otuama
01-10-2009, 03:03 PM
Hi all, I have a problem that is annoying me so much because I can't think of any work-around.
I'm making an animation of a wave machine office toy thingy. Basically, it's a toy filled with water; the toy tilts and the water moves back and fore.
I filled the toy and everything was fine. I even have some objects in the toy which collide with the liquid. See pic below.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene1.jpg
As you can see below, I have a boat in the scene that is controlled by the liquid.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene2.jpg
Everything simulated fine, I was happy with it. I gave the boat a low mass so the liquid was in complete control and the boat rose to the surface too when under the water.
But, and here is when the problem starts. The mesh, Arrrrrrrrgh!!!!!!!
I worked for quite a long time trying to get the best looking mesh. I built the mesh sequence and again, all was fine, until I took it into maya.
Because I had the particles collide with the boat, whenever the boat went under/inside the water the boat disappeared leaving a bubble in the shape of the boat.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene5.jpg
This was obviously because the particles were still colliding/surrounding the boat object. And because there was a gap (where the particles were colliding with the boat) the mesh was built around the gap.
Not only that but the boat seemed to completely vanish when under the water. As you can see from below, when the water isn't covering the boat it is visible.
Where the water curls you can see the boat (dark grey). If you look slightly to the left, where the boat should be under the water, the boat has vanished, leaving a gap in the mesh.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene6.jpg
I'm not sure if this is because of the shader. The boat is still there because even when it's completely under water the boats shadow can still be seen on the toy base.
And then another problem occurred. The boat bubble was there, then it wasn't. See below.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene8.jpg
The next frame.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene9.jpg
The frame after that showed the bubble and a few frames after it was gone again
I went into Realflow and looked at the above frames and the particles were still colliding with the boat but the mesh was being built without being shaped around the gap, which is actually what I want because the only problem I'd have is trying to find out why the boat object is vanishing.
I've tried a few things to sort this problem including:
1) Giving the boat a 0.1 particle interaction value and upping the particle force. That worked but only when it came to the bubble problem. As the particles were going through the object the mesh didn't build the bubble. But the simulation wasn't at all realistic
2) Simulating the particles, and simulating the object on cached particles, which worked-ish but that meant there was no realistic boat/particle collision (when the boat rose out of the water the particles didn't bulge, if you know what I mean)
I've tried more things but can't think of them right now as I've tried to stay away from this simulation for a while as I don't want to throw my laptop out of the window.
If anyone has any suggestions please, please let me know.
Many thanks,
Sean
I'm making an animation of a wave machine office toy thingy. Basically, it's a toy filled with water; the toy tilts and the water moves back and fore.
I filled the toy and everything was fine. I even have some objects in the toy which collide with the liquid. See pic below.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene1.jpg
As you can see below, I have a boat in the scene that is controlled by the liquid.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene2.jpg
Everything simulated fine, I was happy with it. I gave the boat a low mass so the liquid was in complete control and the boat rose to the surface too when under the water.
But, and here is when the problem starts. The mesh, Arrrrrrrrgh!!!!!!!
I worked for quite a long time trying to get the best looking mesh. I built the mesh sequence and again, all was fine, until I took it into maya.
Because I had the particles collide with the boat, whenever the boat went under/inside the water the boat disappeared leaving a bubble in the shape of the boat.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene5.jpg
This was obviously because the particles were still colliding/surrounding the boat object. And because there was a gap (where the particles were colliding with the boat) the mesh was built around the gap.
Not only that but the boat seemed to completely vanish when under the water. As you can see from below, when the water isn't covering the boat it is visible.
Where the water curls you can see the boat (dark grey). If you look slightly to the left, where the boat should be under the water, the boat has vanished, leaving a gap in the mesh.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene6.jpg
I'm not sure if this is because of the shader. The boat is still there because even when it's completely under water the boats shadow can still be seen on the toy base.
And then another problem occurred. The boat bubble was there, then it wasn't. See below.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene8.jpg
The next frame.
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww40/otuama/WaveMachinescene9.jpg
The frame after that showed the bubble and a few frames after it was gone again
I went into Realflow and looked at the above frames and the particles were still colliding with the boat but the mesh was being built without being shaped around the gap, which is actually what I want because the only problem I'd have is trying to find out why the boat object is vanishing.
I've tried a few things to sort this problem including:
1) Giving the boat a 0.1 particle interaction value and upping the particle force. That worked but only when it came to the bubble problem. As the particles were going through the object the mesh didn't build the bubble. But the simulation wasn't at all realistic
2) Simulating the particles, and simulating the object on cached particles, which worked-ish but that meant there was no realistic boat/particle collision (when the boat rose out of the water the particles didn't bulge, if you know what I mean)
I've tried more things but can't think of them right now as I've tried to stay away from this simulation for a while as I don't want to throw my laptop out of the window.
If anyone has any suggestions please, please let me know.
Many thanks,
Sean