New in RealFlow 5

• Computation distributed over a network
• IDOC (Independent Domain of Computation) nodes
• Send jobs by using an open plug-in architecture
• Job manager built-in panel to browse the job status
• Browse the job status using a standard internet browser
• On-line help system
• Global search
• Parameter context help
• Node context help
• Scene import/export as XML format
• Preview
• One-click generation of a preview video/sequence of files.
• Movie player
• tga, bmp, jpg and png sequences
• Write out avi files
• Real time play
• Global scale for forces
• Snap tools
• Align tools
• Import MXS (Maxwell) format
• Predefined or user defined OpenGL shaders  

NEW COMPONENTS
• RealFlow RenderKit version 2 - a set of software tools to render simulation data.
• License Manager: a software application to handle licenses.
• RealFlow Job Manager: a software application to control simulation jobs.

 
NEW FEATURES
• Liquids
• Hybrido fluid technology
• Large-scale
• Coupling particle-based and grid-based liquids
• Splash
• Foam
• Particle-based
• Texture-based
• Mist
• Statistical spectrum displacement
• Grid-based liquids
• Multi-threaded
• Particle emitters
• Container
• Empty container to move particles around
• Bodies
• Caronte Body Dynamics solver
• Rigid bodies
• Collision primitives: box, sphere, convex hull and mesh
• State-of-the-art stacking
• Multi-threaded
• Soft bodies
• Free form deformation based
• Efficient for high polygon count meshes
• Permanent deformation
• Multi-threaded
• Joints
• Automatic creation and break
• Ability to connect rigid-rigid, rigid-soft and soft-soft bodies
• Permanent deformation
• Fluid surfaces (RealWave)
• Statistical spectrum wave for the generation of realistic oceans
• RWC wave
• Gerstner wave
• SDK built wave
• Interaction wave
• Option to export as a displacement texture
• MultiBody nodes
• For efficient handling of scenes with many objects
• Meshes
• RFRK mesh (RealFlow RenderKit)
• Multi-threaded
• Tension and relaxation filters
• Camera and Objects Clipping
• Optimize curvature and camera-based
• Particle attributes transferred to the mesh
• Built-in Glsl and custom shaders
• Grid mesh
• User is now able to create meshes by mixing a grid-based and a particle-based fluid
• Texture, Y-planar projection, UV particle and Fluid average velocity
• Tension and relaxation filters
• Optimized curvature and camera-based
• Built-in Glsl and custom shaders
• CrowdFlow plugin
• Flocks
• Swarms
• “Follow-the-leader”
• Morph plugin
• Improves on the built-in Magic daemon
• Filter daemon
• Transfer particles from one emitter to another based on particles’ attributes
• Sheeter daemon
• Auto-fill areas with low resolution to create thin sheets of fluid
• External forces
• SDK built forces
• C++ SDK
• Commands
• Batch
• Simulation Events
• Forces
• Particle solvers
• Waves
• Job managers
• GUI
• UI dark and light color scheme options
• Commands tool bars
• Change predefined layouts by using keyboard shortcuts

 
IMPROVED FEATURES
• Liquids
• Particle-based liquids
• Memory management vastly improved. Significant improvement in simulation speed - up to 20 times faster. Better multi-threading support
• Playback enhanced - new “proxy” format
• Visualization details now provided for easier navigation of scenes
• Fluid surfaces (RealWave)
• Multiple wave parameters can be animated
• Object splash
• More control on the amount of emitted particles
• Stability when using “Liquid” particles
• External forces
• All external forces are now multi-threaded
• Magic - more control on how particles approach and leave target object. Texture can now be added
• Python editor
• Auto-complete
• Improved highlight color syntax
• Connected to the online help system
• Python SDK
• Version 2.6.2
• New classes and functions
• Interaction parameters can be texture-mapped
• Curve and expressions editor
• Copy/paste control points
• Multi-curve editing
• Save/load curves to/from crv and xml formats
• Export central
• Delete resource folder
• Open resource folder
• Resource options

 
REALFLOW RENDERKIT: IMPROVEMENTS
• RFRK_Mesher
• Core/Splash filter per sequence
• Radius per sequence
• All particle magnitudes available for rendering transferred to the mesh
• Smoothing
• Multi-threaded
• RFRK_Particler
• Animation curves to control particle’s size according to the camera distance
• More control over shape of multipoint clouds
• Now available for mental ray, RenderMan and Maxwell Render. Coming soon for Mantra.

 
REALFLOW RENDERKIT: NEW FEATURES
• RFRK_Mesher
• Import/export meshes
• Relax/tension filters
• Optimization
• Clipping
• Memory and threads control
• RFRK_Particler
• Geometry rendered on demand
• Animation curves to control particle’s size according to magnitudes
• RFRK_Cloud: a tool for rendering volumetric data.
• Uses BIN and MTC RealFlow standard file formats for particles and mist
• Anisotropy and light controls
• RFRK_Displacement: a tool for rendering full 3D
displacement maps

KEY FEATURES 

• HYBRIDO FLUID TECHNOLOGY
A new hybrid fluid solver for medium and large-scale simulations with sophisticated secondary effects, like splashes, mist, and foam generation, and displacement maps for use in the final mesh.
Hybrido is the most impressive new feature in RealFlow 5, enabling the user to create stunning results. It’s incredibly fast, even when handling millions of particles, while memory usage is kept to an absolute minimum.

 
• CARONTE BODY DYNAMICS SOLVER
The rigid body dynamics engine has been completely rewritten for better performance, improved collision detection and easier handling. With the new name Caronte, it now supports more than one processor and constraints have been replaced by MultiJoint objects. The soft body dynamics engine has been rewritten from scratch. It’s much faster and more reliable, and also offers a completely redesigned interface with new parameters. A major change is that soft bodies no longer use particles to describe the body’s vertices. The new MultiBody node will enable you to load thousands of objects at lightning speed.

 
• PARTICLE-BASED SOLVER
The particle solver has been highly accelerated. Simulations with standard fluids are now up to 20 times faster.

 
• PLUG-INS, C++ AND PYTHON SDKS
Programmers and developers have the option to write their own extensions and commercial plug-ins for RealFlow. Complete Software Development Kits for C/C++ and Python provide all the necessary tools and functions to get you started.

 
• IDOCS/JOB MANAGER
IDOCs (Independent Domains of Computation) can be used with both the new Hybrido solver (splash, foam, mist) and standard fluids. Non-interacting domains can be spread across several computers for simulation. With the new Job Manager you can distribute the individual domains and keep track of the results.

 
• MESHING
There are two completely new ways to create meshes, both multi-threaded. The first approach calculates meshes on the fly from millions of particles, and can be used in conjunction with the new grid fluid solver Hybrido. Experienced users will find some similarities with the traditional meshing engine in RealFlow 4. The other new meshing method uses the same tools as in the RealFlow RenderKit.

• REALWAVE
RealWave now includes a statistical spectrum modifier for sharp cresting waves. It is also possible to export tileable displacement maps for large ocean surfaces. RealFlow 5 also includes a Gerstner wave modifier and the possibility to import file sequences.

 
• CURVE EDITOR
The curve editor has been vastly improved and now supports the selection of keys over multiple curves, among other new features. New tools have been added for better and easier curve drawing and processing. It is now also possible to mix keyed curves with expressions. In addition, sophisticated tools for navigating the graph window and for copy/paste actions have been implemented.

 
REALFLOW RENDERKIT KEY FEATURES
The RealFlow RenderKit is a set of tools designed to facilitate the complex task of rendering RealFlow fluids. RFRK generates procedural geometry at rendertime, reducing storage and memory usage and bypasses 3D platforms restrictions resulting in faster, easier rendering. RFRK is available for mentalray, RenderMan and Maxwell Render. Coming soon for Mantra.

• RFRK_Mesher
Procedural tool that works at rendertime. It can generate fluid surface meshes from RealFlow particles. The latest RFRK_Mesher includes new relax and tension filters, optimization and clipping. All particle magnitudes available for rendering are now transferred to the mesh. The latest version also includes radius and core/splash filters per sequence.

 
• RFRK_Particler
This tool can generate different geometry primitives from RealFlow particles. The latest version also includes animation curves to control particle size according to magnitude settings and camera distance. It also supports multipoint and clipping filters.

• RFRK_Cloud
A new tool for rendering volumetric data using BIN particle files and the new MTC format.

 
• RFRK_Displacement
A new tool for rendering full 3D displacement maps from Hybrido and RealWave.

RealFlow wurde unter anderem in folgenden Filmen eingesetzt: 

• 300
• 2012
• A Christmas Carol
• Avatar
• Battle of red cliff
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Chi bi (The Battle of Red Cliffs)
• Chicken Little
• Constantine
• Crank 2: High Voltage
• District 9
• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
• Freddy vs. Jason
• GI JOE
• Horton Hears a Who!
• Ice Age
• Ice Age 2 (the Meltdown)
• Ice Age 3 (Dawn of the Dinosaurs)
• Kaena
• Lost in Space
• Meet the Robinsons
• Minority Report
• National treasure: Book of Secrets
• Ninja Assasin
• Orphan
• Percy Jackson & The Olympians
• Poseidon
• Primeval
• Robots
• Slither
• Shorts
• Spy Kids 3D
• Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• The Box
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Da Vinci Code
• The Final Destination
• The Guardian
• The Incredibles
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• The Matrix Reloaded
• The Sinking of Japan
• Tomb Raider
• Underworld 3: The Rise of the Lycans
• Water Giant
• Watchmen
• X-Men 3 (The Last Stand)

SOFTWARE & HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

Windows 32 and 64
• Windows XP, Vista, 7 or Windows Server 2008.
• 2 GHz Intel® Pentium® 4 processor, Athlon 64 AMD or better.
• 2GB RAM minimum. 4GB of RAM memory is recommended.
• Hardware-Accelerated OpenGL® graphics card
• 400 MB available hard disk space for installation.
• 3 button mouse.

 
Macintosh 32 and 64
• Mac OSX 10.5 and up
• G4, G5 or Intel® CPU. G5 or Intel® is recommended
• 2GB RAM minimum. 4GB of RAM memory is recommended
• Hardware-Accelerated OpenGL® graphics card
• 1 GB available hard disk space for installation
• 3 button mouse

 
Linux 64
• 64 bits distribution with a 2.6 Kernel and glibc 2.5
• 2 GHz Intel® Pentium® 4 processor, Athlon 64 AMD or better.
• 2 GB RAM minimum. 4 GB of RAM memory is recommended
• Hardware-Accelerated OpenGL® graphics card
• 300 MB available hard disk space for installation
• 3 button mouse

3D PLATFORM COMPATIBILITY

• 3ds Max:  7, 8, 9, 2008, 2009 and 2010 for Windows 32/64
• LightWave: 9.6 for Windows 32/64, Mac OSx
• Cinema 4D (11.x) Coming soon
• XSi: 7.5, 2010 for Windows 32/64, Linux 32/64
• Houdini: Production builds 9.5 - 10.0.554 for Windows 32/64, Linux 32/64
• Maya: 7 for Windows 32 only; 8, 9, 2008, 2009 and 2010 for Windows 64; v.8.5, 2008, 2009, 2010 for Linux 32/64; v.8.5, 2008, 2009, 2010 for Mac OSX