Jump to content

How does Pyro perform compared to FumeFX for example?


Recommended Posts

Now first I must say that I'm a beginner in fluids and volumes etc. and I have only a little experience in those.

So I tried this - a sphere with a fireball effect, distant light with raytraced shadows, and mantra renderer - all with default settings. The problem is, even at 640x480 rez and on 8 core i7 machine it renders painfully, painfully slow.

So I'd be interested to see what the more experienced guys can say about Pyro and Mantra - how do they compare to Fume/mentalray for example?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now first I must say that I'm a beginner in fluids and volumes etc. and I have only a little experience in those.

So I tried this - a sphere with a fireball effect, distant light with raytraced shadows, and mantra renderer - all with default settings. The problem is, even at 640x480 rez and on 8 core i7 machine it renders painfully, painfully slow.

So I'd be interested to see what the more experienced guys can say about Pyro and Mantra - how do they compare to Fume/mentalray for example?

check out the videos !

i think RT shadows are causing your long render times...the tuts ive seen instruct on using shadow maps...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i know this is not part of the topic but ...I have been trying to access pyro tutorials online from sidefx but it tends to stop streaming on part 5 and some other videos as well .. can anyone tell me where can I find the stream without this error !

I would try to download them, just 'save link as'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You should check Peter Quint's videos on Vimeo as well, pretty helpful.

Now on topic, my real question was not how to optimize my renders (though that would be nice to know), but how does pyro/mantra perform vs. fumefx/mentalray OVERALL.

Edited by dyankov
  • Downvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have used pyro on a number of shots recently and am more than impressed.

I have acheived upres sims at 866x256x905, sim times are around 3min per frame

Even turned around a full frame dust hit in one day, in 3d!

The pyro tools are more than production worthy

Proper data preparation is essential to getting fast sims

I have seen others try similar shots at my studio, in both maya and fume, and they keep being asked to make it look and feel more like the pyro renders

im sticking with houdini, its only going to get better from here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have tried to get same or close result including sim time and all stuff between Pyro and FumeFX.

I love houdini but I have to say "Go for Fume Fx for fire".

Fume fire looks awsome!! But it's really depend on what kind of fire you want. Fume Fx is also hard to achieve to make not looks like Fume fire.

Same with Houdini Pyro fire.

But Houdini fluid is much more flexible.

If you can choose both software to work with at your work,

best is use them depending on what you need.

As we all know time is really important in production.

Additionally, I found Fume FX preview is really nice!!

It updates like real time(with not highress of course) with shader, with noise. I hope Houdini can also provide that level of preview.

Because those things can save tons of times to achieve tasks in limited time.

That means also Fume is not only good as sim time. I like that!! I felt they know what we really need!!

Hope this can help you even a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't played with Pyro much yet, but so far I'm still on the FumeFX side for speed, and look. Houdini is definitely a winner in terms of control, but like everybody else said, it still comes down to the needs of the shot... there has only been maybe been a handful of times where I wanted had more control in FumeFX anyway.

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...