JangaFX releases LiquiGen 1.0
JangaFX has released LiquiGen 1.0, the first production-ready release of the real-time liquid simulation software.
The update improves the performance and stability of simulations, improves simulation of highly viscous liquids, and adds new camera-control and material systems.
It is also now possible to export simulations in a wider range of formats, including mesh flipbooks and Vertex Animation Textures, for use in games, motion graphics and VFX pipelines.
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 can simulate and mesh liquids in near-real time, and now uses a PIC/FLIP solver capable of simulating whitewater effects, including spray, foam and bubbles.
Users can export simulation data in a range of formats commonly used in games and VFX pipelines, including Alembic caches, and rendered flipbooks in EXR, PNG or TGA format.
LiquiGen 1.0: simulate viscous liquids like honey and oil
To that, LiquiGen 1.0 adds support for simulating high-viscosity liquids like oil, honey or melted chocolate, with the solver recreating behaviors like coiling and buckling more accurately.
It is also now possible to set viscosity and stickiness on a per-emitter basis.
New camera-control system
Other major changes include a new, more industry-standard camera-control system, “primarily controlled by pressing [Alt]”, with options to zoom to or pan around the cursor.
It is also now possible to import animated cameras.
New materials and simulation meshing systems
The update also introduces a new material system with “more realistic material profiles for liquids and surfaces”, including presets for water, plastic and various metals.
There is also a new, optional, higher-quality meshing system for meshing the underlying particle simulation into a liquid surface. Controls include dilate, erode, open and close.
LiquiGen also now supports SDF smoothing and normals smoothing.
Supports a wider range of export formats
For pipeline integration, LiquiGen 1.0 introduces a range of new export formats.
They include mesh flipbooks: single FBX files containing the geometry from each frame of the simulation, separated by vertex color.
Users can also now bake simulations to Vertex Animation Textures (VAT), sometimes used in game development to improve real-time performance of complex animated scenes.
When rendering simulations inside LiquiGen, it is possible to generate a wider range of rasterized export passes, including liquid thickness, reflection and refraction.
It is also now possible to export velocity fields to VDB format.
Workflow improvements
Workflow improvements include a new Diagnostics Panel for visualizing simulation data, including the simulation domain, force fields, velocity fields, liquid mesh and particles.
It includes a Show SDF option for troubleshooting issues with imported models – which can be used as collision objects or emitters – and to help choose a good voxel resolution for them.
It is also now possible to disable the ground plane in renders.
Better performance and stability
However, arguably the biggest change in LiquiGen 1.0 is simply that the software is now officially production-ready.
JangaFX says that there have been “substantial” improvements to stability, with particular improvements to smaller-scale liquid simulations.
Price, system requirements and release date
LiquiGen 1.0 is compatible with Windows 10+ and Linux. Support for macOS is due in LiquiGen 1.1. It requires a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 GPU or better, or an AMD Radeon RX 580 or better.
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 $1,400; floating licences cost $2,300. See more pricing options here.
Read a full list of new features in LiquiGen 1.0 on JangaFX’s website
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