With this type, RealFlow establishes invisible connections between the particles. These links act like springs and produce an elastic behaviour. The stiffness of the springs can be adjusted to make the fluid softer or more rigid.
Please take a look at the → “Elastic - Cloth” tutorial for more information about how to work with this particle type.
Type
This menu allows you to define the fluid’s behaviour:
- → “Gas” particles are used to simulate fluids like air.
- → “Liquid” is RealFlow’s standard setting and provides parameters for all watery or high-viscous substances.
- → “Dumb” particles are often used for spray or foam. These particles cannot react with each other and will not be affected by other emitters.
- → “Elastics” can be used for effects like jelly-like fluids or expanding an contracting substances.
- → “Script” lets you write your own fluid behaviour with Python scripting.
Resolution
With this setting you can change the amount of particles, “Resolution” mainly depends on scene scale and emitter scale, but it also affects the fluid’s mass and therefore depends on “Density”, too.
- With “Resolution” set to 1.0, a volume of 1 m x 1 m x 1 m filled with 1,000 particles has a mass of exactly 1,000 kg. You can monitor the relationship between mass and density under Statistics > Particle mass.
- There is also a relation between “Resolution” and a particle’s radius:
radius = 1.0 / (1000.0 · Resolution1/3)
Density
This parameter is defined as mass per volume unit and is different for each substance. “Density” is only relevant for interacting fluids with different properties, e.g. water and oil, or water and foam. With single emitters, changes have no effect. The unit is kilograms per cubic metre. Avoid very small values close to 0, because they can lead to instabilities.
Spring
RealFlow creates virtual springs between the particles to achieve elasticity. Higher values create a behaviour that becomes increasingly similar to rigid bodies, but you might see escaping particles as well.
Damping
Add some damping to the virtual springs between the particles to avoid vibrations or exaggerated results. Very low settings can affect the fluid's stability, while high settings are able to slow down the motion significantly.
Elastic limit
This value restricts the elastic behaviour of the elastic springs A value of 120 means that the spring will lose its elasticity when it is stretched to 120% of its initial length. At this point the spring becomes rigid.
Break limit
The connection between particles will break if the spring’s elongation reaches the adjusted value. With a value of 120, the spring breaks when the fluid is stretched to 120% of its initial length.
Max Particles
Please enter a value to stop emission at a certain amount of particles. "Max particles" is based on the total amount of emitted particles. Let's say you have entered "50,000". If there are currently 1,000 particles in your scene, but you have already deleted 49,000 particles RealFlow will stop the emission. Here you can read how to use this parameter to stop particle emission: → "Quick Start Workflows - Stopping Particle Emission".