Maya calculates dynamic fluid simulations from frame to frame. The fluid property values in a container at each frame are derived from the values in the previous frame using fluid solvers. The speed of a fluid’s playback depends on the amount and magnitude of the fluid container’s contents (values) and the length (number of frames) of the fluid simulation. The greater the length and amount of contents for a fluid, the longer it takes for the fluid solver to calculate the fluid simulation.
You can increase the quality of fluid simulations by increasing the Substeps and Solver Quality attributes. See Substeps and Solver Quality.
You can speed-up your fluid’s playback by doing one of the following:
You can change the state of a fluid container’s contents at the first frame of its simulation by setting its initial state. An initial state is like a snapshot (similar to an animation pose) of the state of a fluid container’s contents at any point during its animation. When you set an initial state for a fluid, you are replacing the contents of its fluid container at the first frame of its simulation with the state of its contents at the current frame.
You can use the fluid object’s internal lights to preview the lighting effects in the scene view when you play your simulation. You can choose to render your fluid with your internal lights or the scene lights. See Lighting fluids with internal lights.
