Hi!
Does anybody could explain me basic workflow of particles/metaballs effect. Maybe some tips can help. However I try to change a parameters of particles amount and metaballs size and weight, the final mesh behaves strange. I need a sumulation of fluid on some basic level and as to particles everything satisfy me. But when I copy metaballs on them and convert them to polygons, mesh starts to jump from frame to frame, so geometry looks like it changes its topology (since particles move, die, collide etc. it's quite obvious but ruins my scene). I though that this is a general way to generate such an effect. Am I wrong?

Scene is a milk flowing from a bottle to class and it does not have to be very realistic, let it be a mud flowing to class…

thanks,
SYmek.

I am not sure how much time you have but I know there is a Real Flow Plugin for Houdini that you can download for free! You may search it!
I have not tried it yet since I am also a beginner. But I will try it next month!

www.digitalcinemaarts.com/dev/real_flow

Some things to look out for:
- If you don't need motion blur (or will be faking it in 2D), then the best option is NOT convert to metaballs in the first place.
- If you must convert to polygons for some reason, then use the ConvertMeta SOP instead of Convert which gives more control over converting metaballs.

Due to the nature of metaballs, there might not be way at all to convert into polygons such that they always have consistent topology. I think what the Convert Meta SOP allows you to do is to pick the best method that works for your shot.

thanks for replays.
I use ConvertMetaball but still during the time there is a change in a point number of my fluid object so it looks like a flock of jumping rats under a carpet… I convert metaballs to palygons for subdividing them in order to give it some more details… maybe it's not a good idea.

As to Realflow… it is a great software but I don't like it since…. it simulates fluids phisicly! which means that you hardly can control your scene. If I want, for example, my milk jumping out from a glass after it has flown in to it - well it's really tricky. That is why I try to do it entarily in H.

thanks again.
symek.

I must be missing something. More details how? Without converting them to polygons, you get a true primitive so the renderer will be able to give you the highest level of detail regardless.

Besides, if you're converting the metaballs to polygons, why not simply increase the resolution used as opposed to using a subdivide?