The “RealFlow” menu contains the following entries:
You typically start with an emitter to determine, where the fluid particles will be created. This action creates a “Scene” tree and a “Fluid” container. A “Daemon”, e.g. “Gravity”, introduces a force and accelerates the particles. These three elements, “Fluid”, “Emitter”, and “Daemon”, are everything you need for a simulation (see image under "Scene Tree" below).
In the next step, the simulation is refined, e.g. if you want to create a certain fluid type like water or honey. The “Fluid” container's parameters are used to adjust the fluid's properties.
Once you are satisfied you can add a mesh and finally, fluids and meshes are cached to save your results – these settings are shown when you click on the "Scene" group:
The number of emitters, fluid containers, and daemons per scene is not restricted and you can add as many of these elements as you want – or as you computer is able to handle.
The online manual's → "Parameter Reference" section explains every single scene elements and its settings.
Scene Tree
We recommend grouping all RealFlow | Cinema 4D elements under the “Scene” tree, but you are free to place them outside the tree as well. This will help to keep your project clearly arranged:
The groups are hierarchical: all visibility or enabled/disabled changes affect a group's children.
Naming
It is a good idea to either keep the names assigned by RealFlow | Cinema 4D, or use meaningful names for a scene's “Fluid” containers, e.g. “Water”, “Chocolate”, or “Oil”. Please avoid identical names, although they are supported by Cinema 4D:
- With identical names there is always a chance that simulation files are overwritten.
- You might not be able to identify scene elements when a scene is reopened after a longer period of time.
Simulating
- A simulation is triggered with a click on Cinema 4D's "Play" button in the timeline. Bear in mind that the simulation is not saved unless you → cache it.
- Viewport simulations cannot be replayed, but resumed as long as you do not go to another frame.
- We recommend using the F8 key to interrupt a simulation. With large particle counts the "Break/Pause" button might not react quick enough to stop the simulation process.