
It’s a sparse liquid solver with real-time simulation and meshing, with users able to export simulations to other DCC applications or game engines as Alembic caches.
Games artists can also render simulations as flipbooks using LiquiGen’s render engines.
LiquiGen was released in closed alpha for users of JangaFX’s complete product suite earlier this year, so check out our story on LiquiGen 0.1 for the basic technical details.
New PIC/FLIP simulation solver
As well as making the software available for anyone to buy, LiquiGen 0.3 features a “complete overhaul” of the software’s simulation solver.
It moves LiquiGen from an APIC (Affine Particle-in-Cell) to a PIC/FLIP solver: the method used in many offline simulation tools.
New whitewater system, controllable independently from the body of the liquid
The change underpins LiquiGen 0.3’s major features: whitewater and surface tension.
The new Whitewater node can generate three types of whitewater particles – spray, foam and bubbles – each exportable separately from those for the liquid itself.
It is possible to apply forces only to whitewater particles within a simulation.
There are also new view options to display wave crests or regions of trapped air within the body of a liquid where whitewater particles will spawn.
Support for surface tension improves splats and splashes
In addition, LiquiGen now supports surface tension, for more accurate liquid splashes.
Although there is still no true viscosity parameter, using very high surface tension values makes it possible to approximate the behavior of liquids like blood or ketchup.
You can see real-time demos of both features in the video at the top of the story: they’re all small-scale scenes, and there are still some surface artefacts, but they give you a feel for LiquiGen’s current capabilities.
Overhauled rasterization renderer
LiquiGen 0.3 also overhauls the software’s rasterization render engine, making it a more practical alternative to the path tracer for production work.
Key changes include support for refraction and transmission color when using rasterized rendering.
Improvements in simulation performance and quality
The update improves the overall performance and quality of simulations, increasing the maximum particle count and improving meshing and volume conservation.
The solver also now now adapts to achieve a given simulation quality, instead of running a fixed number of iterations.
In addition, LiquiGen’s force nodes have reached parity with those in EmberGen, with new Line Force and Toroidal Force nodes, and a reworked Turbulence node.
Price, system requirements and release date
LiquiGen 0.3 is compatible with Windows 10+ and Linux, on systems with NVIDIA and AMD GPUs. The software is currently in alpha.
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 LiquiGen 0.3 on JangaFX’s website
Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.