-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 192
Force Field Object Settings
Force Field objects generate a force vector field around or near the object that can be used to direct fluid motion, typically attracting fluid towards or repelling fluid away from the object.
At the moment, force field features are experimental and are only available in our Force Field Experimental Builds.
Creating a force field object is similar to creating other object types in the simulator (Fluid/Inflow/Outflow/Obstacle):
- Add a Blender object to your scene.
- Add this object is a FLIP Fluid object by clicking the FLIP Fluid operator in the physics panel.
- Set the Type of this object to Force Field.
- Set the Force Field Mode for this object.
No, the built-in Blender force fields are not compatible with the FLIP Fluids addon. Our addon has limited access to Blender's force field system and due to this, we are not able to use these force fields within the simulator. Our force field system is a separate and custom built physics system that is implemented directly within our simulation engine.
In addition to the limitations of Blender's force field system, many of the force field modes we have implemented are for creating popular effects that are not possible using Blender's internal force fields. Our force field modes differ from Blender's in that they are specifically designed towards use in liquid physics and creating popular liquid effects.
| Mode | Type of forcefield to generate around the object. Point Force Force field directed towards a single point. Surface Force Force field directed towards an object's surface. Volume Force Force field directed to fill an object's volume. Curve Guide Force Force field directed along a curve object (Currently unavailable, in progress). Vortex Force Force field directed to spiral around the object's local Z-axis (Currently unavailable, in progress). Turbulence Force Force field directed by random and chaotic 3D noise (Currently unavailable, in progress). Programmable Force Force field directed by a programmable vector field via Python scripting (Currently unavailable, in progress). |
Most force field modes will contain the same set of settings, even though each mode can act very differently. This section will detail the common force field settings you will find. For settings specific to an individual force field mode, see the sections below detailing each type of mode.
| Enabled | Whether the force field object is active in the simulation. |
| Strength | The base strength of the force field. A negative strength attracts fluid towards the object while a positive strength will repel fluid away from the object. For reference, a strength of 9.81 will be equivalent to the default gravitational force. |
| Falloff Power | How the force strength decreases with distance away from the object. If r is the distance from the object, the force strength changes with (1 / rpower). A power of 0.0 = constant force, 1.0 = linear falloff, 2.0 = gravitational falloff. |
| Enable Min Distance | Use a minimum distance for the force field falloff. |
| Min Distance | The distance from the force object at which the force begins to falloff. The strength of the force field when the distance is less than the min distance will be (1 / min_distancepower). Only takes effect if Enable Min Distance is set to Enabled. |
| Enable Max Distance | Use a maximum distance for the force field to work. |
| Max Distance | Maximum distance from the force object that the force field will have an effect on the simulation. The strength of the force field when the distance is greater than that max distance will be 0.0. Limiting max distance can help speed up force field calculations. Only takes effect if Enable Max Distance is set to Enabled. |
| Max Force Limit Factor | The maximum force strength magnitude generated by this field will be limited to the absolute Strength value multiplied by this value. For example, if Strength = -9.81 and the Limit Factor = 3.0, the maximum strength magnitude in the field will be limited to 9.81 * 3.0 = 29.43. |
| Max Force (Info Display) | This value estimates the maximum possible force field magnitude generated by this object, taking the Max Force Limit Factor into account. Force field strengths are inversely proportional to the distance from the object and can become very large when distances decrease. Use the Max Force Limit Factor to reduce the maximum force. For reference, a value of 9.81 is equal to the default strength of gravity. |
| Export Animated Mesh | Export the force field object mesh as an animated one. TIP: Animated objects can be slower to export, so use this option only if necessary, such as for armatures or parented objects. Objects with keyframed position/rotation/scale do not require this option to be enabled. |
| Skip re-export | If enabled, the addon will skip re-exporting this mesh when starting or resuming a bake. If this mesh has not been exported or is missing files, the addon will automatically export the required files. Notes: Animated mesh export can slow down the export stage if the mesh is complex and contains a lot of geometry. Skipping mesh export for animated meshes will speed up export and help your simulation start quicker. If your animated mesh geometry or motion has changed, you will need to disable this option so that the addon will re-export the mesh geometry. |
Depending on the selected force field mode, the Distance term in the above settings will have different meanings. Here is what we mean by Distance for the applicable force field modes:
- Point Force: The distance from the center of the object.
- Surface and Volume Force: The distance from the closest point on the object's surface.
- Curve Guide Force: The distance from the closest point on the object's curve.
- Vortex Force: The distance from the closest point on the object's local Z-axis.
Note: Distance values are measured in meters. By default, 1 Blender Unit is equal to 1 meter in the simulation. Distance measurements may differ if you have altered the Relative or Absolute world scaling settings in the FLIP Fluid World panel.
A Point Force directs fluid towards or away from a single point. Point forces are one of the quickest types of force fields to compute.
A Point Force object can be created from a Blender Empty object or a Blender Mesh object. If a mesh object is used, the origin point of the force field will use the centroid of the object's vertices. The point force mesh object may contain non-manifold geometry. We recommend using an Empty object for point forces as there are slight performance gains for these objects.
| Falloff Shape | Specifies the shape of the point force field. Only takes effect is the Falloff is greater than 0.0. Sphere Field strength falloff is uniform is all directions, as in a sphere. Tube Field strength falloff results in a tube-shaped force field. Direction of the tube uses the object local Z-axis. Cone Field strength falloff results in a cone-shaped force field. Direction of the cone uses the object local Z-axis. |
| Gravity Scale | Scale the force of gravity around this point by this value. A scale of 0.0 is zero-gravity while a value of 1.0 will be the full gravity strength. |
| Gravity Scale Width | The maximum distance around this point where gravity scaling will take effect. The gravity scale will transition linearly by distance. At a distance of 0.0, the gravity will be scaled by the Gravity Scale value, and up until a distance of Width, the gravity will be scaled linearly up to the full strength of 1.0. |
A Surface Force directs fluid towards or away from the surface of an object in the direction perpendicular to the surface. Surface forces are one of the most expensive types of force fields to compute.
A Surface Force object must be created Blender Mesh object. The surface force mesh object may contain non-manifold geometry, such as a planar mesh.
| Gravity Scale | Scale the force of gravity around the surface of the mesh by this value. A scale of 0.0 is zero-gravity while a value of 1.0 will be the full gravity strength. |
| Gravity Scale Width | The maximum distance from the surface of the mesh where gravity scaling will take effect. The gravity scale will transition linearly by distance. At a distance of 0.0, the gravity will be scaled by the Gravity Scale value, and up until a distance of Width, the gravity will be scaled linearly up to the full strength of 1.0. |
Getting fluids to stick effectively to an object's surface can be difficult in fluid simulation. Use an obstacle object in combination with a surface force object to help the fluid stick to an object. Setting the Gravity Scale value to 0.0 for a small width around the force field will negate gravity near the surface, which can help further aid fluid adhesion.
See our Fluid Adhesion Example Scene for an example simulation setup.
A Volume Force directs fluid towards the interior of the object's volume in the direction perpendicular to the object's surface. Volume forces are one of the most expensive types of force fields to compute.
A Volume Force object must be created Blender Mesh object. The volume force mesh object must have manifold geometry, in order to be computed accurately within the simulator.
| Gravity Scale | Scale the force of gravity inside of the mesh by this value. A scale of 0.0 is zero-gravity while a value of 1.0 will be the full gravity strength. |
| Gravity Scale Width | The maximum distance from the outside of the mesh's surface where gravity scaling will take effect. The gravity scale will transition linearly by distance. At a distance of 0.0, the gravity will be scaled by the Gravity Scale value, and up until a distance of Width, the gravity will be scaled linearly up to the full strength of 1.0. |
Fluid Control Objects were a feature in the older Blender Elbeem simulator that could be used to create 3D fluid shapes. Since Blender 2.82+, this feature has been removed. Our FLIP Fluids volume force can be used to mimic and improve on the older control object feature.
Here are some tips on how to set up a volume force to behave similarly to a fluid control object:
- Enable a thin Max Distance value so that the force field only affects fluid that is close to the object. Fluid further away from the object will be unaffected by the force field and will flows naturally with the regular scene gravity.
- Set the Gravity Scale to a low value, such as 0.1. This reduces the gravity inside of the force field to help the fluid hold it's shape and stay inside of the object.
- Set the Gravity Scale Width to a thin layer, such as 0.25. This results in the gravity scale extending outside of the object's surface, which can help draw fluid into the inside of the object.
See our Fluid Control Object Example Scene for an example simulation setup.
This force field mode is currently unavailable or in-progress and will be added to the force field experimental builds at a later date.
A Curve Guide Force directs fluid along a curve. Curve forces can require a significant amount of computation, but are less intensive compared to Surface Forces and Volume Forces.
A Curve Guide Force object must be created using a Blender Curve object. The curve object may be either open-ended or a closed-loop.
| Strength | The base strength of the force field. A negative strength attracts fluid towards the closest point on the curve while a positive strength will repel fluid away from the curve. For reference, a strength of 9.81 will be equivalent to the default gravitational force. |
| Flow Strength | The strength of of the force that propels fluid along the curve. A positive strength will direct fluid in the direction from the first curve vertex to the last curve vertex. A negative strength will reverse the direction. |
| Spin Strength | The strength of of the force that propels fluid in a vortex around the curve. A positive strength spin direction uses the Right Hand Rule: take your right hand an point your thumb in the direction of the curve (fist vertex towards last vertex). Curling your right-hand fingers around the curve will be the direction of spin. A negative strength will reverse the spin direction. |
| Gravity Scale | Scale the force of gravity near the curve by this value. A scale of 0.0 is zero-gravity while a value of 1.0 will be the full gravity strength. |
| Gravity Scale Width | The maximum distance from the closest point on the curve where gravity scaling will take effect. The gravity scale will transition linearly by distance. At a distance of 0.0, the gravity will be scaled by the Gravity Scale value, and up until a distance of Width, the gravity will be scaled linearly up to the full strength of 1.0. |
This force field mode is currently unavailable or in-progress and will be added to the force field experimental builds at a later date.
This force field mode is currently unavailable or in-progress and will be added to the force field experimental builds at a later date.
This force field mode is currently unavailable or in-progress and will be added to the force field experimental builds at a later date.