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Table Of Contents
Lesson 2: Creating a non-dynamic 3D fluid effect
Introduction
In the first lesson, you created a simple 2D dynamic fluid. 3D fluids intrinsically
require extra data to define them, which can make them very complex. This
extra data can slow a dynamic simulation exponentially because more
calculations (solving) must be performed at every step of the simulation. For
a less memory intensive effect, you could use a 2D fluid (with less data), or
you could create a 3D non-dynamic effect.
In non-dynamic fluid effects, the fluid property values are predefined within
Maya and stay constant over time, which means they dont have to be
recalculated. You create the appearance of the fluid by texturing a special fluid
shader that is assigned to the fluid. This shader is built into the fluid for better
performance. If you want the fluid effect to have motion, you can animate
(keyframe) the texture attributes. Because Maya doesnt solve the fluid
dynamics equations, rendering this type of fluid is much quicker than
rendering a dynamic fluid.
In this lesson, you learn the fundamentals of creating non-dynamic fluids by
creating a cloud bank using a 3D non-dynamic fluid. You learn how to:
Create a 3D fluid using predefined gradient contents.
Texture the contents of the fluid using the built-in fluid shader.
Before beginning the lesson, do the steps in
Preparing for the lessons on page
790.
Creating a 3D fluid container
Creating a fluid container is the first step in creating a non-dynamic fluid
effect.
Lesson 2: Creating a non-dynamic 3D fluid effect | 801