Standard Shader

 

 

The Standard Shader is the default shader for FumeFX.

 

When you select Standard as the Volume Shading option, you will be shown three rollouts that will control the parameters of your effect: Fire, Smoke and Fuel.

 

 

Fire

This rollout is where you can adjust the opacity and color settings for the Fire Channel.  For example, if you wanted to obscure the appearance of objects behind the fire, you could use these options to boost the fire's opacity.

 

Fire - Enables or disabled rendering of fire.

 

Color Source - User can choose between several options: Gradient/Fire, Gradient/Temperature, Grid and Black - body.

 

• Gradient/Fire option will use Color Gradient for shading based on the fire value inside the grid.
• Gradient/Temperature option will use Color Gradient for shading based on the temperature value inside the grid. For a quick gradient setup, you can right click over the gradient control to access the following menu;
• Grid option means that fire will get colors from the Color channel. In that case Color Gradient will be used as a filter color.
• Black - body will use physically based formulas to generate color and intensity.

 

Intensity - Type in or use the spinner to select a color multiplier value.  This has no effect on opacity or global illumination.

 

Note: Note that Fire is the primary FumeFX channel in the sense that, if any given voxel in the fluid contains fire, then smoke will not be considered in that voxel during rendering. Keep in mind that for the Black - body shader, temperature diffusion during the simulation will tend to blur - out the fine detail!

 

 

Fire Color Tab

Color Gradient - This color gradient corresponds to the amount of fuel still left to burn. The gradient, from left to right along an X - axis, coincides with an increase from minimum to maximum amount of unburned fuel. When shading based on the temperature, interpolation occurs between Min. Temp. and Max. Temp. temperature values.

 

Lin - Exp Bias - In the case of the Black - body shader, emissivity increases with the fourth power of temperature according to the Stefan - Boltzmann's law. By using this parameters user can blend between constant color intensity (0.0) and Stefan - Boltzmann's law (1.0).

 

Temp. Scale - This value scales temperatures inside the grid (which is related to Celsius) and add 273 to convert them to Kelvin. This operation will bring temperatures inside the grid into a physically correct range for the Black - body radiation model.

 

Temp. Offset - Will offset the grid temperature to make it render warmer or cooler.

 

Min. Temp (K) - Temperatures below this will be rendered as smoke (if smoke is present).

 

Max. Temp (K) - Temperatures above this will be clamped.

 

Fire - Smoke Blend Span (K) - Temperature range where smoke and fire will be blended. Outside of the range only fire or smoke is rendered.

 

Temp Remap Tab - Provides user with unlimited control to remap a temperature inside the grid. The X axis represents input values and Y axis represents output values. Input values range from Min. Temp to Max. Temp. It is used only for Black - body shader.

 

 

Fire Opacity Tab

Opacity Source - Determines the method for fire opacity calculation - available only for the Black - body shader and Gradient/Temperature

• Black - body - opacity is calculated by the Black - body shader
• Smoke - opacity is calculated from the smoke value in the grid and using the Fire Opacity AFC

 

Opacity - Type in or use the spinner to select an opacity multiplier value for fire.

 

Fire Opacity Tab - Use this option to adjust opacity of the fire.  For example, by adjusting the curve, you can pronounce the fire's edges and produce a dimmer core.  

In the control, the level of opacity, from left to right along an X - axis, corresponds to an increase from minimum to maximum fuel.

 

Opacity Map Source - When there is a need for additional subtle details in the rendered output, two fluid mapping types are provided. Click this button to enable/disable Fluid Mapping, or World/Object Coordinates.

 

Opacity Map Strength - Adjusts the strength/influence of the map.

 

Fluid Mapping is good for animations since the viewer will get an impression of small details from a procedural map following the flow.  A drawback of Fluid Mapping is that it has to be computed during the simulation; consequently, it requires more memory and slows down simulation (though not significantly).

 

The World/Object Coordinates option is excellent for still images.  It requires neither computation nor memory during the simulation.

 

Opacity Map - Click on the button to choose a map from the Material/Map Browser.  Use only 3D procedural maps for texturing a fluid.  Since this map will have to be evaluated at each pixel, expect slower rendering times.

 

Sharpen Strength - This is the sharpening strength of the fire shader.

 

Sharpen Radius - The radius of the sharpen filter in voxels. Values below 1.0 could produce artefacts unless the Sharpen Strength value is lowered.

 

Note: Sharpening cannot be properly previewed inside the preview window, but one should render the image to see its effect.

 

GI Multiplier - This option adjusts the fire's global illumination intensity.

 

 

Smoke

In this rollout you can adjust the opacity and color of the Smoke Channel.

 

Smoke - Enables or disabled rendering of smoke.

 

Low Threshold and High Threshold - These parameters define the limits for the Smoke Channel's Color Gradient and Opacity curve.  If smoke density is below the Low Threshold value, it will not be visible; and, if it is above High Threshold, it will have the color that corresponds to maximum value.

 

Color Source - User can choose between two options: Gradient and Grid. If using Gradient option, smoke will use Color Gradient for shading. Grid option means that smoke will get colors from the Color channel. In that case Color Gradient will be used as a filter color.

 

 

Smoke Color Tab

Smoke color can vary the smoke color based on the density as specified by the Low Threshold and High Threshold.

 

Ambient Color - Ambient Color in the Maya Environment Panel does not affect FumeFX.  Within FumeFX you can use this shader option instead.  Note, though, that it only affects smoke

 

Opacity - This value affects the intensity of opacity that smoke will have in rendering.  Use the spinner to set this value.

 

 

Smoke Opacity Tab

Use parameters within this rollout to adjust opacity of the smoke.

 

Opacity Map Source - When there is a need for additional subtle details in the rendered output, two fluid mapping types are provided.  Click this button to enable/disable Fluid Mapping, or World/Object Coordinates.

 

Fluid Mapping is good for animations since the viewer will get an impression of small details from a procedural map that follows the flow.  A drawback of Fluid Mapping is that it has to be computed during the simulation; consequently, it requires more memory and slows down simulation (though not significantly).

 

The World/Object Coordinates option is excellent for still images.  It requires neither computation nor memory during the simulation.

 

Opacity Map Strength - Adjusts the strength/influence of the map.

 

Opacity Map - Click on the button to choose a map from the Material/Map Browser.  Use only 3D procedural maps for texturing a fluid.  Since this map will have to be evaluated at each pixel, expect slower rendering times.

 

Visual Falloff - This controls the rate of light drop - off inside the smoke from the camera's view; i.e., it affects visibility into the smoke.

 

Shadow Falloff - This controls the rate of light drop - off inside the smoke for shadows, i.e., it controls how far shadows will extend into the smoke.  A higher value creates the impression of thicker smoke.

 

Sharpen Strength - This is the sharpening strength of the smoke shader.

 

Sharpen Radius - The radius of the sharpen filter in voxels. Values below 1.0 could produce artefacts unless the Sharpen Strength value is lowered.

 

Note: Sharpening cannot be properly previewed inside the preview window, but one should render the image to see its effect.

 

GI Multiplier - This option adjusts the smoke's global illumination intensity.

 

Cast Shadows - If on, smoke will cast shadows on the surrounding geometry and, if Receive Shadows is on, onto itself.

 

Receive Shadows - If on, smoke will receive shadows created by surrounding geometry and, if Cast Shadows is on, from itself.

 

 

Fuel

Fuel - Enables or disabled rendering of fuel.

 

Color Source - User can choose between two options: Gradient and Grid. If using Gradient option, fuel will use Color Gradient for shading. Grid option means that fuel will get colors from the Color channel. In that case Color swatch will be used as a filter color.

 

Color - Fuel can only be a solid color.

 

Opacity - Fuel opacity depends on the amount of fuel still left to burn, and is multiplied by this parameter.

 

Visual Falloff - This value controls how far light can penetrate into fuel.

 

GI Multiplier - This option adjusts the global illumination intensity of fuel.

 

Cast Shadows - If on, fuel will cast shadows on the surrounding geometry and, if Receive Shadows is on, onto itself.

 

Receive Shadows - If enabled, fuel will receive shadows created by surrounding geometry.