FumeFX for Maya - Ultimate Explosions, Fire, Smoke Fluid Dynamics Tool

FumeFX is a powerful fluid dynamics plugin for Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max, designed for simulation and rendering of realistic explosions, fire, smoke and other gaseous phenomena. Unrivaled in its ability to capture the subtlety and complexity of fluid gas behavior it is favored among visual effects artists, game developers, visualization professionals and everyone else who demand the utmost in realism.

FumeFX's speed, usability and quality made it our tool of choice while working on "Thor". Its cross platform API allowed us to create a suite of tools to visualize and render our simulations within Maya. This flexibility allowed us to utilize our existing lighting pipeline while integrating FumeFX into our studio. We continue to collaborate with Sitni Sati to expand on our initial FumeFX in Maya success and look forward to using it on future shows.

Richard Sutherland, CG Supervisor, Luma Pictures

FumeFX feature film and games reel

Video clips are courtesy of Blur Studio, Iloura, Hydraulx, Luma Pictures, Mr. X, Pixomondo, Mr. Ruairi Robinson and Uncharted Territory.

Workflow

The FumeFX user interface is tightly integrated within Maya attribute editor and combines all the major fluid simulation components making the simulation setup easy and efficient. It allows user to change parameters during the simulation with instant feedback within the GPU accelerated Maya Viewport 2.0.

Interface

The FumeFX interface integrates simulation, rendering, viewport and GPU viewport parameters in one place. It provides quick and easy navigation through simulation caches and offers intuitive control of simulation parameters.

GPU Viewport

The GPU accelerated viewport produces render-comparable images to give instant feedback on appearance and behavior of the simulation. Among many advantages, it supports viewport .png export during the simulation.

* supported on Maya 2015ext1 and newer

Network

In order to boost productivity, FumeFX can utilize BackBurner, Deadline, or remote desktop applications to run simulation tasks on another computer with FumeFX or FumeFX SL installed.

Interviews

Hristo Velev from Bottleship VFX made his name creating destruction and particle dynamics on spectacles like ‘2012’, ‘Sucker Punch’, ‘Iron Man 3’, among others. Very active in the animation community, authored several training packages. One of the founders of Bottleship in 2013, positioned as FX lead and general co-manager.

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Anselm von Seherr-Thoss has been a 3D VFX artist for many years and he's been award winning Visual Effects Technical Director and VES (Visual Effects Society) member with emphasis on particle based effects as well as Fluid Simulations, Shading and Post Production. He worked on movies like James Cameron's "Avatar", Transformers 4, Star Trek - Into Darkness, COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey, The Expendables 3, Northmen - A Viking Saga, G.I. Joe-Rise of Cobra, The A-Team, Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood", Priest, SuckerPunch(Previz) and many more.

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This time we're presenting you an interview with Luma Pictures, a full service visual effects facility located in Santa Monica, California. In last ten years there have contributed to more than 60 films, including blockbusters such as Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Green Hornet, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and all four films in the Underworld series.

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Sitni Sati brings you exclusive interview with Kirby Miller, FX Supervisor at Blur Studio. Blur Studio is an award-winning production company based in Culver City, California. Established in 1995, Blur is built upon a solid foundation of artistic excellence and technical ingenuity. Producing stunning live action, animation, visual effects and design for any media platform is the heart and soul of our culture...

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We present you an interview with Will Shepherd, a producer at Spatial Harmonics Group from Los Angeles. They have produced FX since 2009 for over 20 clients ranging from tradeshow floor graphics to feature film work.

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Over the last 2 years Luma Pictures has worked on several Marvel Films, which heavily relied on FumeFX and its toolset. Luma, after having collaborated with Sitni Sati on the FumeFX for Maya version during Thor, and the FumeFX Arnold Shader, put all that tech through its paces on Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”™ and “Ant-Man”™ films.

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Allan McKay has been in the VFX industry for 18 years and awarded as an Autodesk Max Master by Autodesk, Emmy award winning and also worked on many Oscar winning movies. During his career he’s been working on shows like Star Trek 2, God of War, Superman, Transformers 3, Looper, Flight, The Last Airbender, Priest, Daybreakers, Blade Trinity. He has also released numerous FumeFX training material on DVDs...

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Iloura is a creative studio. A collective of artists and technologists that make and enhance creative content for film and television productions, commercials and the ever-evolving world of experiential and interactive media. They have specialised in 3D and character animation, 2D VFX, and on-set VFX supervision and motion design.

Click here to read the whole interview.

Simulation

The FumeFX simulation core has been constantly improved and refined to deliver high level of realism with minimal simulation times. With over 12 years of successful usage in film production, video games, the advertisement industry and other areas that require realistic fire and smoke have helped in shaping the fluid simulation package that users can rely on. Whether making a candle dancing on the wind or destroying a whole city block in 2012 movie style, FumeFX can help you deliver the shot on time and within budget.

The Solver

The QCG solver in FumeFX is optimized for speed and robustness. It will deliver even the most demanding simulation tasks with the aid of highly parallelized code.

Combustion with Oxygen

The Fire model within FumeFX adds Oxygen to the equation. This new component brings forth various new ways to creatively control the burn process.

Vorticity

With the addition of various vorticity models, you can now choose from visually different curl types, giving your FumeFX simulations a more unique look and feel.

N-Sim

It is a great time saving solution. This allows the user to simulate multiple overlapping grids simultaneously while all fields propagate between the overlapping grid boundaries automatically.

Wavelet Turbulence

It's never been easier to add more detail to an existing FumeFX simulation. It is a fast, memory efficient and predictable way to increase grid resolution and refine explosions, fire or smoke.

Particles

Different FumeFX-based operators provide ultimate particle control.

Testimonials

FumeFX has been an essential part of our pipeline since it was first released. We rely on FumeFX to create everything from the most demanding fire and smoke simulations to more subtle atmospheric effects such as dust and sand. We have completely integrated FumeFX 2.0 which adds great new features and functionality to an already robust and stable VFX solution.

Dave Hare, Tigar Hare Studios
In our production, we are using Fume FX since version 1.0 and we found it to be highly reliable and optimized fluid simulation software. Not to mention that it's highly versatile and really enjoyable tool to work with. Its simplicity yet complexity and compatibility with other 3dsmax plugins we use (Thinking Particles, final Render) makes it greatly malleable tool in a production pipeline for making amazing dynamic scenes for feature films . Sitni Sati plugins helped 3ds max to a great extent to become popular as it is now.

Rif Dagher, Cg Supervisor, Pixel Magic, CG fluids Inc.
FumeFX is an amazing plugin for fire and gas simulations. It works perfectly for us at the Calgary Fire Department. Alot of the fire fighters here have noticed how much more realisticly the fire and smoke moves and how well it reacts to environments in comparison to other animations they have seen.

Ryan Chamberlain, Graphic Modeling Designer, Calgary Fire Department
Fume FX is already the industry standard in Hollywood for recreating realistic pyrotechnics such as fire, smoke and explosions and other atmospheric FX. It is used by many of the leading visual fx houses around the world for movie and game production. With Fume FX 2.0's amazing new features such as Wavelet Turbulence, Retimer & Post Processing, the possibilities are endless! Not only with its abilities to exceed more simulation detail than ever deemed necessary, but also its flexibility and capabilities for speeding up production work flow. Recently used on many film productions I've been tied to, as well as in my CG Society Workshops I have developed, it has always exceeded expectations and sometimes been the key reason for many of the larger non Windows based studios I've worked with to look at 3D Studio Max as their CG fire solution. Fume FX is the backbone of my studio pipeline and I solely rely on its advanced integration into 3D Studio Max & Particle Flow to achieve results necessary for producing many of today's Blockbuster visual FX shots.

Allan McKay, Catastrophic FX - Blur - Industrial Light + Magic
Using FumeFX since version 1, I have watched it grow from something great to something truly amazing. Every project I use it on it proves itself more and more to be hands down the fastest and most economical fire/smoke solver out on the market. Companies are really starting to take note to FumeFX and working it into their pipelines, and with the new features in 2.0 like the "Retimer and "Wavelet simming", I suspect even more companies will gain interest. It has proved to be the essential tool to get the job done in time for deadline on "2012", "Alice in Wonderland", X:men Wolverine", and most recently "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". Every company needs atleast one box with FumeFX on it....it might save your project.

Andy Byrne, Sr. FX artist, Hydraulx - Asylumfx - Cafefx
FumeFX's speed, usability and quality made it out tool of choice while working on "Thor". It's cross platform API allowed us to create a suite of tools to visualize and render our simulations within Maya. This flexibility allowed us to utilize our existing lighting pipeline while integrating Fume into our studio. We continue to collaborate with Afterworks to expand on our initial Fume in Maya success and look forward to using FumeFX on future shows.
Richard Sutherland, CG Supervisor, Luma Pictures
FumeFX 2.0 is a huge step forward. The new post-processing features enable artists to re-time and add extra detail through wavelet turbulence greatly reducing the time needed to create simulation iterations. Also, the new per particle control on fume particle sources enables artists to maximize control over their simulations in conjunction with powerful particle systems like Thinking Particles. FumeFX 2.0 improves on a tool that was already best-in-class.

Ari Sachter-Zeltzer, CG Effects Supervisor "2012" & owner of Shadowplay Studio
Fume FX is our goto package for all of our atmospheric needs. Fume's quality and speed are unparalleled in any other package. Our cinematics rely on Fume's ability to provide amazingly realistic, highly detailed, fantastic simulations which help bring Blizzard's worlds to life. Without it, our Director's vision would often be unachievable in any reasonable time frame. We're confident that whatever effect is demanded of us, Fume will be there to help us make it happen.

Mike Kelleher, FX Supervisor, Blizzard Entertainment

Flexibility

When it comes to flexibility FumeFX has no rivals. Its tools offer user control over almost every simulation parameter where changes are based on the grid data. It is even possible use of deformers to fine tune the shape of the volumetric effect - making a tornado has never been easier.

Render Warps

Whether you want to create a special effect or need to tweak a final animation, with Render Warps there are many more possibilities. With just a few mouse clicks users can warp their cached simulation and watch the resulting deformation directly inside the Maya Viewport or in rendered images.

Effectors

Gain creative control over almost every simulation parameter and field. With Effectors it is simple to control vorticity by velocity or to generate smoke based on any other channel value. Effectors take channel data to the next step.

Post Processing

The Post Processing lets you retime caches, bake Render Warps, convert between various formats, or improve cache fetch and save disk space by excluding channels that are no longer needed in your workflow.

References

Rendering

FumeFX for Maya has its own shading support for Arnold and mental ray. Other renderers like Redshift, Octane, VRay can render FumeFX caches by using the OpenVDB file format.

Render

FumeFX has its own built in illumination map and multiple scattering models for faster rendering. It also supports the rendering of the motion blur.

Shading

The FumeFX shader incorporates the Black-body fire shader with artistic-friendly controls, render sharpening for crisp details and smoke color based on the simulated color.

Arnold

Native FumeFX-Arnold shader integration allows user to render fire and smoke with utmost realism and render the .fxd caches directly. Standard Shader AOV support for normal, depth and velocity pass