Fluids are substances that change shape continuously or flow in response to forces.

Using Maya Fluid Effects^TM, you can realistically simulate 2D and 3D atmospheric effects (such as clouds and mist), combustion effects (such as smoke, explosions, and burning flames), and viscous fluid effects (such as molten lava).

You can also use the Fluid Effects ocean shader to simulate open water.

In Maya, there are three basic types of fluid effects:

• Dynamic fluid effects – Behave according to the natural laws of fluid dynamics and simulate the effects by solving fluid dynamics equations for each time step.
• Non-dynamic fluid effects – Use textures and animation to simulate fluid and fluid motion. These types of effects do not use fluid dynamics equations.

  Dynamic and Non-Dynamic effects render as 3D volumes, so they interact appropriately with objects that move through them.

• Open water fluid effects – Use shaders to create realistic wave motion on large bodies of water.

This chapter includes the following lessons, which introduce you to some basic Fluid Effects concepts:

• Lesson 1 Creating a dynamic 2D fluid effect: Introduction
• Lesson 2 Creating a non-dynamic 3D fluid effect: Introduction
• Lesson 3 Creating a dynamic 3D effect: Introduction
• Lesson 4 Creating an ocean effect: Introduction