ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

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Mootzoid
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ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by Mootzoid » 04 Jun 2009, 22:05

Hi everybody,

This is the new "super-official" emFluid2 thread !

So what does this plug-in do?
Here a brief description and some screenshots:

emFluid2 is a basic fluid solver for Softimage's ICE and is typically used to produce smoke and fire effects.
The plug-in consists of a "DLL" file (Windows) or "so" file (Linux) for the fluid solver node (compiled C++ code for 32 bit and 64 bit versions of XSI). Additionally, there are several compounds that come along. They allow you to plug objects and/or their geometry into the emFluid2 node or compound.

Click here to go to the emFluid2 web page where you can:
  • look at some demo animations
  • download the demo version (Linux and Windows)
  • download the documentation as well as demo & tutorial scenes
  • purchase the full version
have fun!
Eric

Image
Screenshots from the demo animation "Moon Smoke with a little moving Sphere".

Image
Screenshot from the demo animation "Cuddly Photonic Explosions" (animated with emFluid2, rendered with emRenderPointCloud).

Image
Screenshots from the demo animation "Afterburner Robo-Chicken".

Image
Last but not least: the plug-in's main compound.
Last edited by Hirazi Blue on 04 Jun 2009, 22:51, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by Mootzoid » 07 Jun 2009, 15:48

Hello,

I got many mails concerning the "Cuddly Photonic Explosions" demo animation (thanks for the feed back!) and asking about the fluid and render settings I used.
I extracted one of the explosions and made an example XSI scene which contains everything you need to reproduce the same look. It will only work with the full versions of emFluid2 v.2.25 and emRenderPointCloud v.2.25, though.

The scene is called "emFluid2.25___4Website_PhotonicExplosion.scn" and it is included in the ZIP file with the emFluid2 demo and tutorial scenes.
It can be downloaded here: emFluid2 demo and tutorial scenes.

cheers,
Eric

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by owei » 07 Jun 2009, 15:52

...Thanks for sharing this, Eric..! :-bd

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by dbachmann » 08 Jun 2009, 02:04

Very cool to have some insight in your cuddly photonic explosion sample file.
I like it a lot how you control the simulation resolution.

What I have discovered or did not understand is that when I switch the
multithreading on (either for emRender or emFluid) I do not see any speedup or processor use,
I have the feeling that when setting the multithreading to 8 cores it simulates
slower than with no multithreading (I get some steady 25%, prcessorload regardless of activated or deactivated multithreading on my dual quad core machine).

It could be that I did not get the multithreading concept, maybe you need multiple
simulation "boxes" to gain more with the multithreading switch.

Eric, maybe you can shed some light on the multithreading feature, like when
it makes sense to use it and what exactly it does.

As for the results of emFluid and emRender, I like your addon a lot and am happy
that I have bought it. Full recommendation!

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by Mootzoid » 08 Jun 2009, 14:12

Yes, I know what you mean.
I am not that good in explaining, so I will first try a little metaphor ;) and then tell in which cases it is good to use multithreading with emFluid2 and emRenderPointCloud.
So let's just say that a thread is a worker. A singlethreaded task would mean we have one worker doing a certain job. A multithreaded task would mean we have several workers working on a same job. As we all know out of experience, some jobs are done more quickly alone, some others more quickly in a team of two, whereas certain jobs might require a team of dozens of workers to be done in an acceptable time.

Furthermore there are several important things to consider:
1) it takes time and energy to organize and control a large number of workers.
2) there might be resources that need to be shared/accessed by the workers in order for them to be able to do their job.
3) there might exist dependencies between different workers' jobs, meaning that certain workers can only do their job when other workers are done with theirs.

So when using too many workers for a job it can happen that:
1) more time is spent organizing everything than actually doing the job.
2) many workers want to access the same resource at the same time, which results in "long waiting lines".
3) workers just sit around doing nothing because they are waiting for another guy to be done.

So how about emFluid2 / emRenderPointCloud and multithreading?
  • emFluid2: if you have a "normal" fluid box with a "normal" cell size then there won't be any noticeable performance boost in multithreaded mode.
  • emFluid2: if you have a large fluid box and/or a small cell size then the multithreaded version will be faster than the singlethreaded one.
  • emRenderPointCloud: when there is much to render (-> many particles and/or large particles) the multithreaded version is way faster than the singlethreaded one.
  • I developed and tested the multithreaded versions of both plug-ins on a laptop with a Core 2 Duo, on a normal computer with a Core 2 Quad and on a workstation with an i7.
Some of my experiences with multithreading (emFluid2/emRenderPointCloud):
  • Linux' multithreading is faster than Windows' multithreading (on the same machine).
  • the new Pentium i7 is much better with multithreading than the Core 2 Duo/Quad processors.
  • using too many threads results in longer simulation or render times.
Hope that was of some help!

cheers,
Eric

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dbachmann
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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by dbachmann » 08 Jun 2009, 14:19

Thanks a lot Eric, I like the metaphor :)

Now I have a hint where and why I can tweak around. :ymhug:

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by alanf » 14 Jun 2009, 20:37

How does the licensing work for a company with a few TDs and lots of render boxes?

Say there was 1 license for 1 TD, does that mean he can't use the renderfarm because it won't render? Or can he cache the simulation, read the cache and send it off to the farm no problem? Is the emRenderPointCloud license locked down to a single machine? I hope not.

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by owei » 14 Jun 2009, 21:32

Hi alanf..!

Just get in contact with Eric directly...he always makes very good deals for bigger firms ;)

cheers,
oliver

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by Letterbox » 09 Jul 2009, 11:21

Hi,

When's EXR output emRenderPointCloud coming? I hope you get to work on that soon. 'Cos then I can see a triple pack in my future.

Cheers
Terry

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by Mootzoid » 09 Jul 2009, 11:41

Hi Terry,

EXR is already on the "next features" list ... just can't say when I will implement it, but most probably this year.

cheers
Eric

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by Letterbox » 09 Jul 2009, 12:41

Mootzoid wrote:Hi Terry,

EXR is already on the "next features" list ... just can't say when I will implement it, but most probably this year.

cheers
Eric
Eric, thank you for not forgetting it, I'm sure there are many others who also are looking at a pure exr pipeline. And if you need help just ask.

Cheers
Terry

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by Mootzoid » 06 Aug 2009, 20:15

Today John Payne send me a link to a commercial spot he created using emFluid2 (thanx John!)
Nice effects and... pretty women ;)



cheers,
Eric

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by Rork » 07 Aug 2009, 09:00

Looking good.

And I don't just mean the woman :^o

rob ;)
SI UI tutorials: Toolbar http://goo.gl/iYOL0l | Custom Layout http://goo.gl/6iP5xQ | RenderManager View http://goo.gl/b4ZkjQ
So long, and thanks for all the Fish!!

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by owei » 27 Aug 2009, 08:34

Hi..!
Look at this nice simulation, done by Ciaran Moloney. Be warned, an animal will be killed ;)



Cheers,
oliver

PS (Edit from Mootzoid): Ciaran's little bunny animation is not only great to look at. In fact, it's quite amazing due to the fact that he implemented a Ray Marching Algorithm in ICE (!) and therefore was able to render the approx. 5 million particles with emRenderPointCloud. Great work, im a fan :ymapplause:

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by Letterbox » 27 Aug 2009, 20:43

Thats very good, I do have to agree with Werner that the self shadowing, is one thing that would make EM's from Brilliant to Stellar.

But that does not mean you cant have fun... What are the black things.... EGGS !!! Be very afraid :-)


Image

Cheers
Terry

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Re: ICE Plug-in - emFluid2

Post by Mootzoid » 27 Aug 2009, 20:52

Yucky, yucky x_x

;)

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