Simulating

There are two ways to simulate RealFlow | Cinema 4D scenes:

Viewport Simulations

• Viewport simulations are used to adjust parameters, fluid-object interaction, control forces, and the fluid's motion. After this process, the simulation is cached (see below).
• This type of simulation does not store any data, but you are able to control the simulation's progress in Cinema 4D's viewport. Just hit the "Play" button to start.
• To interrupt a viewport simulation you can press the "Pause" button, but we recommend using the F8 key instead, especially with heavy simulations.
• As long as the frame is not changed after an interruption it is possible to resume the simulation.
• Viewport simulations cannot be played back, because there is no saved ("cached") data available.
• It is possible to create → meshes during viewport simulations, but the meshes will not be saved either.

Cached Simulations

• The second method saves the simulation's particles and mesh data to disk. This process is known as → caching.
• In order to cache a simulation go to Scene > Cache and specify a path where the files will be stored (see image below).
• Press "Cache Simulation". The simulation's progress will not be displayed in the viewport, but you can see a progress bar instead.
• Once the simulation is finished it can be played back. If you want to change anything, disable "Use Cache", adjust the viewport simulation, and cache again.
• As long as you do not specify an alternative path, previously saved files are being overwritten when you start a new cached simulation.

Simulation Range, FPS, Scale

• To change the simulation range or FPS rate use Cinema 4D's render settings (Ctrl/Cmd + B), project settings (Ctrl/Cmd + D), or the timeline.
• Scale can be changed in the project settings (Ctrl/Cmd + D) under "Project Scale". Scale changes affect your simulations and you will get different results.