Management System Area

The Management System area is where you build and iterate the components involved in your simulation.

Create panel > Geometry > Fluids > Setup rollout > Simulation View

Use the Management System area to add new liquid objects and use solvers to manage often complex simulations. The area is also where you start processing your solves and manage the cached data associated with them.

Important: Achieving realistic simulations is a time-consuming process with a lot of trial and error involved. With so many parameters to adjust, keeping track of your work can be a challenge. That's why it's important to adopt iterative working habits by creating and cloning solvers so that you are able to easily return to earlier results at any time.

Interface

Management System Area shown with two liquid objects and five active solvers.

Menu bar

Use the Menu bar to manage objects, solvers, and caches, as well as change the window layout and monitor the simulation.

Create menu

Liquid Object: Creates a new liquid object.
Motion Field: Creates a new motion field object.
Fluid Loader: Creates a new fluid loader object.

Solver menu

New Solver: Creates a new solver for the selected liquid object.
Clone Solver: Clones the selected solver and all of its settings. The name of cloned solver is appended with_Copy.
Rename Solver: Opens the Rename Solver dialog where you can rename the selected solver. Enable the Do Not Rename the Original Cache Folder checkbox to prevent overwriting the original simulation.
Delete Selected Solver: Deletes the selected solver.
Note: Do not delete solvers while they are running or paused.
Clear Cache Files: Opens the Clear Cache dialog where you can select to clear fluid, foam, and/or mesh caches for the selected solver.
Truncate Simulation: Deletes all existing simulation files after the current frame. Use this command to fine-tune a simulation beyond a certain frame without discarding earlier results.
Set Initial State: Sets the initial state for the solver at the current frame. Use this feature to start a new simulation based off of the state of an existing simulation on a particular frame. This is useful when you want a fluid to be in full flow at the start of the simulation, for example when creating a waterfall or an open faucet.
Clone With Initial State: Creates a clone of the solver using the current frame as the initial state. The new solver name is appended with IS_FX, where IS indicates the initial state and FX indicates the frame number used for the initial state. When solved, the first frame of the simulation reflects the simulation state at the initial state frame from the original solver it was cloned from.
Clear Initial State: Clears the currently set initial state for the solver. This action cannot be undone.

Options menu

Vertical Layout

Arranges the Solver Parameters panel vertically, listing the groups at the top and the parameters at the bottom.

Horizontal Layout

Arranges the Solver Parameters panel horizontally, listing the groups on the left and the parameters at the right.

Open Output Window

Opens the Simulation Output window where you can monitor the progress of the simulation and troubleshoot any errors, including:

Start time of simulation frame
Memory usage of any objects being voxelized
Caching time of any objects being voxelized
Time steps used in the current frame
Liquid particle count
Liquid .BIF frame size
Foam particle count
Foam .BIF frame size
Current frame simulation time

Reset Cache Clearing Options

Resets all 'Do not show this message again' options set in the simulation's pop-up cache dialogs.

Display Frame in Progress Bar

Shows the last-solved frame in the progress bar instead of the completed percentage.

Enable Soft Lock Timeslider

Advances the time slider to the last completed frame of the currently selected solver.

Disable Soft Lock on Time Change

Disables the soft lock whenever the time slider is manually changed.

Solver Area

Use the Solver Area to manage liquids and solvers, start and stop solves, monitor sim progress, and select simulation components.

Context Menus

Right-click a liquid or a solver to open the following context menus:

Liquids context menu

New Solver: Creates a new solver for the selected liquid object.
Select Object in Scene: Selects the specified liquid object in the scene.

Solvers context menu

Clear Cache: Opens the Clear Cache dialog where you can select to clear fluid, foam, and/or mesh caches for the selected solver.
Rename: Renames the selected solver.
Clone: Clones the selected solver and all of its settings.
Export: Exports solver data as a Liquid Solver Data (.liquidsolve) file.
Delete: Deletes the selected solver.
Set Initial State: Sets the initial state for the solver at the current frame.
Clone With Initial State: Creates a clone of the solver using the current frame as the initial state. The new solver name is appended with IS_FX, where IS indicates the initial state and FX indicates the frame number used for the initial state.
Export .prt Files: Exports PRT files containing 3D modeling information and channel data in a global format. For more information, see the Caching panel topic.
Open Cache Root in Explorer: Opens the location of the cache root in Windows Explorer.
Create Loader From Cache: Creates a Fluid Loader object from the current fluid cache in memory.
Add Cache to Selected Loader: Adds the cache from the Liquid object to the currently selected Fluid Loader object.
Copy Display/Render Settings: Opens a dialog where display and render settings for the selected liquid can be copied to selected target objects. Under the Parameters panel of the dialog, select the settings you want to copy. Then, under the Target Objects panel, select the desired Liquid and Fluid Loader objects. Click Apply to finish.

Fluid Loaders context menu

Copy Display/Render Settings: Opens a dialog where the display and render settings for the selected fluid loader can be copied to target objects. Under the Parameters panel of the dialog, select the settings you want to copy. Then, under the Target Objects panel, select the desired Liquid and Fluid Loader objects. Click Apply to finish.
Select Object in Scene: Selects the specified fluid loader object in the scene.

Simulation Controls

Use the simulation controls to solve selected components and monitor their progress. You can solve liquid, foam and the cache mesh at the same time, or solve the liquid first and then the foam and/or cache mesh.

Click:	To:
	Start the solve.
	Pause the solve.
	Stop the solve.
	Solve the liquid component.
	Solve the foam component.
	Generate the mesh component.

Enabled components are shown in light blue. Components that are not completely solved show a yellow clock, and completed solves show a green checkmark.