SIMULATE SMALL-SCALE LIQUIDS IN BIFROST

Utilise Bifrost’s powerful tools to create realistic small-scale liquid simulations in Maya

- Holly Watt

This tutorial will guide you step-by-step through the workflow of utilising Bifrost’s powerful tools to create a small-scale simulated liquid. Bifrost is well known for its use in creating large-scale simulations and it can often be overlooked when it comes to smaller, more detailed simulations.

The tutorial is aimed at complete beginners to Bifrost as well as those who have previously used it before for large-scale simulations. Bifrost is heavily dependent on the scene, so there is a focus on scale throughout the tutorial beginning with how to set up your scene to scale ready to add Bifrost emitters, colliders and killplanes. The next steps cover how to alter settings needed to convert Bifrost from using a metre scale to a cm scale. You will then go on to learn how to create a viscous honey liquid simulation, how to cache your simulation and finally mesh it to turn it from particles to geometry. The final steps cover adding your shaders and lighting to create a simple but striking final image.

Once you’ve completed this tutorial you will have created a detailed, realistic simulation of honey and will have a thorough understanding of the Bifrost workflow, able to apply your new knowledge to create other smallscale liquid simulations.

01 MODEL YOUR SCENE TO SCALE