Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
fluid simulator and the dense meshes it creates are demanding of computer resources. You can get much more
mileageoutofyourhardwareifyoumakegooduseofBlender'scompositingfunctionalitytobreakupcomplex
scenes. For the same reason, never use a fluid simulation when a wave-modified plane will do!
Simulating Smoke and Fire
Another Blender feature introduced since the first edition of this topic is the volumetric smoke simulation,
which can also be used to create convincing fire by using the appropriate material and texture settings.
Setting up a smoke simulation is surprisingly simple, even more so than setting up a basic fluid sim. As with
the fluid sim, you need a volumetric domain, which can be the default cube. Click Smoke in the Physics prop-
erties area and click the Domain button, as shown in
Figure 7-70
.
Figure 7-70
Setting up the domain for smoke
For a Flow object, you can use a simple plane, as shown in
Figure 7-71
. Size it down and place it near the
bottomofthedomain.Don'tplace itflushagainst thedomainwall,because thereneedstobeasmall amountof
space for the simulation to work properly.
