RealFlow is a fluid and dynamics simulation tool for the 3D and visual effects industry, developed by

Next Limit Technologies Next Limit Technologies is a computer software company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1998 by engineers Victor Gonzalez and Ignacio Vargas the firm develops technologies in the field of digital simulation and visualization. In Decem ...

in Madrid, Spain. This stand-alone application can be used in conjunction with other 3D programs to simulate fluids, water surfaces, fluid-solid interactions, rigid bodies, soft bodies and meshes. In 2008, Next Limit Technologies was awarded a Technical Achievement Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their development of the RealFlow software and its contribution to the production of motion pictures. In 2015, Next Limit Technologies announced the release of RealFlow Core for Cinema 4D.

Overview

RealFlow technology uses particle based simulations. These particles can be influenced in various ways by point-based nodes (daemons) which can do various tasks such as simulate gravity or recreate the

vortex In fluid dynamics, a vortex ( : vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in th ...

-like motion of a tornado. RealFlow can also simulate soft and rigid body collisions and interactions. The inclusion of

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scripting and C++ plug-ins allows users to program their own tools to improve RealFlow capabilities, adding control to most aspects of the RealFlow workflow including batch runs, events, daemons, waves, and fluids. The RealFlow Renderkit (RFRK) is a set of tools designed to facilitate the rendering of fluids. The RFRK enables the generation of procedural geometry at render time and the rendering of individual fluid particles. With this interface, fluids can also be rendered as foam and spray. On July 30, 2015, RealFlow 2015 was released to the public. The main features in this major release include: * An increase in the quality of simulations. * New DYVERSO solvers and GPU acceleration. * Direct-to-render feature using Maxwell Render. * Enhanced User Interface * More controllabitlity: new splines nodes, text tools, daemons falloff, crown daemon, and spreadsheets * DYVERSO solvers and rapid OpenVDB meshing speed up simulation times by 10x.

Plug-ins

RFConnect

RFConnect is a connectivity plugin between standalone RealFlow and DCC applications. The plugin is a successor of RF Connectivity and RF RenderKit (RFRK). The plugin supports following DCC applications:

3ds Max Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capabil ...

, Maya,

Cinema 4D Cinema 4D is a 3D software suite developed by the German company Maxon. Overview As of R21, only one version of Cinema 4D is available. It replaces all previous variants, including BodyPaint 3D, and includes all features of the past 'Studio' ...

, and

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. The plugin is also available for Lightwave and

Softimage Autodesk Softimage, or simply Softimage () was a 3D computer graphics application, for producing 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling, and computer animation. Now owned by Autodesk and formerly titled Softimage, XSI, the software has been predomi ...

but the development is currently not active.

RFCore

RFCore is a plugin for bringing RealFlow functionality to the DCC applications. The plugin supports following DCC applications:

, Maya, and

Third-party plug-in developers

Next Limit lists three 3rd party plugins fo
Wetwork
IoSim, and V-Motion.

Version history

Features

RealFlow

* Particle based solver (liquid, gas, elastic and particles) * Interaction bitmaps * Custom particle behaviour * UV data and weight maps * UV texture mapping * Automatic mesh generator * Force fields * Python / C++ plugins * Direct-to-render feature * OpenVDB meshing

Hybrido

* Hybrid fluid solver technology to simulate large bodies of water with secondary effects such as splashes, foam, and mist

Caronte

* Rigid/ soft body dynamics solver * Mix animation and dynamics

RealWave

* Physically accurate water surfaces

Python scripting / C++ plugins

* Daemons * Waves * Fluids * Events * Batch runs

Dyverso Solvers

* Drastic speed-up on simulations * Smooth layered meshes,

Use in industry

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* '' World of Color'' Video games * '' Ryse: Son of Rome'' * '' Crysis 2'' * '' Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception'' * '' God of War: Ascension'' * '' X-Men Origins: Wolverine (video game)'' * '' Mass Effect 3''

References

External links

* {{official website, realflow.com
Realflow Tutorials

Realflow 2013 - New Features & Videos

Realflow Templates
3D graphics software Computer physics engines Software that uses Qt

Overview

Plug-ins

RFConnect

RFCore

Third-party plug-in developers

Version history

Features

RealFlow

Hybrido

Caronte

RealWave

Python scripting / C++ plugins

Dyverso Solvers

Use in industry

See also

References

External links