2010

Table Of Contents
Fluid containers do not need to be uniform in X, Y, and Z. In fact, because
larger fluids take longer to render, you should make containers only as large
in each direction as necessary for the effect. A cloud bank sits above the ground
like a blanket, so the container can be rectangular rather than cubic.
To create a 3D fluid container
1 Select Fluid Effects > Create 3D Container >
.
The Create 3D Container Options window opens.
2 Set the container options as follows, then click Apply and Close:
X Resolution: 50
Y Resolution: 5
Z Resolution: 60
X Size: 50.0
Y Size: 5.0
Z Size: 60.0
The resolution is defined in voxels. Higher resolutions produce finer
detail, but increase rendering time. The size of the container is defined
in the working units set for Maya. The size of the fluid determines the
size of each voxel.
TIP Its good practice to make the containers Resolution and Size proportional
to ensure that the voxels are square making the quality the same along each
axis.
Maya creates an empty 3-dimensional fluid container centered at the
origin.
Next, you add fluid to the container.
802 | Chapter 16 Fluid Effects