Import and Render multiple Pyro sims as VDBs

[theois]

Hi All,

I'm just learning how to do Pyro sims in Houdini and got stuck.

I'm trying to create multiple explosions and cache them out to disc

so I can assemble them into a scene in another HIP file.  I've got

to the point that I can cache out the fields as VDBs but I can't work

out how to reimport them and get them to render.

First question -- would it be better to save them as bgeo files?

Second, I'm using the DOP I/O and DOP Visualize from the Pyro

sim itself to load them back it.  Is that the right approach or should

I be creating a new Geo node and loading the VDBs manually?

I'm a bit lost....

 

Thanks

 

[lukeiamyourfather]

1 hour ago, theois said:

First question -- would it be better to save them as bgeo files?

If you're rendering in Mantra, yes. If you're rendering in something else like Arnold then use VDB.

1 hour ago, theois said:

Second, I'm using the DOP I/O and DOP Visualize from the Pyro sim itself to load them back it.  Is that the right approach or should I be creating a new Geo node and loading the VDBs manually?

Just use a file node to load the BGEO or VDB files. Ignore how they look in the viewport cause it'll be wrong or just use a bounding box in the viewport. They'll render sanely in Mantra using the Pyro material because it's looking for the field names which will all be correct (even if the viewport is garbage).

[theois]

Worked like a charm.  Thanks!