The state of a fluid is the collection of its grid property values (the values in the Density, Velocity, Temperature, Fuel, Color, and Texture Coordinate grids). The state of an uncached dynamic fluid at any frame other than the first is based on its state in the prior frame. Maya calculates dynamic fluid effects sequentially starting at the first frame.
The grid property values defined in a fluid container at the first frame of its simulation is the fluid’s initial state. You can play a simulation up to any frame, and then set the current state at that frame as the initial state for the fluid.
For example, if you had a fluid simulation that you wanted to begin with a fluid already present in the container; then you would add a fluid emitter to the container, play and stop the simulation at a frame with the desired emitted fluid, and then set the emitted fluid values as the initial state. When you would then play the fluid simulation, the fluid’s animation would start with the grid property values that were stored in its initial state.
When you paint fluid property values into a grid, you must set the initial state of the fluid. Otherwise, when you play the simulation, the initial values you paint will be lost when you go back to the first frame. For information on painting fluid values, see Paint fluid properties into grids.
You can save the grid property values for a fluid at any frame in a simulation and then add the saved state to another fluid container.
For example, you could create your company logo in a dynamic grid with Density values and save the current state to Visor. Any time you want to create a different fluid effect with your logo, you can add the values for the saved logo to a new container and modify the container attributes.
Grid properties saved in 2D containers can only be added to 2D containers. Similarly, grid properties defined in 3D containers can only be added to 3D containers.
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