2010

Table Of Contents
To define shader attributes for the fluid
1 Open the Shading section in the Attribute Editor.
2 In the Color subsection, change Color Input to Density.
The Density values in the container will now take on the colors defined
on the color bar. Leave the color white to make the clouds appear white.
3 In the Opacity subsection, check that the Opacity Input is set to Density.
The opacity represents how much the Density will block light. Youll
look more at Opacity later in this lesson.
Texturing the contents of a fluid container
So far the container is filled with solid white Density. To create the cloud
effect, you texture the Density so that some areas are transparent and some
areas are opaque.
To texture the density of a fluid
1 Turn on hardware texturing display so you can see the effect of the
textures on the fluid without rendering by selecting Shading > Hardware
Texturing from the scene view menu.
2 Open the Textures section in the Attribute Editor.
3 Turn on Texture Opacity to apply the current texture to Opacity values.
The current texture is Perlin Noise, defined by Texture Type.
Notice that the Density now has a slightly blotchy look to it, with areas
that are more opaque and areas that are more transparent. This texture
provides the standard 3D noise used in the 3D Solid Fractal texture
included with Maya.
4 Change Texture Type to Billow for a fluffy, cloud-like effect.
The Billow texture is computationally intensive and therefore slower than
the other texture types.
804 | Chapter 16 Fluid Effects