Container Parameters

This field shows the maximum resolution (in voxels) that the container can use as well as the amounts of memory that it would use in this case. How much the simulation will actually need depends on how the simulation grows over time.

Here is an example:

386x649x395 99.0MV - CPU 7.9GB GPU 3.7GB UpRes 62.4GB - Cache/F: 1.9GB UpRes 14.9GB

The first section shows the maximum dimensions of the container in voxels and the total number of MegaVoxels or Million Voxels (MV).

The middle section shows the amount of memory the simulation will at most require when run on the CPU, the GPU or in Up-Res mode.

The last section shows the maximum size a single cache frame would have on disk without compression for a normal simulation and an Up-Res pass.

When starting the simulation, TurbulenceFD will warn you if the available memory would not suffice would the simulation take up the whole container. You can ignore the warning if you know that your simulation will stay small enough or if you're keeping an eye on the simulation progress, so you can abort the simulation if necessary. When running simulations un-supervised, it's a good idea to make sure the container dimensions and simulation settings are chosen such that the avilable memory is sufficient.

If the available memory is exceeded, the machine will most likely become unresponsive and you may have to reboot your system.

Simulate the fluids in this container from the beginning of the selected frame range (see Simulation/Timing/Frame Range).

Continue a simulation after the last simulation state. This last state is always saved when the simulation stops. Be it because you click the Stop button or because all frames from the selected range have been simulated. Therefore this also allows you to add more frames at the end of the range.

Post-process a simulation to increase the resolution and add more detail. A new cache directory will be created using the name of the current cache with the word "upres" appended. You can switch back to the previous cache using the Container/Cache Directory button.

See the Simulation/Up-Res'ing tab for more options.

This post-process is faster than simulating at the high resolution in the first place. It will also retain the shape of the lores simulation and only add small detail that couldn't be resolved on the lores grid before.

If checked, the simulation will be run as needed while rendering the scene. This is somewhat faster than simulating and rendering in two passes, since the caches don't have to be loaded from disk. With lores camera settings, this is also useful as a previewing mechanism while working on the simulation.

If you have supported GPUs, this drop-down box will let you select which one to use. See GPU Simulation for more details about fluid simulation on GPUs.

If "Use CPUs" is selected, all available CPU cores will be used instead.