paulh

Well, it looks like Roper owns several Software-as-a-Service businesses as well as their industrial components divisions, so it might not be too odd of a fit. They seem to bolt-on new businesses rather than assimilate them all into one lumbering giant, so hopefully the Foundry will remain fairly autonomous. Could/should be more stable than yet another private equity firm taking over anyway.

It might seem convoluted at first, but it's actually quite simple and very powerful to set up your own per-point force object. Sure, the volume axis force in Maya is a one click solution, but it's also very limited. In Houdini you can alter your forces in infinite ways to get exactly what you need. Once you get used to having that kind of control, Maya forces seems laughably simplistic. Here's a simple file set up in < 5 minutes. There are numerous, and probably more efficient ways to do the same thing. bomb_force.hip

I think Side FX did a good job with their First Steps videos. They progress nicely from module to module rather than jumping all over the place, which can happen when you grab random tutorials from other websites. They used to be organized on the sidefx website but it looks like they're mixed in with a bunch of other videos now. After that, check out their Masterclass videos (on Flip Fluids and Pyro if that's what you're interested in). And of course check out mestela's Houdini Wiki linked in his signature above... it's loaded with super useful hip files and mini-tutorials!

Oh yes, it looks like the RBD Point object button sets up Packed objects now too, so ya it's the same thing. Your color information should still trickle down...it can be a bit trickier to access though.

I think an RBD Packed Object would ideal. From the shelf - Rigid Bodies ->RBD Fractured Object.

I don't think metaballs can break constraints. You can use a sopsolver to delete the constraints and a force attribute to blow the pieces out. Have you watched this video?

Fantastic file! Thanks Petz.

There will be some pieces leaving dust trails (so those would be acting as emitters), but also try having some rbd rocks (or particles, or both) simply moving through your dust sim, affecting the vel field. Those pieces will pull your dust around and add some chaos without needing to add extra density to your sim, which can be tricky to get to look right.

Swirly? Sounds like a job for Curl Noise. mb_pop_less_chaotic_trails_Curl.hipnc

Have you watched the SideFX Masterclass?

Yes, just pushing the solver resolution often seems to be the best bet. What Jerry says in his post about using advection in a fraction of a step, rather than across multiple steps, to give the sim an extra bit of smoothness makes a lot of sense. Use it as a bit of extra seasoning, not as your main ingredient.

Here's a nice thread on gridless advection with some examples: http://forums.odforce.net/topic/16415-gridless-advection/page-2 Jerry Tessendorf even has the last word!

Have you tried using your collision objects as a control field for your turbulence? That will keep your sim nice and smooth until the smoke touches the collision geo. And maybe try playing with the density ramp to sharpen details. ph_wispy_smoke_1.0.hip

Hi Nigel, That can be fixed by adjusting values on your Particle Fluid Surface node. Take down the Voxel Scale and Droplet Scale values and you should see the surface more closely align to your fluid particles. Hope that helps.

Reduce the voxel size on your glass vdb and turn on Collision Separation on your FLIP object. Set the Collision Separation to 0.5x your Particle Separation and you should be good to go. Also, turn on the Collision Guide in your Flip Object to get a better sense of how your collision geo is working. glass liquid v5.1 with glass.hipnc