There are plenty of great software packages around for creating water simulations, and adding to that list has been Naiad from Exotic Matter.
Naiad was literally Born from the making Avatar and since then has captured the imagination of 3D artists and hobbyists alike demonstrating fantastic results in test renderings across the web. Looking ad plenty of R&D examples, tests and renderings, here I have listed some of the 10 best examples of Naiad in Action in one handy place.
You can also check out some of the Naiad tutorials to get a sense of how things work.
Waves, Wakes, and Tests
Shark Night 3D, and Naiad Case Study on Shark Night 3D
Check out the post for some info on Shark Night 3D as a Naiad Case Study here showing how Naiad was used in the VFX pipeline shown with some breakdowns as well.
Naiad differs from other 3D Fluid Simulation packages in that it is node based and Naiad’s fluid solver and written from the ground up using the latest state of the art methods in fluid mechanics for complex, variable-density, variable-viscosity flow. As a result of this, while working in Naiad you do not have to “trick” or “fake” detail in Naiad with displacement maps or non-physical particle systems – in most cases if you know what you are doing, working in Naiad is as simple as hitting simulate and using the results as is.
Having a Node based Fluid Solver is a liberating thing when working with simulations as you are able to stay flexible by the ability to rewire pretty much anything quickly. This includes things such as where an event occurs in the simulation, when an event occurs and even “if” and event occurs. This really comes together with Naiad’s Expression language filling in the gaps where nodes reach their limit.
Splashes and Splash Tests
Viscosity Density and Custom Maps
Patan77xD on youtube has a look at Naiad Vs Realflow, comparing similar simulations and their speed
1# Naiad “Viewport ” simulation: 4min 35sec
1# Naiad “Viewport ” NOT rec simulation: 2min 23sec
2# Naiad “CMD ” simulation: 2min 57sec
2# Naiad “CMD ” NOT rec simulation: 1min 53sec
3# RealFlow “Hybrido ” simulation: 3min 08sec
3# RealFlow “Hybrido” NOT rec simulation: 0min 26sec
4# RealFlow “Standar simulation: 2min 40sec
4# RealFlow “Standar NOT rec simulation: 2min 09sec
**NOT rec = same simulation as above but where not recording using Fraps. Because it slows down the simulation a lot specially Hybrido simulation using RealFlow.
