Where does RealFlow | 3ds Max store the cache files?
Click on the "Scene" object and open its "Cache" tab. There, specify the "Cache Folder". By default it is located on your Documents folder, under the "realflow_3dsmax/cache" subfolder.
You normally do not have to worry about the cache folder's content, because all data will be managed by RealFlow | 3ds Max during simulation.
How do I get rid of my simulation files easily?
Click on the "Scene" object and open its "Cache" tab in 3ds Max's "Attributes" manager. There you will find a "Remove Cache" button.
Will the cache files be overwritten when I hit "Cache Simulation" or "Cache Meshes" again?
Yes! We therefore recommend specifying new cache folders if you want to save different versions of a simulation.
My fluid containers and meshes have equal names. Does this affect caching?
Yes! All particle and mesh data will be written to the same files. This means that existing files will be overwritten again and again. To avoid overlapping or overwritten data, the simulated nodes must have unique names.
I'm using a shared cache folder for different scenes. Does this affect caching?
It's definitely better to use seperate separate cache folders for different scenes and even for different simulations of the same project. If you have to use a shared folder, for whatever reason, then you have to be careful with naming:
Always use unique and meaningful names, because otherwise already cached files will be overwritten!
Can I use SSD drives with RealFlow | 3ds Max?
In terms of simulation and read/write speed it is a good idea to have a fast SSD drive, but these devices have a limited amount of bytes that can be written – in many cases something between 250 and 500 TB. Beyond this limit data can only be read, but no longer be written. If you consider that a large simulation can produce several gigabytes of data this lifespan is a serious thing to think about. We therefore recommend modern hard disk drives. They are slower, but much more reliable. But in the end this decision is completely up to you.It is strongly recommended for faster performance when writing and reading cache files.
Why are the cache files so big?
RealFlow | 3ds Max stores information for hundreds of thousands or even millions of particles – and every particle requires a certain amount data for a correct simulation. This is simply the nature of simulations, esp. with huge amounts of particles. Meshes often consist of millions of polygons with vertex data and all that has to be stored somewhere as well. And the information has to be written for every frame, otherwise it's not possible to resume simulations, or create previews and renders, for example.
RealFlow | 3ds Max does certainly not write Terabytes, although several Gigabytes are normal for large simulations. But mass storage became very cheap over the last years. It'd be fantastic if we're able to magic away all this information, but we're not that far...
Which file formats are supported by RealFlow | 3ds Max?
- Fluid particle and mesh files are stored as a sequence of Alembic files.
- Wet-dry maps are stored as a sequence of PNG files.
Is there a way to save all simulation data inside a single Alembic file?
Currently not, but RealFlow | 3ds Max provides everything you need to load and process Alembic sequences.
Why does RealFlow | 3ds Max store Alembic sequences instead of a single Alembic file?
Simulation and mesh files can become very large, sometimes several hundeds hundreds of Megabytes per frame. Putting all this information into a single file increases the risk of corrupted files, or files which can't be handled anymore by your 3D program. Therefore we decided to store sequences.
Do you provide a tool to stitch Alembic sequences?
Currently there is no such tool in RealFlow | 3ds Max. We have a stitcher in RealFlow 10 Standalone and it can be used with files from RealFlow | 3ds Max. Unfortunately, the stitcher does not work outside the RealFlow 10 environment but a license is not required to run its command line version.