Fluid dynamics is a branch of physics that uses mathematical equations to describe how things flow.

In Fluid Effects, dynamic fluid effects simulate fluid motion by solving fluid dynamics equations at each time step. You can texture dynamic fluids, have them collide with and move geometry, affect soft body geometry, and interact with particles.

Non-dynamic fluid effects do not use fluid dynamics equations to simulate fluid behavior. You create the look of a non-dynamic fluid using textures, and you create fluid motion by animating (keyframing) texture attributes. Because Maya doesn’t solve the equations, rendering this type of fluid is much quicker than rendering a dynamic fluid.

In this lesson, you create a simple two-dimensional dynamic fluid. You learn how to:

• Create a fluid using fluid emitters
• Modify the dynamic behavior of the fluid by applying forces to it and changing the effect the boundary has on the fluid
• Change the color of the fluid
• Collide the fluid into an object

In the next lesson, you’ll create a non-dynamic fluid effect.