RW - Object and Crest Splash
- thomas (Unlicensed)
- Alex Ribao
RealFlow provides two exclusive particle emitters to use with RealWave surfaces. In nature you can observe fine water droplets created from wave crests or interactions between the water surface and objects, for example after impacts. The RealWave specific emitters are able to mimic these phenomena, but on a completely different background from the new grid fluid emitters. When you are using RealWave you are dealing with polygons, while grid fluids are based on cells which become filled with particles. That is why the results usually appear completely different. Nevertheless it is possible to achieve a seamless connection between RealWave’s polygons and the associated particles: particle layers and meshing. A RealWave surface can be translated into a particle cloud and these particles stuck to the wave node’s polygons and vertices – another difference to grid fluid particles. Such a particle layer can be used to create meshes in combination with "Object Splash" and "Crest Splash" emitters.
Object Splash
The "Object Splash" emitter is a fully featured emitter that only works in combination with a RealWave object. Another requirement is an object to interact with the wave surface. From the moment the selected objects react with the RealWave mesh, the emitter starts creating particles from the interacting polygons, resulting in a splash-like particle cloud. The amount of emitted particles strongly depends on factors like number of polygons, velocity, entrance angle, object mass, and of course resolution. Therefore it is hard to predict how the final splash will turn out.
"Object Splash" introduces two different panels to adjust a wide range of parameters. The first panel concerns the interaction of the splash particles with the object; the other affects the process of particle creation. The "RW Particle Interaction" panel is available for any standard particle emitter panel and will only be accessible when a RealWave surface exists and an interaction with the emitter and the RealWave object has been established.
Crest Splash
"Crest Splash" emitters are the perfect solution for emitting large amounts of spray on a RealWave surface. The various options allow you to launch particles depending on a wave’s height to achieve cresting effects or drifting foam particles. The particles can even be used to create foam maps that can be projected onto the RealWave surface.
Since the "Crest Splash" emitter is mostly used to mimic foam and spray, it is fine to use dumb-type particles. Additionally it is always a good idea to destroy the particles after a certain time or when they leave the RealWave surface. This can be done with a "k Age" or "k Volume" daemon. The "Crest Splash" emitter can be used for many purposes, such as white caps and spray on wave crests, so you normally need large amounts of particles. You will often spawn several million particles during an entire simulation process, but this also strongly depends on the RealWave mesh resolution.