Realflow 2013 Retime Simulation Tool - Question

[michaelwbell]

Hello All. My first real post on the board and really happy to be here.
Please forgive me if this topic has already been covered and feel free to delete this thread if so.
I have tried searching through the forum but have not seen anything mentioned.

I'm looking for some guidance on how to properly use the RF2013 'retime simulation' tool.

I've tried using it to retime my simulation to half speed or 2x speed, and all works GREAT. Very fun.

But now I want to have a variable speed. I want to start at normal speed then slow down to slow motion, for example:

Play the simulation normally for 50 frames. Between Frame 50 and 75, slow the simulation from 1x speed to 1/5th the original speed (5 times slower). From Frame 75 onwards, continue at 1/5th speed.



This is how i'm trying to do this:

1) Press 'EDIT FUNCTION' button.
2) Press 'delete expression' button.
3) Draw a curve where my simulation is playing normal. (I put a point at 0=0 and at 100 = 100). I've now made a linear curve.
4) Add new points at frames 50 and 75 to dynamically alter the speed of the simulation.

5).....it just doesn't work!!

If anyone could shed some light on how to do this with the retime tool I would be much obliged.
My understanding is that the 'edit function' graph gives the 'original frame' on X axis and Output frame on Y axis? Or is this wrong?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thankyou!!

[LuisMiguel]

Hey,

It should work. Could you send me the scene to check here? Keep in mind if you are incresing the velocity you'll need to add extra frames to the simulation from the Retimer parameters.

luisM.

[michaelwbell]

Luis,

Thankyou for your reply! I will give it another go and post up a scene file asap.
It was probably because i may not have added extra frames in the retime parameters.
One thing that is confusing for me is the curve editor window that pops up when you click 'edit function'.

What is the X axis and what is the Y axis? Is X axis the 'original frame' and Y Axis the Output frame?

I tried to refer to this doc but did not seem to find an answer:
http://support.nextlimit.com/display/rf ... Parameters

[LuisMiguel]

Hey,

The X is indicating the frame and Y the value for retiming when you edit the curve.

luisM.

[michaelwbell]

Hi LuisM,

Just wanted to report back to say it has now worked exactly as expected. I believe the issue I had was I had NOT checked the 'evaluate function as frames instead of seconds' box...that's why my retime curve was completely whack...


There is only 1 issue now: When I retime a simulation, the retimed mesh has a lot of flickering, especially in 'slow areas' of the sim. Do I need to change my mesh settings for filters and polygon size and run the retime again?

[LuisMiguel]

Hey,

Do you have a video to check out if the problem is due to the new particles borning or it is a problem with the ids?

Thanks

luisM.

[michaelwbell]

Hi Luis,

I made a quick video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJaXjckKfcU

I put screenshots of the particle, mesh and retime settings at the end of the video!

Thanks for any advice!

[LuisMiguel]

Hey,

It seems be a problem with the radius when meshing. Try to adjust the radius by selecting the emitters included in the mesher.

Let me know.

luisM.

[michaelwbell]

A big thanks again Luis, I have not tried changing those settings at all so I will give it a shot and report back.

I have been reading the updated manual about meshing in RF2013.
I have a couple of quick questions:
-I have used 'weighted anistropic' filtering. this is new in RF2013?
-I dont (or shouldn't) need to use filters with weighted anistropic?
-When I use weighted anistropic mode, the 'surface proximity' setting seems to have no effect. this is normal? my understanding of 'surface proximity' is that this feature will increase or decrease the distance between particles and the mesh?