Fake Liquid - Simulation Nodes in Blender 3.6

[@Erindale]

This is a neat effect but what other workflows can we use simulation nodes for?

[@drumboarder1]

If I know the internet, porn somehow

[@Erindale]

Oh lord did someone say jiggle physics?!

[@drumboarder1]

@@Erindale :(

[@1zymn1]

I'd like to see a more efficient and less blocky fire simulation. Like for a torch.

[@EmilySmirleGURPS]

I used it to extrude a shape following a curve with a fixed length between each extrusion. I just can't think how to do it without a loop.

[@JohnWesleyDavison]

No matter how many Erindale videos I watch, I always love the big cursor. It's funny and helpful.

[@MeshalDagriri]

No matter how many vids of Erindale i watch... i am always afraid of geometry nodes

[@Erindale]

It feels like wearing clown shoes 🥲

[@HeiniGurke]

On my old laptop the cursor would sometimes change to this size at random due to crappy gfx drivers. I hated it so much. If these tutorials weren't so damn good, I'd never be able to watch an hour of this :D

[@toppy506]

Do you use the large cursor as you are working? Or is it added in post?

[@abhiraaid]

I tried working with a big cursor, but immediately started facing issues, like not being able to drag down for multiple inputs

[@niutakk8177]

Someone was working on cs2 molotov :) This concept in shading and geo noding is so smart. Amazing tutorial !

[@Erindale]

Thanks so much! They're great tools to use together

[@SouthernShotty]

Wow. This is incredible. Thanks for sharing all this knowledge.

[@Erindale]

Right back at ya 🍻

[@SimonTelezhkin]

This tutorial is amazing. So many useful tricks are here even for somebody who don't need anything close to liquids animations

[@Erindale]

Thanks! I like to pack these in 😁

[@lev2328]

This is my first time seeing one of your videos and aside from the outstanding tutorial with tons of great info, I've got to say that your voice is amazing! It's so calm and soothing, it's really relaxing. I could probably listen to one of your videos to fall asleep and absorb some blender knowledge while I'm at it! I also wanted to say that you're able to explain things in a way that's fairly easy to understand, even for somebody who's very new to this sort of thing. You're a great teacher. Amazing video! Thanks so much.

[@Erindale]

Thank you so much for saying! I really appreciate it

[@1star_god]

this man such a good teacher he got me responding to his questions on impulse, like dora the explorer TT0TT

[@echo5156]

you just know its a good blender tutorial when the presenter starts speaking in tounges half way through, I thought i was good at shader nodes but this shit is on another level.

[@Erindale]

It wouldn't be blender if it was easy to understand 😁

[@tobiashagstrom4168]

When it comes to Simulation Zones, I usually use the Delta Time along with some multiplier to get the factor for stuff like mixing a value towards 0. In Shaders, when I need a time value, instead of using just the frame, I make a driver which is "Frame / fps", where "fps" is a Single Property driver Input Variable to the current scene with the path set to "render.fps". Both of these gives me ways of processing time that work dynamically with whatever frame rate I'm using.

[@Erindale]

You can also use the scene time node’s “seconds” output which is frame rate agnostic. Delta time is useful as it’s just the time step since the last frame so good for scaling forces by

[@ebixxdracion]

I have a custom stylized glass shader I made a while back, with fully changeable settings. It's even on my gumroad... Guess I should go optimize it for blender 4.0

[@Danielupri]

As always, a wonderful video. Very useful information, a lot learnings and perfectly explained. Also, it is me, or your voice is very relaxing and calm. Can not wait for the next!

[@yaooooooooooooooooooo_oo]

This was really great and i hope more simulation nodes tutorial will come, but i would appreciate a little of explanation about more specific nodes, like the sample index... i saw other tutorials of yours and my critique is the same. btw thank you for this amazing vids

[@Erindale]

I'll try and do some more documentation-style vids

[@yonlaycabrera4431]

When I am about quitting Blender, something awesome like this happens. It is nearly impossible to find such a high level content in any other software-based community. Thanks a lot for sharing.

[@Erindale]

Thanks! Best thing is to never quit Blender!

[@lerikhkl]

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in smh. This is one of the most impressive things I've seen in Blender honestly!

[@juutube123]

It would be helpful if you explained the grand idea behind what you are doing before you implement them, it's very hard to keep up with the "why" of it all.

[@JamieGriffiths-d2z]

A really great tutorial on simulation nodes and shader nodes and a good use case. Would you ever consider complementing these videos with written content? To help with following the procedure and thinking in a logical manner.

[@Erindale]

That's a great suggestion but it is super time consuming. If I could load the transcripts onto something like chatgpt and have it produce most of it and then I can just add the extra polish and pertinent information then that sounds more doable. I'll have a look into that

[@JamieGriffiths-d2z]

@@Erindale Thanks. I know sometimes even with the most diligent labelling/framing etc, I can look back at even my own more modest node trees and my eyes glaze over 😅

[@virgilhawkins3390]

This is wild as hell. I came here looking for a nice NPR liquid tutorial and got a crash course in how shaders are constructed. Instant subscribe.

[@Erindale]

Yo thank you! If you want to get your liquid more like the thumbnail then you can use a refraction node taking that red colour we made into the mix. That'll let you bend things behind. You can't do 2 refraction with Eevee though so keep the glass bottle how I did it already.

[@briansnider7391]

Thank you so much! This effect will get heavily used in my upcoming project!

[@dmnkb]

I first noticed this kind of effect many years ago in Team Fortress 2, where I think this Irish guy had this bottle he was fighting with. I remember being very intrigued at the time!

[@rodrigovizcainogarcia2265]

Thanks for this, absolutely amazing!

[@alexandermoyle9034]

coool! clever stuff and a fun thing for use in projects

[@nanzdraws]

Im probably doing something wrong, but after 16:15 I can't seem to be able to visualize the liquid. Im in Blender 4.0

[@innhverhur6662]

u r not alone, same shit I faced.. tried three times but still the same

[@1zymn1]

Whoever creates these nodes are geniuses, and you're a genius for figuring this out.

[@Erindale]

Thanks, glad it's helpful

[@theNickn]

What a nice surprise! Just earlier today I was thinking about trying something like this myself. I'll definitely be watching this tomorrow morning.

[@Erindale]

Thanks, enjoy!

[@dmz2885]

hi @Erindale I have a problem in 16:14 when you mix the shader with the material output somehow liquid is not filled, when I am doing it and I have checked that the entire process is same, I am using blenser 4.2.2 so I wanted to ask is their any difference in 3.6 and 4.2.2 is that why liquid is not filling and only show the empty shell with emission Image. or the problem is in my side? thanks in advance.

[@__Rizzler__]

aint no wayyyy. aint no way brooo. i didnt knew this existed

[@TanukiYT]

This is awesome! Thank you for sharing

[@Erindale]

Thanks for watching!

[@arn9570]

Finally, the nodes that what i looking for 🔥🔥🔥

[@arceus121121]

Great video! Stupid question - how do you get your search to display Vector Math > Dot Product and whatnot? This would save sooo many clicks!!!!!!

[@Erindale]

Literally just drag off a socket. You'll see a + on your cursor and then release and you'll get the search menu that's tailored to your socket context

[@arceus121121]

@@Erindale omg thank you I had no idea about dragging into empty space at all. my fingers are saved

[@johnsmith56920]

Help help!!! Is there a way in Blender geometry nodes to find the matrix for going from a coordinate system into another? I know the maths and I can write the node myself BUT I think it must exists somewhere. Right? Right?

[@Erindale]

Yeah for sure you can just convert the vectors from Cartesian into whichever space you want. If you know the maths you should just be able to build it with math nodes on a position / separate xyz setup

[@johnsmith56920]

@@Erindale What I do is get a point find the normal and the tangent plane. Then find the points projected from an ellipse drawn on the tangent plane onto the model and move the points from the model along their normal with a soucoupoid (whatever that is in English) equation. Gives me a nice blister with smooth transition. In order to do that I must express points coordinates into the original point system of coordinates (normal + tangent plane). I was kind of hoping some Blender maths guys would have given us a node to do that. I mean we do this all the time, don't we?

[@blackgearcompany347]

This method is life-saver in comparison to classic liquid simulations One favour though; could You post final screenshot of whole node and material? something went wrong with my recreation and flow takes microsecond, no matter what value I put into factor

[@Erindale]

You can download the whole file from Patreon (free) link in the description

[@blackgearcompany347]

@@Erindale Thank you vey much

[@GregoryAlbright-t3p]

I know it is not your thing, but I would absolutely buy a class that you did on programming in Unreal Engine blueprints and shaders. The stuff I am finding is so basic and even juvenile...

[@Erindale]

I really want to have a try with that! I'll try and get some time this year to try them out

[@WwAiRtRhIiOnR]

My brain always hurts after watching one of your tutorials, but in a good way. Crazy idea: maybe we can put the material part into the geo nodes and instead of switching shades setting the density of a volume (not sure if that or converting it to a mesh kills the performance)

[@sudiptaroyarts3861]

As always, You're the Only one Ultimate Boss of Geometry nodes ❤️❤️

[@Erindale]

Thank you

[@tenhope3206]

i find it funny on how much mix shaders were there

[@chintangupta]

That is the best thumbnail I have seen in quite a while. Huge W

[@Erindale]

Thank you 🙌

[@carlbob0002]

The tutorial is amazing! And helped me a lot to understand how about shadings work. I followed every step to the end and managed to simulate the fake liquid. However, there's a small problem: When I make 2 or 3 fast movements with the object and then stop, the top of my liquid doesn't go back to its original form. It keeps its wave form. In fact, some times it goes back to the original form, but most of the time it doesn't. I already tweaked the flow and delay attributes but it didn't solve the problem. Do you have any tips in how can I solve this problem?

[@bUildYT]

thats wizardry, just not sure yet if good magic or evil witchcraft...

[@bearbones7913]

Hi! I was curious, I made a bottle without the geometry nodes and added thickness my self. Do I need to duplicate a new mesh based on the form of the inside of the bottle to create the liquid? or start over and follow the tutorial?

[@Erindale]

Hm I think you should just be able to asssign the liquid material to the inner faces and the glass to the outer. If you added the thickness with a solidify modifier then you can use the material offset option on the modifier to make it use the second material slot

[@davidzuccarini8376]

good afternoon, thank you for this excellent tutorial. grateful for your time. and share knowledge. I would like to ask a question if you can help me please. How could I put a floating object in the middle of the liquid?

[@Erindale]

Hmm a bit tricky but I would try to maybe make a selection of geometry around the liquid level that you can use to average their positions which will give you a point in the middle of the apparent water surface. You can then instance on it. It’s a bit tricky because there’s no actual water surface, so you’re just having to guess

[@davidzuccarini8376]

Okay, I understand, I thought that, I'll explain what I'm trying to do, I have a sphere, that sphere is full, imagine something like I have a sphere, but the sphere is not completely full of liquid with nodes, it's just missing a little bit and in the medium, I want it to have a letter floating with a light, and that light also gives the light effect outwards. Thank you for responding and for your time.@@Erindale

[@joshuacadogan5174]

Incredible!

[@mylesprospero8105]

Would the fake liquid be able to go out of the object and interact with its surrounding? like the fake liquid being poured on a human?

[@Erindale]

No. It’s entirely faked and just appears on the surface of the mesh. You would need an actual fluid simulation to get what you’re after

[@keagansettle7962]

Is there anything in the 4.0 update that would cause the nodes not to register the location change and change the color respectively?

[@Erindale]

The end file opens fine in 4.X so I don’t believe so. Maybe check the end file linked in the description and see if you have something that’s not the same

[@mangomastani9847]

Hello Erin.. It was a great video as always. I have just a small question. We used a mix vector node to create dampening effect for our location change. Using a low factor we can set the speed of dampening. That is cool but the dampening is linear. Is there a way to manually set the dampening curve?

[@Erindale]

The easiest thing with this setup would be to take the output from the other mix through a map range into the factor of that vector mix. That'll let you adjust the dumping per the speed

[@MrKezives]

This Normal trick only can work with non photorealistic render? I ask cuz I think this can be a good way to make slicer material without using booleans.

[@Erindale]

Yeah as there’s no actual face there. You might be able to fake something with a portal and some mental gymnastics

[@undefined06855]

What is the difference between using a seperate xyz and colourramp (set to constant gradient) instead of the dot product and less than (when you're only working in the xyz directions)

[@Erindale]

Compute speed. Also it's just a better habit to build as you'll use it in all situations rather than having a special workflow you just use in some cases

[@Ethel511]

thanks for this tutorial! It's really amazing. But I run into a problem here: how can i make my shader to be more reality?

[@Erindale]

Not really going to be possible in Eevee due to limitations with transparency processing. You could do it with cycles though

[@Ethel511]

@@Erindale I replace the tranparent bsdf with my liquid shader, put off attribute[ colour] , also skip the attribute[colour] in gometry nodes. It can simulate but the liquidfied area just went white shader.

[@Ethel511]

It seems that if I pull of the mix node (around video 12:00 )and replace with my liquid shader, it won't show as white soild anymore.🍾But now I don't have the beautiful surface of my liquid.

[@muffo1965]

I followed the tutorial, no problem until 21.00 minute, when I added sample index. After this,Susane doesn't change color....why?

[@Erindale]

Maybe because of simulation cache? Try going back to the start frame and see if it updates

[@muffo1965]

@@Erindale many thanks solved.

[@daneilgame123]

When do i get to simulate real liquids??? (Ive never used blender in my life, actually i did but i didnt get past figuring out how to remove the cube)

[@LizardMods]

very cool stuff.

[@jojogape]

Great now I can make a ⚠️💥LIQUID SHΔDER💥⚠️ too

[@alexvith]

This is super cool! I wonder, is it possible to call global transforms in Geonodes like you did in the shader editor with the rotation_euler attribute? I tried using a Named Attribute node but it doesn't work and I cannot specify which domain to get the attribute from.

[@Erindale]

Object info node (with self object if you need current object) set to original not relative. You can pull the location, rotation, scale in

[@alexvith]

Great, thanks!@@Erindale

[@subomiayo8938]

How can I only create the glass shader and still have the object to be see through because I got so confused

[@Erindale]

I'm not sure what you mean? Like how I set it up for the glass but also see through on the liquid?

[@subomiayo8938]

No just the glass toon shader

[@Erindale]

The glass isn't transparent? You want to set the materials alpha mode

[@subomiayo8938]

How do I do that

[@Erindale]

07:44

[@joelalvarez8470]

i tried downloading the simulation of patreon after the setup didnt work for me but the models just apear with the glass shader without the liquid inside,could anyone else figure this out?

[@joelalvarez8470]

nvm pressed play and it worked

[@nicolanarracci]

Beautifull, thank you.

[@blueyedublea5943]

Very helpful tutorial, but I'm stuck on something. The liquid disappeared at some point during the tutorial, I think around when the glass shader was being created. I should also mention that the glass shader has blocky edges and does not look the same as it does in the tutorial. I continued on as I assumed that the liquid would reappear later on, but it never did. Simply moving forward a few frames in the timeline or playing the animation did not do anything, and I don't know what the issue is. Is there something I missed in the tutorial? Edit: I've checked the project file and that is working fine, so I must have made a mistake on my end. Any idea what that could be?

[@Erindale]

If you press shift+ left to return to the start frame and then play, does that update it?;

[@nahuelgonzalez1401]

Hello, I don't speak English so I speak through the translator, sorry for the bad spelling. I have a question, I downloaded the tutorial file from alix from patreon and I see the animation and everything is perfect, but I don't know how to delete the animation so I can move the object at ease, how can I move the object and make the liquid move like in the tutorial? thank you for your time

[@Erindale]

I'm not quite sure what the question is here, sorry. As long as you're playing the animation while you move around the objects, you'll have liquid effect. If it's already cached some and you want to remove the cache then you can turn off caching on the physics properties tab or just move the object and go back to the start frame and it should start recaching when you play again

[@burakpala3025]

Is it possible to import this Effekt into unity or is it a just in blender thing

[@Erindale]

Just rebuild the logic inside your game engine. The thinking is the same but you'll have more access to shader variables in Unity.

[@getfanmedia]

nice tutor

[@ghislaingirardot]

Excellent video!

[@Erindale]

Thank you

[@eals3d2715]

Great tutorial! Thank you!!

[@Erindale]

Thank YOU

[@mirror_mania]

This is really cool! Thanks for the tutorial!

[@sdados3725]

math magic. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing this!

[@Erindale]

Thank you! Glad it's useful

[@ibrahemahmed6399]

Well, i don't understand anything at all 😭. Ten minutes was enogh to ke to hate nodes. Where should i start ?

[@Erindale]

I have some beginner tutorials. Try the hexagon world one

[@niktheyllon1813]

in blender 3.4 this is possible?

[@Erindale]

No but 3.6 is LTS so if you're planning on sticking to one build for a while, I'd recommend upgrading to that

[@catwithlonghair1850]

at 28:24 how do you enable python tooltips?? i can't find it in the add-ons.

[@Erindale]

It's a default preference setting in Blender, not an addon. Should be in one of the interface tabs I think

[@imapina5997]

In Edit - Preferences - Interface and in the display section where it says tooltips.

[@subzero2971]

Can i use it in unreal ?

[@Erindale]

You would have to remake it in Unreal but the logic is consistent 👍

[@hailahh2115]

why is your mouse pointer is huge?

[@Erindale]

More accessible for mobile and hard of sight viewers

[@NguyenMinhPhu664]

object coordinate is just position coordinate but local lol

[@psychoticgiraffe]

This is very cool, but can it do splashes? I was thinking if you did something similar to the shape shifting geometry nodes tutorial it could be possible to cause objects that fall in the water to generate splashes

[@Erindale]

A bit hard to do because there's no water. The surface has no three dimensionality as your actually just rendering the back faces of the mesh with an up normal. Perhaps you could use a raycast to check the mesh what the mask is and when it goes to 1 you could instance a splash object

[@ChrisMills-AmbientSpace]

Yay! Thank you for sharing this!

[@Erindale]

No worries

[@Drakmour666]

Is it possible to make the fully working liquid or just an imitation on a liquid in a container? Can it be poured out?

[@Erindale]

This just looks like liquid but its not a fluid simulation. You'd need to properly simulate fluid for things like volume preservation, splashing, pouring etc

[@Drakmour666]

@@Erindale got it. I was 90% sure that it's only a visibility of the liquid but I wanted to be sure. :-) And another question, will object made with this method easily transfered to Unreal? Or it won't work there properly?

[@Erindale]

You'll be able to rebuild the logic inside unreal shaders and you'll be able to get it much better looking as well. You'll be able to totally control the normals there whereas Blender limits you

[@Drakmour666]

​@@Erindale sooo, If my final goal to use this physics inside Unreal I should start in Unreal from the start? :-) I also wonder, what are the benefits of Blender from the Unreal? I mean what is better to do in Blender before taking it to Unreal? The only real thing that comes to mind is making a 3d model, I see that many people make em in blender and then export to Unreal. Is it so? And if there is a difference if I want, for example, make a cartoon with characters with realistic physics and I want to make just an animation for the game with characters with realistic physics, is it also better to be make in blender or in unreal?

[@NoSoyMako]

this guy is like the bob ross of blender

[@Erindale]

Thank you so much 😁

[@mr.cobalt1668]

For some reason my liquid disappears at Frame 1 and suddenly reappears on subsequent frames, and also takes an inordinate amount of time to settle. What nodes would I need to adjust to fix that?

[@Erindale]

On frame 1 it probably has trouble because we're finding the difference between current and previous frame. You could just use a switch node on your flow vector and switch to (0,0,1) for frame 1. For the time to settle, that'll be the mix factor / subtraction amount you're using that drops your multiplier on the sine wave towards 0 - that delay attribute. Check you hit zero in the shader as well as you're needing to stop rotating the surface normal

[@ianmcglasham]

That was great.

[@Erindale]

Thanks!

[@USBEN.]

Holy nodes man!

[@merttremable]

can we use simulation nodes in unity?

[@Erindale]

You cannot but Unity has it's own simulation system that is much more robust and flexible

[@empedora505]

유익해요🎉

[@Erindale]

Thanks

[@mayronen9643]

why not flatten the top using geo nodes, wouldn't it be easier?

[@Erindale]

Effecting the geometry is always going to be slow compared to shaders. It is an option but this shader method is more accurate to what the artists for HL Alyx used

[@mayronen9643]

@@Erindale I see, thanks for the explanation!

[@mickyr171]

I have no idea how you figure all these out but thanks, can we swap brains please? lol

[@Erindale]

I used all my skill points on nodes

[@mickyr171]

@@Erindale I think so lol

[@sskanimator6521]

My brain - fu*k liquid...😅

[@noc2_art]

Mind blown to smithereens by this guy’s genius…

[@Erindale]

Thanks 😁

[@aikun4626]

i watched for 5min and i gotta say, this video is not a tutorial. if your are a beginner like me who just decided to start learning Geometry node, this's not the video for you I really did learn nothing, i don't know what is Group input, idk what is set position is, and it's took me 5 minutes just to find (4:00)scale node, cause i though shift + A and search(scale) will find it, little to know it's shift + A -> search -> type " vector math "(you will see "add" as a default, change it to "scale" then connect it with normal node). yeah........... it's not for beginner unfortunately. grate video by the way

[@Erindale]

Yeah my channel is generally for more advanced procedural stuff. I do have some basic videos though that might be more useful to you to get started with 👍

[@aikun4626]

@@Erindale can you give me the link pls. i still want to learn

[@MrVrit_]

Half Life Alyx is nutshell:

[@WakaCinema-qr9mn]

Nise

[@Schnatty4468]

Why is his cursor so immensely huge?😂

[@danrice1072]

😌 promo sm

[@mwamianim8]

💥🧠🔫

[@workflowinmind]

First

[@meagkhan]

Thank you so much for the tutorial. I have one question, which may be user error: during the course of setting up the simulation, my liquid stopped being visible. I thought I'd done something wrong, made a new file, followed along again-- same thing. I downloaded your alyx tutorial file from patreon (thank you for posting that for even non-patrons! really appreciated!) and there are no liquids visible in that either, without me messing around in the node setup at all. You said early in the video that simulation could break material assignments-- is that what's happening, or is this just a case of "pay closer attention"? A screenshot of the alyx_liquid_lesson.blend not showing any liquids in rendered view: imgur.com/VQIOuVc.png

[@Erindale]

Ah yeah play the timeline or at least move forward a few frames and it should load in. Make sure you're loading from frame 1 to force it to recache. You're using 3.6 as well? Material assignments made before the simulation zone will break afaik but not if it's assigned after as we do in this set up

[@meagkhan]

@@Erindale That was exactly it-- thank you!

[@jason_a_clark]

This happened to me as well. Does this mean the simulation node needs to be on a timeline frame greater than 0 to calculate any geometry input?

[@Erindale]

Should work from 1 and beyond. You'll likely also need to have moved from one frame to the next as the effect is reading the difference between current and previous frame so the values might be unexpected when no previous frame