Using cloth as a fluid

[someawfulbridge]

So I just had a thought which I figure I’ll throw out there, as my own cloth/particles skills aren’t up to testing the idea yet—has anyone tried using cloth to serve as (pseudo)fluids in animations? I’m talking about a really “thin,” semi-transparent cloth, “pulled” over a surface (I imagine it’s outward “flow” would have to be manually adjusted/keyframed, like pulling a blanket, but perhaps with a slightly “tilted” set the cloth could slide down and calculate the flow/slide itself), where the surface itself would serve as the deflectors and the cloth contour itself accordingly.

 

I’ve heard tell of new fluid simulations in v15, but, alas, my wallet mandates that I still play around in v13 for now. Plus, depending on the functionality of the actual fluid simulations, if my idea isn’t completely hare-brained it might allow for a more stylized “fluid.”

 

Also, forgive the gratuitous use of quotes. It just seems necessary. (As Paul Rudd says in “Role Models”: “Why did you put quotes around ‘presence?’ Are you implying that we’re not really here?” In this case, yes.)

 

 

Cheers--

Mark

[johnl3d]

Have you tried blobbies ?

[robcat2075]

There have been some tests here where someone used cloth for a water surface. it was pretty good at the ripples one gets when a stone is dropped into some water.

 

If you're wanting to pour water into a container, a particle like fluids or blobbies would be more likely. fluids and blobbies are quite similar but fluids render faster and have more options to vex you with.

[itsjustme]

I think explorations in unconventional directions is where you get the best stuff...at least that has been my experience.

 

I'm sure you could make cloth into something that would pass as a liquid...have you thought about using hair? I haven't tried it, but it might give you something usable. Several things about hair make me think it could be worth trying...you can use an image to shape the hair into whatever you need, forces can be used to move the hair or it can be groomed in Poses. You could also probably use hair for a flickering flame using an image sequence...that one I'm going to eventually try.

[johnl3d]

did a quick attempt on hairy water using no image hair ..this is very crude just an attempt and only 18 frames as it was a slow render

 

 

 

hairwater.mov

 

 

hairwater.prj

 

 

basic pose control of hair length with dynamics turned on