Sneak peek: Axiom 4 for Houdini
Theory Accelerated – aka former Naughty Dog TD Matt Puchala – has released a sneak peek at Axiom 4.0, the next version of its GPU-accelerated sparse volumetric fluid solver for Houdini.
The update improves the accuracy of collisions between smoke or fire and surrounding objects, streamlines sourcing workflow, and improves performance by “5-15% overall”.
A faster alternative to Houdini’s spare Pyro solver for smoke and fire simulation
First released in 2020, Axiom is a GPU-accelerated sparse volumetric fluid solver, intended as a faster alternative to Houdini’s Sparse Pyro solver.
Like its native counterpart, Axiom is intended for rapid simulation of smoke and fire effects for VFX, animation and game development.
However, unlike its native counterpart, it is intended to run fully on the GPU, further improving performance: it is designed to make it possible to work on low-resolution previews of sims interactively, then generate the final high-res version in minutes, rather than hours.
The software is hardware-agnostic, supporting OpenCL and CUDA on Windows and Linux systems, and Metal on macOS.
It has been used on game cinematics by Riot Games and Valve, and in VFX by Muse VFX.
Axiom 4.0: better collision accuracy improves complex simulations
One of the key changes in Axiom 4.0 is the improvement in accuracy of collisions between the fluid being simulated and surrounding objects, better preserving its volume and energy.
In the video at the top of the story, you can see a side-by-side comparison with Axiom 3.3 of a simulation of smoke flowing through a pipe, and the reduction in volume loss is marked.
According to the video, the updates should also help when simulating effects like wind tunnels.
More streamlined workflow and UI
In addition, sourcing has been “completely redesigned”, to streamline the workflow and provide more user control.
You can see the new workflow in the video above, and find details of the specific changes in the release notes.
The user interface has been reorganized, particularly the Output tab, which now provides more granular control over output.
Overall performance improvements
Performance has also been improved, with the solver now “5-15% faster overall”.
In addition, Intel’s Threading Building Blocks is now used by default for CPU multi-threading, improving performance if the solver is run on, or falls back to the CPU.
Pricing and system requirements
Axiom 4.0 is currently in closed beta. Theory Accelerated hasn’t announced a final release date.
The current stable release, Axiom 3.3, is compatible with Houdini 19.0+ running on Windows, Linux or macOS. Commercial node-locked licences cost $199.
The software can also be used free in trial mode with Houdini Apprentice; the Indie edition, which is compatible only with Houdini Indie, costs $99.
Read a full list of new features in Axiom 4.0 in the online documentation
Read more about Axiom on the product website
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