Water fountain

[tica]

Need to model+animate a water fountain. Does anybody have a suggestion on how to do the animated water for my fountain, e-a-s-i-l-y? I'm not very experienced at that, but I need it briefly. Please let me know if you have done this before, eventually with a plug-in. Thanks for any help you might give me.

[Pogie]

I found this site....havent had a proper look through it yet, but its seems relatively concise so hopefully it should suit you down to the ground

http://www.dimensionalreality.com/generic.jhtml?pid=11

And would you be able to mail me your finished animtion, or post images on here - i'd really like to see it.

Gollum1010@hotmail.com

Pogie

[tica]

Hi Pogie,

This happens to me all the time. Realflow is sitting on a shelve behind me. I've never tried to use it. I'll try if I can do something with it. IF the result is decent, I'll let you know. Thank you so much for your help!

Have fun!

[Pogie]

bumped.....

[tica]

Pogie, the tutorial seems very simple. The samples they have on their site are very promising indeed. They even have a larger fountain that resembles a lot the one I have to do. I'll definitely have a try. Thank you once more!

[Pogie]

have you gotten anywhere further with it yet???

I was checking out some of your other threads, like the inexpensive scenery thread.

Sounds like you're working on something quite big, if they're all part of the same project i mean.

[tica]

Hi Pogie,

I work in the area of architectural visualization, mainly. I've been working in this area for more than 10 years now, but I've started to work with Lightwave a short while ago. My partner has played with LW for a lot of time, and it's basically his "fault" that I've moved to LW (he's very enthusiastic about LW, even if his main field is video). Due to our experience, we work on quite large projects, but lately there have been some more challenging projects, and that is soooo good - but it also involves a lot of learning. And there is no time for that. There never is. So I do the obvious thing: I ask the experts. And I am very grateful to the LW community for all the help I always got. So it's just a matter of time until I get good enough using LW, then I'll be able to help other users that need help. I'm sorry if I'm getting a bit philosophical about this, but this forum is one of the last places where I actually find people that help you out, just because they can. And yes, it's a large project, but I have always kept my ethics about that: until my client says the contrary, it's confidential. That also pays out over time, keeping your clients with you. Although it's very old-fashioned, I know. But here's a promise from an old-fashioned person: when I get the authorization, I'll show you the results. Sorry, that's the best I can do (except for single elements, of course. I can show you a water fountain, as soon as it's finished) OK?

[Pogie]

Dont worry, i totally understand - it doesnt take a lot of brains to figure out that while personal work is one thing, business is, well, business....

...i was just curious, because that is my nature - what with being young and dreaming of a career that allows me to exploit the experience i have gained with 3d modelling (and stuff), i'm just interested in what other people are doing....cos i'm inquisitive, and not an aspiring plagiarist :D

I love the way you label your usage of LW as somebodys "fault" - my friend Matt would certainly approve - we've had this ongoing debate of Lightwave over Cinema 4D (and vice versa) for some time, of course me being the lightwavian.

Bravo :p

[tica]

Pogie,

Thank you very much.

[Dangerman]

Don't be afraid to try particle effects and HV's (The glass preset makes pretty convincing water). Look at some of the demo files that come with lightwave ... you'll have to add your own HV's to the particle emmiters (double click the preset and adjust for size), but they're very good "Starter" scenes to tweak to your liking.

[Pogie]

I'm not afraid of Hypervoxels......but for something like a fountain, using HV seems a little redundant because when using a material that has transparency, reflectivity and fresnel falloff, the damn things take so long to render - and even then you just get a load of little bubble like blobs....

....i havent been using RealFlow for long, but i like the idea that you work with the particles separately and then export them as a mesh, and then do all your surfacing separately.

Oh course there are limitations, like not being able to dynamically alter the flow of particles without having to go back into the RealFlow project file.

But for something as simple as a single particle emmiter and a gravity effector, there are really only SO many things you could possibly want to change.

Of course i would recommend to anybody to try both and figure out what works best for them.....in the case of Tica, they needed a fountain fast, and all i did was recommend a tutorial to get set up relatively quickly.

[Dangerman]

Real flow sounds pretty cool, I'll have to look into it.

To avoid the "bubbles of water" look with HV's, I just up the number, size or both. You've got me curious now, I'll have to play with them. I did a fountain last year with three tiers, and the water eventually feeding a stream. As I recall, it did take a lot of time to render a 5 second scene. I'll have to revisit that and see if any of my newer experience can help me shave some minutes off the frame rate.

Good luck with your fountain!