Cineversity

I’m trying to create a scene with animated condensation on the inside of a pipe. Essentially I’m wanting small droplets to slowly appear on the pipe, then drop down the side, and eventually forming a small pool of water at the bottom. I’ve looked into simulation plugins like X-Particles and RealFlow, but wanted to see if it’s possible to create the effect without any plugins.

I found a few tutorials to create the droplets on the can:
https://youtu.be/skHax96M9io
https://youtu.be/coLAWYJ1Jjc?t=2560

And I found a tutorial that uses x-particles to create animated droplets:
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaytut/siggraph_2015_rewind_nick_campbell_3D_lighting_and_product_visualization

Is it possible to get this effect using volumes, but have them animate down the inside of the pipe, then form a pool at the bottom?

Hi Matt,

Practically, you are asking for something simple. Otherwise, X-Particles has undoubtedly the right tools for it.
X-Particle could be a simple as this:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/x8vYSsi59sRBXmtcT1IzPsZBpqogfH5KM4CLl4CjNgG
There are certainly more advanced setups thinkable, with a real fluid feeling, etc., but this here is my little idea about it.

Here is the simplest way I can think of (Cinema 4d based), it shows the part when the drops are heavy enough to go down. The moment when the Dynamics starts to work.

This could go as in the Cineversity Presentation (45:00 min:sec) into a Volume. (Sorry, I do not have watched any of the other links)

Scene file:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/fmLAavWADcJ14IKH0yfLkqhCwZAjkJ3OT3Y9vKdCgMt

One could also play with gravity (animate it).

Let me know, if that meets more your target, in terms of simplicity.

Cheers

Thanks so much Dr. Sassi. I think I’ll try a demo of x-particles. This might be the route I need to take.

Matt

Hi Matt,

I had the impression you explored X-Particle already.

The way this can be approached is certainly widely spread, even in X-Particles. From illustrative, as in my screen capture above, to a way more detailed fluid-simulation. It certainly has evolved over the years from a powerful tool to an even more advanced and sophisticated solution.

As with all plugins, I can try to support some efforts, but the best place is, of course, the forum, and other resources provided by Insydium.

Keeping it inside of Cinema 4D, I could also think that projecting many Splines (based on Spline.Sketch) to a Cylinder and Animate those, but compared to any particle set up, it always feels a little bit sketchy.

It itches me to find a Field based solution, but to have them grow and at a specific size move down, while all of them will slide at a different time with not the same speed, seems to be a puzzle that I can’t solve so far with fields.

On the other hand, since it is a tube, the maximum movement they might have is around 180º and relatively directed, but if the pipe is bent or tilted, things will become too complex.

All the best

Sassi

Yeah I’ve been messing with it for a while now. It’s definitely a lot more complex than I would have imagined. You can really wrap up some hours in this kind of thing.

Matt

Yes, Matt, it looks so simple, water-drops…

In a tube, they have to grow and have to stick on the pipe, but then the idea is that they will follow as well gravity, while they slide (or should some drop directly?), they leave a path. Which in return, will make the drops smaller again. Before they come to rest in the lowest part, they might swing a little bit over the middle and then start to find maybe the final position, until the next drop comes along, etc. All of that, as mentioned, if the tube is leveled.

Endless.

Enjoy