Bifrost Master Class: Getting started with the Aero Solver - Part 2

In part 2 of this masterclass, Bifrost designer Konstantinos "Kosta" Stamatelos, shows you the ins and outs of making full use of the Bifrost Aero solver.
The intent of these master classes is just to give you a good foundation for what all the "knobs and dials" do, rather than to zero in on any specific workflow or effect. This way, when you're experimenting with Aero (or MPM, or Combustion, www.youtube.co..., you have some idea of how to roughly point those experiments in the direction you want to go.
Autodesk Bifrost: Now available for download! : area.autodesk....
To ask questions and find help, check out forums.autodes...

[@charlesxstorm]

I was confused at first when i couldn't find the bifrost browser on my Maya 2018. But after a quick search, i found out that i needed to download an extension. This tutorial has lots of info. I just need to take the ideas from here and apply them to the other source types.

[@TheFiftyGangsta]

So the video on influence fields with Duncan Brimsmead never came out?

[@AyushBakshi]

not getting simulation calculated or visible in viewport/render after applying the volume shader. Maya 2022.3

[@Autodesk_Maya]

Is the Playback speed set to "Play every frame"?

[@AyushBakshi]

@@Autodesk_Maya Yes

[@keithyakouboff8755]

It would be great if there was a Hypershade-like menu for all of these nodes. This way we'd have a better idea of what kinds of nodes were actually available.

[@Autodesk_Maya]

When you press Tab in the Bifrost Graph, you can browse a list of available nodes in addition to searching for specific ones.

[@keithyakouboff8755]

@@Autodesk_Maya Well, that is true LOL. Thanks for reminding me of that. Oh.. one more question: Why is the geometry node, the two Var nodes and the source node daisy-chained? Why not plug each of them in directly to the source node? One thing I noticed when experimenting with this, is that it does change the look a lot. The former setup (all nodes directly plugged into the source node) creates an extremely dense and detailed plume. The latter setup (the original, daisy-chained arrangement) produces a less dense and less detailed plume. Why is this?

[@Autodesk_Maya]

@@keithyakouboff8755 In general, daisy chaining nodes will feed the result of one node into another giving you a cumulative effect. So for example, if you were to chain a turbulence influence into a wind influence, then the wind would be calculated based on turbulent air. Connecting things in parallel means that each of the incoming nodes is calculated individually, then the effects are combined after the fact. So to use the same example, the wind would be calculated based on calm air, then that and turbulence would be added individually to the overall result.

[@keithyakouboff8755]

@@Autodesk_Maya So then it's a matter of need / taste. There's no technical requirement to daisy-chain. Thank you for that info and for the videos. They have been enormously informative.

[@ronitsadhukhan7341]

How do I get the property names? Like how do I understand what property controls what and which node is creating what property? In houdini i get to see a handy geometry spreadsheet to see the attributes and can play with the attributes, is there something like that here too?

[@Autodesk_Maya]

Ronit Sadhukhan you can make a Watchpoint coming out of the node you want to see the data of. Check out the Bifrost getting started video to see how.

[@ronitsadhukhan7341]

@@Autodesk_Maya cool, thanks a lot

[@fxbaba24]

where can i find the influnce node videos, sir

[@Artanium2011]

too much words and very low result. you wasted my time

[@jake_robani]

I've tried the new Bifrost. it seems to be a great addition for Maya. But, during the simulation it just came out very slow. Ended up my pc to be froze. What the hell is this? it consumes 100% of my CPU usage. Is there any tips or tricks to make it at least a bit fast or smoother simulation?

[@Autodesk_Maya]

There's a few different things I recommend for this: 1.) On the source_air node, set your Resolution Mode to Relative until you're ready to render. 2.) On the same node, increase the "Geo Detail Size" and "Fluid Detail Size" values. These will decrease the resolution of your sim, but in turn make the performance faster. You can find more details in this tutorial: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIWzZWiwmbWEiqs 3.) Decrease the Fog Density value. 3.) Use a file_cache node to output the results to a cache, then set the node to "read" mode so the sim can just read from the cache instead of calculating on the fly. You can find more details in this tutorial: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apunloWMd7mjfck Unfortunately, simulation in general tends to be very resource intensive. Usually the best way to work with them is to experiment at low resolution (as few particles as possible) in order to dial in the behavior that you want, then increase the resolution when you're ready to render a final look.

[@hanheecho6437]

@@Autodesk_Maya Isn't there way to render with Octane or Redshift?

[@Autodesk_Maya]

@@hanheecho6437 Yup, although it takes a bit of developer work to make that happen. Arnold is the only renderer that's fully integrated "out of the box"

[@hanheecho6437]

Maya Learning Channel that’s disaster for me, thanks millions anyway!!

[@DonBurroni]

Buy more ram

[@johnvfx143]

What are the "realistic" minimum pc recs to get any of this to work? I have 2 pc's, an AMD Threadrpr 2950 w 60 Gigs RAM and an RTX 1070, and an Intel 10900X w 60 Gigs RAM and a GTX 1070 Ti, and can not get anything to do anything in Bifrost. Can't get caches caching without crashes. Do I need to double or triple up with GPU's, max out the RAM or what? Maybe Autodesk can throw Epic a few million $$$ to use Nanite type technology to get Maya sims to work on mid-level pc's. Frustrating big time.

[@DonBurroni]

60 GB is an odd number you want 128Gb

[@shimizo098]

How can I render it into a videofile

[@Autodesk_Maya]

You can either Playblast the effect in the Viewport or run a Batch Render to get full lighting and other rendered effects.