Tutorial 03: Cigarette Smoke

 

In this next tutorial you will learn how to use noise maps to control the look of the smoke.

 

In Maya, select File->Open Scene, and from your [MAYA]/FumeFX/Tutorials Tutorials folder, select the file Tut_03_Start.ma.

 

 

Create a FumeFX Grid over the cigarette in the Top or Perspective viewport. Make sure dimensions of the FumeFX Grid volume is about 80x60x115 units.

 

Next, select the fire node and fumeFX3 and from the FumeFX menu create Object Source. This will automatically connect Object Source with FumeFX and cigar with the Object Source.

 

As you have done in previous tutorials, select FumeFX node, go to the Output rollout and set your Deflault Path for the simulation to be stored. If you've followed our suggestion, simply create a new sub-folder called Tut03 under the FumeFXSimData folder.

 

Now that the path is set up, let's start setting our smoke up for our cigarette.

 

Within the General Parameters rollout set the Spacing value to 0.4.

 

This will result in a more detailed simulation. Lower spacing value will also require more disk space and simulation time will increase.

 

Next, set the Sensitivity to Mixed and Threshold to 0.05.

 

Under the Simulation->General rollout set the following values:

Quality to 4.

Maximum Iterations to 100.

Advection Stride to 0.3.

Time Scale to 2.

 

 

Next, go to the System rollout and change the following values:

 

Since we do not want to add small scale curls, set Vorticity Strength to 0.0.

X Turbulence spinner to 0.05. (NOTE: that this value will affect X, Y and Z turbulence values since they are currently linked)

Under the Turbulence Noise rollout, change Scale to 20.0, Frames to 30.

 

Once these parameters are set for our smoke, we need to tell FumeFX NOT to generate any fuel, which would create fire as well. Obviously, we don't want the tip of the cigarette to burn like a match or candle. Instead, we just want the smoke to be simulated and emitted from the tip.

 

Under the Temperature rollout, set the Temperature Buoyancy to 1.5.

Under the Fuel rollout, click on the Simulate Fuel checkbox to de-select it.

 

To continue this process of turning off Fuel and Fire, go to the Rendering Settings rollout and within the Fire rollout, click on the Fire checkbox to de-select it.

 

Still within the Rendering Settings rollout, under the Smoke rollout change the Opacity value to 5. This will help give you more visible cigarette smoke. Under Smoke Color Tab rollout make sure that the color ramp is set to white.

 

Select FumeFX Object Source (fire_source) in the scene.

 

Go to the Fuel rollout and click the button that says Set (next to the Type label). Change to Disabled from the pop-up list. Again, we want to turn off fuel calculations for this simulation.

 

 

Next, you'll add a procedural Noise texture map as a mask for the smoke emission.

 

Within the Smoke rollout, click on the button labeled Map is Disabled and choose Intensity from the pop-up list.

 

Now click on the Map button that and this will bring up the standard Material/Map browser.

 

From the material list, select 3D Textures and choose Solid Fractal map.

This will result in solidFractal2 map creation. Change Bias to 0.8, Ratio to 1.0 and Ripples to 0.1,0.1,0.1.

 

In Maya, set the ???End time of the playback range??? to 100 and in FumeFX set End Frame to 100 (Output rollout) and Play To to 100 (Playback rollout).

 

 

At this point, let's go through our checklist for a smoke-only simulation:

 

FumeFX placed where we want the simulation to occur? CHECK.

FumeFX Object Source helper created to reference our scene geometry to be used as a smoke source? CHECK.

All Fuel and Fire creation checkboxes de-activated? CHECK.

Simulation parameters adjusted for a sample run? CHECK.

 

Now you are ready to run a test simulation.

 

Open the Preview Window so you can monitor the output.

 

Click on the Start Simulation button within the FumeFX UI floating dialog.

 

NOTE: This simulation may take around 10 minutes to simulate depending on your machine's processing power, and will take up approximately 800MB of disk space for the data. If you would prefer, you can reduce the Quality value from 4 to 2, and adjust the Spacing spinner from 0.4 to 0.8 to help reduce the time and space required.

 

Once the simulation is complete, create a light in the scene and render the animation out to see results.

 

 

 

You can try to use different map types and see how they affect the smoke generation. If you want, turn off the Noise map and re-simulate to see exactly how much detail the Noise map adds. Or if you prefer, try to animate the Noise map parameters over time to see how that influences the smoke generation and simulation.

 

Okay, so now you have a sense of how to add a map to sources and simulation. Time to move on to more complex simulations including lighting the smoke and fire effects.