HM - (Mesh) Filters
Filters are a very important and effective tool to sharpen meshes and splashy areas of the core fluid. You can also eliminate the rounded and “blobby” look of some meshes.
Splash thinning filter
Control the filtering for the splashy parts of the grid fluid simulation.
Splash threshold
Each mesh vertex carries a value that defines whether it is considered a splash or not:
- 0 means that the vertex does not have any splash attributes and 1 has full splash characteristics.
- With “Splash threshold” you determine when the splash thinning filter should start working and all vertices with values below the given value will be ignored.
Thinning size
This parameter accepts values between 0 and 1. It is used to scale the thinning effect and good values are close to the particles' radius values of the used grid fluid in splash areas.
Core smoothing filter
To smooth and flatten the core fluid areas, set this option to “Yes”.
Core threshold
Each mesh vertex has a core-attribute value that defines whether it belongs to the core fluid or not:
- 0 means that the vertex does not have any core properties, and with 1 it is considered a full core vertex.
- The core smoothing filter will not be applied to points with values smaller than the given threshold.
- Vertices with values equal or greater than “Core threshold” will receive an appropriate amount of smoothing.
Smoothing steps
Higher settings create sharper and thinner fluid borders:
- The value also depends on the mesh's resolution and with small “Polygon size” settings you have to increase this value.
- For high-resolution meshes, values between 100 and 150 are normally sufficient.
Global filter
When active you can adjust filters which act on the entire mesh – its splashy parts and the core fluid.
Thinning
This filter is an easy-to-use method to improve the mesh's overall quality. Valid values range between 0 (no thinning) to 1 (maximum). We recommend settings between 0.1 and 0.3. Please note that “Steps” has no influence on this parameter.
Relaxation
This type stretches and sharpens the mesh’s edges and gives you a much more natural look. The default value does not have to be changed in most cases, and you should alter “Steps” instead. Over-relaxed meshes have sharp borders and a stringy look.
Tension
If you can see unwanted ripples and patterns on your mesh use this parameter: enter a base value of 0.1 and adjust the filter's strength with “Steps”.
Steps
A few notes on this parameter:
- Only “Relaxation” and “Tension” are influenced by this parameter.
- A range between 8 and 32 works best for most applications.
- Higher values mean less mesh detail.
- Very high settings (100+) produce unrealistic results, unless you really want to achieve a certain effect, e.g. liquid metal.