RealFlow provides different channels to visualize specific properties of a fluid. These channels can be visualized in many different ways and dyed: different colours will mimic a certain behaviour or fluid type, e.g. fire or dust.

Visible

Toggle the domain's visibility with this checkbox.

Domain

Decide how the domain’s box should be displayed:

“None”. The box representation of the domain is hidden.
“Box”. The domain around the fluid is visible.
“Cells”. All the cells of the domain are shown.
“Back cells” The cells are projected on the domain’s walls like a 2D raster.

Display type

There are three options – the size of the displayed elements is controlled with “Size”:

“Point” draws the particles as dots.
“Sphere” draws the particles as shaded spheres.
“Arrow” displays the particles as arrows indicating a particle’s velocity and motion direction.

Size

Each particle is represented by a point or a sphere and here you can adjust the size. If the particles are shown as arrows, “Size” controls their lengths – values around 0.01 give good results. Under “Display type” you can choose the preferred viewport representation.

Particle %

Limit the number of particles in the viewport: with 100% all particles are displayed, with 25% only one quarter etc.

Property

The following channels can be colour coded and visualized. The range of values for each property will be colour-coded with “Min range” and “Max range”

“Velocity” shows the speed vector's magnitude.
“Velocity.xyz” shows the speed vector's individual X, Y, and Z components.
“Vorticity” shows the particles' spin.
“Normal” shows the particles' normal vectors.
“Constant” applies a common colour to all particles.
“Splash/Foam emission” is used to preview zones where splash or foam particles will be created. The preview is adjusted with the associated threshold parameters below. Click here for a → workflow description.

Angle threshold

The main body of fluid moves in a certain direction and the individual particles also have an individual motion direction. RealFlow measures the angle between these two directions, and when the angle is between 0° and the given threshold splashes/foam will be generated. The value is measured in degrees.

Curvature threshold

Curvature can be seen as the fluid's “roundness”. If the fluid's curvature is greater than the adjusted threshold splashes/foam will be generated. This parameter is dimensionless and accepts any value greater than or equal to 0.

Speed threshold

If the fluid's velocity is greater then the adjusted threshold splashes/foam will be generated. In RealFlow, velocities are measured in metres per second.

Vorticity threshold

Vorticity represents the strength of vortices that will arise in turbulent fluids. If the fluid's vorticity is greater than the adjusted threshold splashes/foam will be generated.

Neighbors threshold

If a particle's number of neighbours is greater than the given value splashes/foam will be emitted.

Automatic range

By default, the minimum and maximum values are calculated by RealFlow automatically and displayed under “Min | Max range”. The colour gradient is adjusted to this range. With “No” you will be able to define your own range, e.g. for enhancing colour contrast. Particles with values smaller than “Min range” or greater than “Max range” will be displayed with the same gradient colours.

Min range

Here you can see the smallest value of the displayed “Property”. If “Automatic range” is unchecked you can define a custom value. All particles with values smaller than “Min range” will be displayed with the same colour.

Max range

Here you can see the greatest value of the displayed “Property”. If “Automatic range” is unchecked you can define a custom value. All particles with values greater than “Max range” will be displayed with the same colour.

Particle range color

You can define a custom gradient for the representation of the “Min | Max range” values. It is possible to customize the gradient, add additional colours, shift the colours' weights and distribution, and work with RGBA or HSV values: click on “+” for more options.

Please also take a look at → “Colour Gradients” to learn how to work with this tool.

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