Liquid simulation setup

When Enable Liquid Simulation is on, you can use the Liquids attributes to create fluid simulations that look and behave like realistic liquids. Liquid simulations require a combination of Liquids attribute and other fluid attribute settings to create effects that have the physical characteristics of liquids.

The following sections provide attribute settings that are commonly used to create liquid simulations. The recommended settings are intended only as a starting point for your effect.

You can also import a fluid Liquids example file, which are included with Maya, or apply a liquid attribute preset as starting points to your liquid effect. See Import Fluid examples and Use fluid attribute presets.

Fluid attributes

Set the following fluidShape node attributes.

Attribute section	Attribute: value	Notes
Container Properties See Fluid Container Properties.	Base Resolution/ Resolution: 80 or greater	A high Resolution value is required to obtain sufficient detail and realistic behavior in the liquid. See Fluid Container Properties.
Dynamic Simulation See Fluid Dynamic Simulation attributes.	Viscosity: 0.02	Small amounts of Viscosity can help the fluid fully settle to a flat surface. See Fluid Dynamic Simulation attributes.
	High Detail Solve: All Grids	Adds detail to the fluid.
	Substeps: greater than 1	Higher Substeps values (10 to 20) may be required for fast moving, high resolution fluids or fluids that have higher than default Gravity. In general, higher Substeps make the fluid less damped and less jittery.
	Solver Quality: 40 to 80	Values should be greater than default.
	Forward Advection: On	Forward Advection helps keep the fluid from losing density over time.
Liquids See Fluid Liquid attributes .	Liquid Method: Liquid and Air	Use Liquid and Air for typical single substance liquids such as a pool of water or liquid splashes.
	Density Tension: 0.1	Use a non 0 value with increasing values creating greater surface tension in the fluid. See
	Tension Force: 0.01	Works with Density Tension to create surface tension. It can be set to 0 if desired.
	Density Pressure: 1	At this value, the force that Density Pressure exerts keeps density from concentrating along the container boundaries.
	Density Pressure Threshold: 1
Contents Details > Density See Fluid Contents Details attributes.	Buoyancy: -1	You can use lower values depending on the how quickly you want Gravity to affect density.

Auto Resize attributes

If Auto Resize is on for your liquid effect, set the following:

Attribute section	Attribute: value	Notes
Container Properties See Fluid Container Properties.	Boundary X: Both Sides
	Boundary Y: -Y	This leaves the top (+Y) of the container open.
	Boundary Z: Both Sides
Auto Resize See Fluid Auto Resize attributes.	Resize Closed Boundaries: Off
	Auto Resize Threshold: 0.2	This helps the top of the fluid container to contract.
	Auto Resize Margin: 1 or greater	Auto Resize Margin helps avoid artifacts in the fluid when it settles. Use Liquid Mist Fall to help push the misty (low density) regions down to the fluid level so that Auto Resize can contract the top of the container.

Fluid emitter attributes

Set the following fluidEmitter node attributes:

Attribute section	Attribute: value	Notes
Basic Emitter Attributes See Fluid Basic Emitter Attributes.	Emitter Type: Volume	Set to any Volume Shape in the Volume Emitter Attributes.
	Rate (Percent): Greater than 100	Setting Rate (Percent) to a value greater than 100 ensures there is enough density as well as omits bubbles in the liquid.
Fluid Attributes See Fluid Attributes.	Density Method: Replace	Using a volume emitter and the Replace emission method makes the fluid emission smooth and uniform.
	Fluid Dropoff: 0
	Motion Streak: On
	Jitter: Off

Output Mesh attributes

To finish your liquid effect, you can convert the fluid to an output polygon mesh by selecting Modify > Convert > Fluid to Polygons. Set the following attributes after converting your fluid to an output mesh.

Attribute section	Attribute: value	Notes
Surface See Fluid Surface attributes.
Output Mesh See Fluid Output Mesh attributes.	Use Gradient Normals: On	Helps ensure a smooth surface on the output mesh.
	Mesh Smoothing Iterations: Greater than 0.	Helps ensure a smooth surface on the output mesh. Increase Mesh Smoothing Iterations until the mesh surface appears sufficiently smooth.