
ANR 3D Fire Simple
Real 3D fire and smoke from the alpha of any image: one node that simulates on the GPU and renders a lit volume you can orbit, place and match to your shot.
- Simulations
- Simulations pack
- 4 inputs
- 169 controls
Overview
Fire Simple turns the alpha of its Source into a 3D emitter and simulates fire and smoke in a real 3D volume on the graphics card. Fuel burns where it is hot, the gas rises, swirls and breaks up, and the volume is rendered with self-shadowing smoke, blackbody flames and the fire's own light inside the smoke.
Use it for burning objects, fire along a roto shape, burning ground, smoke columns and torches, whenever the fire needs depth: a view you can orbit, a key light from one side, smoke that passes in front of and behind an object. The emitter is your alpha as a plate with a thickness, which you can tilt into a floor or turn into a side wall.
The simulation is live: click Fire Engine and play forward, and each frame is simulated once. Look, Light and most of Render change the picture without re-simulating; Source, Motion, Forces and collision edits re-simulate. The Interaction alpha and the built-in ground let the fire collide with objects or hide behind them, and Forces add wind, drag and local pushes, vortices or turbulence.
When the shot is right, build a disk cache: the node then plays the saved frames without the engine, and a saved script reopens and just plays. Bullet Time freezes the fire on one frame while the view, the placement and the light keep moving.
Inputs
- Sourcerequired
The emitter: a roto, a key or any image with alpha. Opaque alpha emits fully and soft edges emit less. Animate it and the emitter moves; Follow source motion passes that movement on to the fire.
- Environmentoptional
Optional linear latitude-longitude HDR image (EXR). With use environment on, it adds broad ambient colour to the smoke; its alpha is ignored and the background stays transparent.
- Interactionoptional
Optional alpha of an object in the scene. With Interaction collision it is a solid the fire flows around; with Interaction occludes fire / smoke it hides the fire behind it, depth-aware. Interaction position sets where it sits in depth.
- CameraMotionoptional
Optional Tracker, Transform or CornerPin that follows the background's camera move, not the emitter. Once its track is read into the node (see the note on the Camera motion tab), Read camera motion simulates in a steady frame and matches the fire back to the moving shot.
Output. RGBA fire and smoke over a transparent background, ready to merge over the plate. output on the Render tab can show the fire or the smoke alone instead (the smoke includes the fire's light); the node adds no extra layers, so write each one separately.
Quick start
- Make the emitter alpha, a roto or key of what burns, and connect it to Source.
- Add ANR 3D Fire Simple, view it, and click Fire Engine on the Setup tab. Status shows the engine loading.
- Go to the start frame (1 by default) and play forward. Each frame is simulated once; going back simulates again from the start.
- Set Render quality to Preview while you shape the fire: a small, simpler image of the same simulation. Switch back to Render for full shading.
- Shape the emission on Source (Smoke amount, Heat, Fuel, Velocity Y) and the motion on Motion (buoyancy, turbulence, burning and fading).
- Grade on Look and Light: smoke density and colour, flame brightness and colour, fire illumination, key and sky light. These do not re-simulate.
- Place the volume with Render > 3D placement and View, then merge the result over the plate.
- When it is right, set Cache folder in Setup > Cache (or click Generate Autofill) and press Build / rebuild cache. When it finishes, Read cache is on and the engine stops.
The panel
The node's panel as Nuke shows it, with the values of a new node. Click any control to see what it does; tabs and sections work as in Nuke.
The engine, Bullet Time, the disk cache, simulation detail and quality, the start frame and the simulation boundary.
How the alpha emits: smoke, heat and fuel, depth and thickness, the tilt and pivot of the emitter plane, the source holdout and source velocity.
How the gas moves: rise, turbulence, edge disturbance, flame breakup, burning and fading.
Wind with gusts, drag, and a local push, attract, repel, vortex or turbulence force, in a box or everywhere.
Smoke density and colour, flame brightness and colours (blackbody or a custom gradient), without re-simulating.
Sky light, the fire's light inside the smoke, ambient and key light with its direction, and the environment map.
Output, render-time detail and distortion, smoothing, 3D placement, the view and render sampling.
Solver backend, substeps and the legacy disk cache mode.
Collision and holdout from the Interaction alpha, and the built-in ground.
Turns the stored background track on or off.
Track the background camera movement, not the moving emitter. Simulation runs in the reference frame;
all image passes are matched back to the shot. Single-plane compensation, without depth parallax.
Disconnecting keeps the stored track. Outside the imported range the end keys hold.
Track overscan keeps the rendered volume from clipping before match-move. Clear removes the stored track.
The Interaction alpha is stabilized with the source for collision and occlusion.
No Crop node or cache build is needed for live simulation.
No control matches.
All controls
Setup22 controls
The engine, Bullet Time, the disk cache, simulation detail and quality, the start frame and the simulation boundary.
Engine
- Fire EngineButton
fireEngine Start the native GPU engine. Loading progress is shown during first evaluation. Click again to stop and free GPU memory. New nodes start stopped.
- StatusStatus
backendInfo What the engine is doing: stopped, loading, simulating, paused at a frame or freed while idle, plus messages about detail it had to reduce to fit the graphics card's memory, and errors.
Bullet Time
- Bullet TimeCheckbox
bulletTime Freezes the simulation at the Freeze at frame. The camera, the volume transform, the lights and the look keep following the timeline, so you can fly around the frozen fire. Holding a frame costs no simulation time. Ticking it freezes at the current frame. Animate it off to let the simulation go on. Works live and on Read cache.
- Freeze atSlider
bulletFrame The simulation frame Bullet Time holds. Before it the simulation plays normally; from it on the fire stays still. Animatable.
Cache
- Generate AutofillButton
anrCacheAutoFill Create a new node-type/footage_letter_4digits folder on every click, then stop. Previous caches are kept. Enter a folder to choose a custom base.
Fills Cache folder with a new, uniquely named folder for this node: inside the folder you typed there or, when it is empty, next to the saved script (save the script first). Every click makes another folder; old caches stay.
- Cache folderFile
cacheFolder Required for Build / rebuild cache: nothing is written until it is set. Each build writes a new cache_... folder here; older builds are never deleted. Use a local NVMe folder, about 1.3 GB per 100 frames. Legacy OpenCL Cache mode also keeps its .anrsim files here.
- Cache to frameSlider
cacheLast Last frame Build / rebuild cache simulates and saves. 0 (or any frame not after the start frame) uses the end of the timeline, and that frame is written here when you build. The cache starts at the start frame.
- After last frameMenu
cacheAfter What plays after the last cached frame: that frame held still (render-only detail and distortion stand still too), or nothing.
- Build / rebuild cacheButton
buildCache Simulates from the start frame to Cache to frame on the GPU, with a progress bar and Cancel, and saves every frame into a new folder inside Cache folder. When it finishes, Read cache turns on and Fire Engine stops (its GPU memory is freed). Cancel, or a failure, deletes only the new folder: the cache being read stays. NVIDIA Flow only.
- Read cacheCheckbox
cacheOnly Plays the saved cache: no simulation, no Fire Engine and no upstream evaluation of the simulation inputs. It is saved with the script, so a reopened script just plays. Live on a cache: the Look, Light and Render settings (layers, detail, distortion, smoothing, quality), surfaces and holdouts, and the view and placement when Simulation bounds is Unbounded and Simulation scale is 1. Emission, dynamics, forces, collisions, resolution, start frame, the explosion's burst and preset, and view or placement with Camera frame bounds need Build / rebuild cache: the status line says so after such an edit. Upstream picture changes always need a rebuild. Off: back to the live engine.
- Cache statusStatus
cacheStatus What the disk cache holds, which frame plays, and whether settings changed since the last build.
Detail & playback
- Simulation detailSlider
resolution Simulation voxels along the longest image dimension, 24 to 512. Independent of output pixels: use a lower voxel count for HD/4K images. Flow may reduce effective detail to fit its memory budget; see engine status.
- Depth resolutionSlider
depthCells Depth scale in voxels. Together with Source thickness this sets emission depth. Flow grows sparse space around the plume; this is not a fixed container boundary.
- Simulation resolutionMenu
processingResolution Scale simulation detail and depth only. Half divides each dimension by 2; Quarter by 4 (minimum 8 cells). Changes rebuild the simulation. Source framing and world speeds are preserved within voxel rounding. Render resolution is independent.
- Render resolutionMenu
renderResolution Render at full, half or quarter width and height, then upscale beauty and layers to comp size. Does not change the simulation or require re-simulation. Preview quality can further limit render size and shading.
- start frameSlider
startFrame The volume is empty at this frame.
- GPU schedulingMenu
gpuScheduling Responsive leaves GPU time for the desktop. Maximum speed removes deliberate pauses and uses larger batches; desktop interaction may slow while calculating. Simulation quality is identical.
- Reset simulationButton
resetCache Throws away the live simulation and frees its GPU memory; the next render simulates again from the start frame. Fire Engine stays on.
- Render qualityMenu
renderQuality Preview changes rendering only. Simulation resolution, depth, substeps, source sampling, dynamics and collisions stay at your settings. Flow uses an image up to 320 pixels wide/tall with smooth cubic volume sampling, skipping post detail, extra smoothing, internal fire light, environment/key shadows and extra layers. Render restores full shading and layers using the same live simulation. Switching modes does not re-simulate.
Simulation boundary
- Simulation boundsMenu
simulationBounds Flow: Camera frame limits active sparse blocks to the current camera and volume placement, plus padding. Supports orthographic and perspective views. Off-frame smoke is discarded and cannot return. Camera and placement edits re-simulate in this mode. Unbounded preserves off-frame smoke and makes camera edits render-only. No opacity culling: all depths inside the camera near/far planes can contribute.
- Frame padding (%)Slider
framePadding Extra simulation space on each side of the camera frame. 5 keeps a small off-screen buffer for motion, shadows and internal fire light. 0 clips at sparse-block precision. Changing this re-simulates.
Sparse cleanup
- Faint smoke cutoffSlider
smokeCutoff Flow: retire whole sparse blocks below this simulation smoke density. 0 restores original cleanup, 0.002 is gentle, 1 is aggressive and can remove dense visible smoke. Typed values can exceed the slider. This is not screen opacity or a per-voxel clipping filter. A block stays while needed by an emitter, a neighbor, or smoke above the threshold; faint voxels inside surviving blocks remain. A short retirement delay applies. Changes re-simulate.
Source20 controls
How the alpha emits: smoke, heat and fuel, depth and thickness, the tilt and pivot of the emitter plane, the source holdout and source velocity.
Emission
- Smoke amountSlider
emitSmoke Smoke emitted from Source alpha.
- HeatSlider
emitTemperature Heat emitted with the fuel.
- FuelSlider
emitFuel Fuel emitted for combustion.
Depth & scale
- Simulation scaleSlider
depthScale Flow: enlarge and move ONLY the emitter before simulation. 2 doubles its size and distance from the camera. Automatic uses a consistent Perspective projection at every scale. FireSmoke compensates the current Orbit and volume Position/Scale to preserve source framing. Source anchoring makes these view edits re-simulate when scale differs from 1, even Unbounded. Voxel size, gravity, burn time and eddy sizes stay unchanged. Larger sources may trigger sparse coarsening; sources thinner than a voxel can be lost. Existing fluid, collisions and receiving surfaces are not transformed.
- Position ZSlider
emitterZ Emitter center as a fraction of domain depth: 0 back, 1 front.
- Source thicknessSlider
emitterDepth Emitter thickness as a fraction of domain depth.
Source orientation
- Source rotation XSlider
sourceRotateX Tilt the alpha emitter in 3D, before simulation. -90 makes a horizontal floor facing upward; 0 is a front-facing wall. Gravity and existing smoke stay in world space. Flow only; changes re-simulate.
- Source rotation YSlider
sourceRotateY Turn the emitter into a side wall. 90 turns its normal toward positive X. XYZ rotation order; affects only new emission.
- Source rotation ZSlider
sourceRotateZ Rotate the source in its image plane, in degrees. Applied after X and Y.
- Pivot XSlider
sourcePivotX Fixed rotation pivot in the source image: 0 left, 1 right. Place this on the source to keep that point anchored while tilting. It does not follow changing alpha bounds.
- Pivot YSlider
sourcePivotY Fixed rotation pivot: 0 bottom, 1 top of the source image. Pivot depth uses Position Z. Source thickness follows the tilted plane.
- Normal speedSlider
sourceNormalSpeed Extra emission speed perpendicular to the source plane, in voxels/frame. Positive points toward the camera at zero rotation, upward at X=-90. Velocity X/Y/Z remain world-space additions. 0 disables this extra velocity.
- Keep mask alignedCheckbox
sourceKeepMask Project the alpha onto the rotated emitter so its camera footprint stays aligned. Near edge-on views or a plane crossing the camera cannot preserve the whole mask; adjust tilt/pivot if reported. Off rotates the mask with the plane.
- Show source planeCheckbox
sourceGuide Viewer-only guide. Rotation rings commit one undoable edit on release; Escape cancels. Does not render into the image.
- Show source rotation gizmoCheckbox
sourceGizmo Viewer-only guide. Rotation rings commit one undoable edit on release; Escape cancels. Does not render into the image.
Source holdout
- Source occludes fire / smokeCheckbox
sourceOcclude Use Source alpha as a depth-aware holdout at the emitter plane. Hides fire/smoke behind it, including layers. Soft alpha is respected. Render-only.
Source motion
- Velocity YSlider
emitVelocityY Upward source velocity in voxels per frame.
- Velocity XSlider
emitVelocityX Additional source velocity in voxels per frame.
- Velocity ZSlider
emitVelocityZ Additional source velocity through depth, in voxels per frame.
- Follow source motionSlider
inheritMotion Transfer estimated source translation into the fluid. Uses alpha center motion and emitter Z; 0 disables inheritance.
Motion14 controls
How the gas moves: rise, turbulence, edge disturbance, flame breakup, burning and fading.
Rise & speed
- buoyancySlider
buoyancy Lift from hot gas.
- smoke weightSlider
smokeWeight Downward force from smoke density.
- time scaleSlider
timeScale Simulation time advanced per timeline frame.
Shape & edge detail
- seedSlider
seed Phase of the 3D turbulence.
- turbulenceSlider
turbulence Three-dimensional curl forces in the simulated flow.
- Eddy sizeSlider
turbulenceSize Requested eddy scale in density voxels. Flow smoothly widens under-resolved eddies to fit its coarser velocity grid, avoiding grid-scale force patterns.
- Edge disturbanceSlider
disturbance Flow: fine motion concentrated at smoke edges, plus gentle bulk eddies. Larger values continue increasing strength; high values can disperse the plume. Typed values can exceed the slider.
- Edge sizeSlider
disturbanceSize Fine edge eddy scale in density voxels. Flow transports smoke and heat together on the fine grid; very small wavelengths are smoothly limited to avoid voxel aliasing.
- Flame breakupSlider
shredding Fine rotational forces restricted to burning regions.
Burn & fade
- burn rateSlider
burnRate Rate at which hot fuel burns.
- coolingSlider
cooling Heat loss per simulation frame.
- Smoke dissipationSlider
dissipation Smoke loss per simulation frame. Higher values fade smoke faster; 0 disables this fading. Changes re-simulate.
- burn expansionSlider
expansion Outward gas expansion caused by combustion.
- flame lifetimeSlider
flameLifetime Decay time of luminous flame in simulation frames.
Forces23 controls
Wind with gusts, drag, and a local push, attract, repel, vortex or turbulence force, in a box or everywhere.
Viewer
- Show force guidesCheckbox
forceGuide Viewer-only bounds and falloff for the local force, its direction, and a wind arrow. Whole simulation forces have no finite boundary. Never rendered.
Wind
- Wind speedSlider
windSpeed Flow: target air speed in authored voxels per simulation frame. Typed and animated values above the slider range continue increasing the wind; there is no 20-unit strength cap. Acts on existing fluid, not just the emitter. 0 disables wind. Direction is normalized. Changes re-simulate.
- Direction XSlider
windX Wind direction in simulation space. Positive X is right in the default view. An all-zero direction disables wind.
- Direction YSlider
windY Wind direction: positive Y is up in the default view.
- Direction ZSlider
windZ Wind direction: positive Z is toward the default camera.
- Gust amountSlider
windGust Smooth variation around Wind speed. 0 is steady; 1 varies between near calm and up to twice the base speed. Deterministic from the simulation seed.
- Gust speedSlider
windGustSpeed Rate of wind variation per timeline second (24-frame simulation timebase). 0 freezes the gust pattern. Strength remains controlled by Wind speed.
Drag
- DragSlider
forceDrag Global velocity damping per simulation second. 0 off. Higher values slow existing motion; they do not remove smoke or heat.
Local force
- Force strengthSlider
forceStrength Acceleration in authored voxels per simulation frame squared. Negative values reverse push, attraction, repulsion or vortex rotation. 0 disables the local force. Changes re-simulate.
- Local forceMenu
forceType Affects existing simulated fluid. Changes rebuild simulation. Wind and drag can act at the same time; forces run only on allocated cells and do not create smoke.
- ScopeMenu
forceScope Limit the local force to a positioned box with smooth edge falloff, or affect all active fluid.
Force position & size
- Center XSlider
forceX Force center: 0 left, 1 right of the reference simulation domain. Coordinates belong to the simulation, before volume placement and camera match-move.
- Center YSlider
forceY Force center: 0 bottom, 1 top of the reference domain.
- Center ZSlider
forceZ Force center: 0 back, 1 front of the reference depth.
- Box widthSlider
forceSizeX Full X extent of the local force box in longest-frame units. Used when Scope is Box.
- Box heightSlider
forceSizeY Full Y extent of the local force box in longest-frame units.
- Box depthSlider
forceSizeZ Full Z extent of the local force box in longest-frame units.
- Edge softnessSlider
forceFalloff Fraction of the force box used for smooth falloff toward its boundary. 0 is a hard boundary; 1 fades across the whole box.
Push / vortex axis
- Axis XSlider
forceAxisX Direction for Push, or spin axis for Vortex. The vector is normalized; all-zero disables those two modes.
- Axis YSlider
forceAxisY Push direction or vortex spin axis Y.
- Axis ZSlider
forceAxisZ Push direction or vortex spin axis Z. Use (0,0,1) for a swirl in the image plane.
Force turbulence
- Noise sizeSlider
forceNoiseSize Turbulence force wavelength in authored voxels. Small sizes are limited by the velocity grid to avoid grid artifacts.
- Noise speedSlider
forceNoiseSpeed Evolution rate of the local turbulence force per timeline second. Uses the simulation seed.
Look13 controls
Smoke density and colour, flame brightness and colours (blackbody or a custom gradient), without re-simulating.
Smoke
- smoke densitySlider
smokeDensity Flow render density multiplier. Increase for thick soot without re-simulating; combine with a dark smoke color.
- AbsorptionSlider
opacity Absorption along real paths through the smoke.
- smoke colorColour
smokeColor Colour of the smoke. Dark values give sooty black smoke, still lit by the fire.
Fire
- fire saturationSlider
fireSaturation Flow flame color saturation; 0 is neutral and 1 preserves the chosen colors.
- fire color biasSlider
fireColorBias Flow color-gradient distribution. Above 1 favors the cool flame color; below 1 favors the hot color.
- Flame brightnessSlider
fireIntensity Emission integrated within the smoke volume.
- fire colorMenu
fireColorMode Blackbody uses the cool/hot temperatures in Kelvin. Custom gradient uses the three color swatches below. Both share saturation and color bias.
Flame colors
- Cool temperature (K)Slider
kelvinMin Blackbody color at the low end of the temperature range.
- Hot temperature (K)Slider
kelvinMax Blackbody color at the high end of the temperature range.
- custom coolColour
fireCool With fire color set to Custom gradient: the colour of the coolest flame, at the tips.
- custom midColour
fireMid With Custom gradient: the colour in the middle of the flame's temperature range.
- custom hotColour
fireHot With Custom gradient: the colour of the hottest flame, in the core.
Temperature mapping
- temperature rangeSlider
temperatureRange Simulation temperature mapped to the hottest flame color.
Light17 controls
Sky light, the fire's light inside the smoke, ambient and key light with its direction, and the environment map.
Sky Light
- Sky intensitySlider
skyIntensity Smoke illumination from the upper sky dome. Density along each light ray occludes the sky. 0 is off and preserves previous renders; render-only.
- Sky colorColour
skyColor Colour of the sky light set by Sky intensity.
- Sky samplesSlider
skyLights Directions over the sky dome (Flow). Higher values soften directional sampling at extra render cost. Does not re-simulate. Legacy uses six directional lobes.
Internal fire light
- Fire illuminationSlider
fireLight Flow: colored flame light propagated through a sparse volume with absorption and approximate multiple scattering. Strength is independent of visible flame brightness.
- Light penetrationSlider
scattering Diffuse light penetration into smoke. Flow reduces effective absorption when propagating multiply scattered fire light; this is a diffusion approximation.
- Light spreadSlider
fireLightRadius Spread of diffuse fire illumination as a fraction of domain width.
Scene lighting
- Ambient fillSlider
ambient Environment illumination.
- key lightSlider
keyLight Directional light with volume self-shadowing.
- ambient occlusionSlider
ambientOcclusion Shadows within the volume under environment lighting.
Light direction
- key direction XSlider
lightX Direction toward the light.
- key direction YSlider
lightY Direction toward the light.
- key direction ZSlider
lightZ Direction toward the light.
- forward scatterSlider
anisotropy Directionality of scattering: 0 is isotropic, positive favors backlighting.
Environment map
- use environmentCheckbox
useEnvironment Connect a linear latitude-longitude HDR/EXR image to Environment. Flow adds broad ambient color; environment rotation and directional map lighting require Legacy OpenCL. Alpha is ignored and the background stays transparent.
- intensitySlider
environmentIntensity Brightness of the connected linear latitude-longitude environment map.
- exposureSlider
environmentExposure Environment exposure in stops; +1 doubles the light.
- rotation YSlider
environmentRotation Rotate environment lighting around the volume's vertical axis, in degrees.
Render21 controls
Output, render-time detail and distortion, smoothing, 3D placement, the view and render sampling.
Output
- outputMenu
output Select the RGBA render: beauty, fire or smoke. Smoke includes illumination from fire. This native node does not create named EXR layers; write each selection separately. Depth requires Legacy OpenCL.
Post-sim detail
- Detail strengthSlider
detailAmount Flow render-only procedural volume detail. Fire Simple strength increases linearly, including above the slider range. 0 disables procedural detail; no re-simulation.
- Detail sizeSlider
detailSize Detail wavelength in authored density voxels. Smaller creates finer detail. This is volume-space shading detail, not advected high-resolution simulation.
- Post-sim detailMenu
detailMode Flow: add procedural 3D detail to the existing volume and use finer ray sampling. Does not re-simulate, allocate an up-res grid, or recover missing physics. 4x costs more rendering time. Start with 2x and strength 0.5.
Post-sim distortion
- Distortion amountSlider
distortionAmount Render-only 3D displacement in authored voxels. Fire, smoke and alpha warp together. 0 restores the original image exactly; no re-simulation. Larger values cost more ray sampling. Lighting fields move with the material; shadows are not re-solved. Surface passes and point snapshots stay undistorted.
- Feature sizeSlider
distortionSize Distortion noise wavelength in authored voxels. Larger creates broad rolling deformation; smaller creates fine edge breakup. Does not change simulation.
- Animation speedSlider
distortionSpeed Continuous volume-noise evolution per simulation second. 0 freezes automatic evolution. Render-only.
- EvolutionSlider
distortionEvolution Offset the 3D distortion pattern. Animate this to change distortion without changing simulation time. Render-only.
- Distortion seedSlider
distortionSeed Select a different deterministic 3D distortion pattern. Independent of the simulation seed.
Smoothing
- Extra smoothingSlider
filterWidth Extra volume smoothing radius in voxels. 0 keeps the selected base reconstruction. Applies in Preview and Render without changing the simulation; larger values soften more voxel detail.
- volume filterMenu
volumeFilter Linear preserves more voxel detail. Smooth cubic uses positive B-spline reconstruction to soften voxel facets without sharpening rings. Filter width adds smoothing; 0 keeps the chosen base reconstruction. Flow honors both modes in Preview and Render. Legacy Preview uses linear sampling after its width filter.
3D placement
- ProjectionMenu
cameraProjection Flow: Automatic consistently uses Perspective, including at Simulation scale 1, to avoid shifting a source with depth when scale crosses 1. Explicit Orthographic cannot compensate apparent size with distance. FireSmoke source scaling also compensates current Orbit and volume placement; these edits re-simulate a scaled source even Unbounded. Position and Volume scale remain transforms of the finished volume.
- Position XSlider
volumeX Move the whole fire/smoke volume in world X. 1 equals the longest frame dimension at the reference plane. Does not move the emission source inside the simulation.
- Position YSlider
volumeY Move the whole volume in world Y. Positive moves up in the default view.
- Position ZSlider
volumeZ Move the whole volume in depth. In the default view positive is toward the camera, negative is farther away. Perspective makes closer volumes appear larger; Orthographic preserves apparent size. World axes rotate on screen when you orbit.
- Volume scaleSlider
volumeScale Uniform 3D scale about the simulation center. Independent of Position Z: enlarge a distant volume or shrink a nearby one. Keeps the simulation and internal shading in local coordinates; this is placement, not a physical re-scaling of fluid dynamics.
View
- orbit YSlider
viewYaw Rotate the view around the actual volume, in degrees.
- orbit XSlider
viewPitch Tilt the orthographic view, in degrees.
- zoomSlider
viewZoom Camera zoom in either projection. With Camera frame bounds this changes the simulated region.
Render sampling
- Ray step sizeSlider
rayStep Distance between ray samples in voxels. Lower gives finer rendering.
- shadow samplesSlider
shadowSteps Samples through the volume toward the key light.
Advanced5 controls
Solver backend, substeps and the legacy disk cache mode.
Solver
- Solver backendMenu
solverBackend Flow runs a native sparse Vulkan solver and renderer. This preview has live GPU state, source motion, orbit, filtering, blackbody shading and beauty/fire/smoke passes. Legacy OpenCL is needed only for depth and the old cache mode. Switching backend resets the live simulation.
Simulation sampling
- substepsSlider
substeps Minimum fluid/source steps per frame. Fast translating sources automatically increase this, up to 32.
- source samplesSlider
sourceSamples Nuke rounds direct OFX source fetches to whole frames. Native Fire Simple fetches frame endpoints and transports/interpolates their masks through simulation substeps. Subframe-only source changes are not available without a retime wrapper.
- pressure iterationsSlider
pressureIterations Pressure solve quality. This preview uses iterative projection.
Legacy disk cache
- cache modeMenu
cacheMode Off is the interactive default and performs no disk-cache transfers. Legacy OpenCL: Read/write saves full state each frame and can slow simulation; Playback reads baked frames without simulation. Legacy OpenCL only. Flow uses Build / rebuild cache below.
Interactions22 controls
Collision and holdout from the Interaction alpha, and the built-in ground.
Interaction
- Motion transferSlider
collisionMotion Transfer Collision alpha translation and animated Collision depth into fluid velocity. 1 follows the moving solid; 0 gives the old stationary-wall response. Subframe masks are transported between samples. Alpha centroid estimates translation: separate moving objects, rotation and deformation are approximate. Changes re-simulate.
- Interaction collisionCheckbox
surfaceCollisionEnabled Use the Interaction alpha as a solid object. Alpha above 0.5 is solid. Thickness sets extrusion; animated movement transfers velocity. Changes re-simulate.
- Interaction occludes fire / smokeCheckbox
surfaceOcclude Depth-aware holdout from Interaction alpha. Keeps volume in front and hides volume behind, including layers. Soft alpha is respected. Render-only.
- Interaction thicknessSlider
surfaceThickness Fraction of simulation domain depth. Minimum effective thickness is one voxel; only used with Interaction collision enabled.
- Interaction positionSlider
surfacePosition 0 behind with a gap; 1 touching the back; 2 in the middle; 3 in front. Typed values extend farther behind or in front. Collision edits re-simulate, occlusion alone changes rendering.
Ground
- Enable groundCheckbox
groundEnabled Built-in finite solid floor. No input needed. Position/rotation are in simulation space before volume placement and camera match-move. Changes re-simulate when collision is on.
- Ground collisionCheckbox
groundCollision Block and redirect the simulated fluid at the ground. Flow only.
- Ground occludes fire / smokeCheckbox
groundOcclude Hide volume behind the solid floor, including fire and smoke passes. Render-only.
- Show ground guideCheckbox
groundGuide Wireframe in the Viewer while node controls and Viewer overlays are open. Never included in renders.
- Show ground rotation gizmoCheckbox
groundGizmo Drag RGB rotation rings in the Viewer. Commits on release; Escape cancels. Requires Enable ground.
Ground position
- Ground XSlider
groundX Top surface center in simulation space: 0 left, 1 right of the reference frame.
- Ground YSlider
groundY Top surface height: 0 bottom, 1 top of the reference frame. The solid extends below this surface.
- Ground ZSlider
groundZ Top surface center in depth: 0 back, 1 front of the reference simulation depth.
Ground rotation
- Rotation XSlider
groundRotateX Rotate the ground around its movable rotation anchor, in degrees.
- Rotation YSlider
groundRotateY Ground rotation in degrees; XYZ order.
- Rotation ZSlider
groundRotateZ Tilt the floor in the image plane, in degrees.
Ground pivot
- Ground pivot XSlider
groundPivotX Rotation anchor offset in longest-frame units. Use the white Viewer center handle to re-anchor while preserving the ground placement.
- Ground pivot YSlider
groundPivotY Rotation anchor offset in longest-frame units. Drag the center square to place the pivot in the Viewer.
- Ground pivot ZSlider
groundPivotZ Rotation anchor depth offset in longest-frame units.
Ground size
- Ground widthSlider
groundWidth Finite floor width in longest-frame units. 1 spans the longest frame dimension.
- Ground depthSlider
groundDepth Finite floor depth in longest-frame units.
- Ground thicknessSlider
groundThickness Solid thickness below the top surface, in longest-frame units. Use at least several simulation voxels to avoid leaks.
Camera motion1 control
Turns the stored background track on or off.
- Read camera motionCheckbox
motionEnabled Use the stored track to stabilize source/interaction and match the rendered volume back to the shot. Uncheck to disable without deleting the track.
Track import11 controls
- Camera / track nodeText
motionNode Optional node path for a 3D Camera or image track. Overrides CameraMotion input. Clear to use the connected track. Only read when you click Read motion track.
- Pick selected camera / trackButton
pickMotion A button.
- First frameNumber
motionFirst No description.
- Last frameNumber
motionLast No description.
- Reference frameNumber
motionReference No description.
- Samples per frameNumber
motionSamples No description.
- 2D track directionMenu
motionDirection Auto recognizes Tracker stabilize modes and inverted Transform/CornerPin nodes. For an exported stabilization transform without an invert flag, choose Stabilize. Camera ignores this setting.
- Camera source distanceSlider
motionDepth For a Camera input only: distance from the reference camera to a perpendicular source plane, in scene units. Re-read after changing. Not the volume Position or Simulation scale.
- Read motion trackButton
readMotion A button.
- Clear motion trackButton
clearMotion A button.
- Stored trackStatus
motionStatus No description.
Input setup0 controls
Tips
- Simulation detail counts voxels along the longest side and does not follow the image size, so an HD or 4K comp does not need a higher value by itself. Keep it moderate while you work and raise it for the final.
- Simulation resolution Half or Quarter gives a quick rough simulation; Render resolution Half or Quarter renders faster without touching the simulation.
- For fire on the ground, set Source rotation X to -90: the alpha becomes a horizontal plane facing up. Tick Show source plane to see the emitter in the Viewer.
- Enable ground on Interactions adds a solid floor with no input: the fire spreads along it and is hidden below it. Show ground guide draws it in the Viewer.
- Simulation bounds Camera frame (the default) simulates only what the camera sees, which is faster, but smoke that leaves the frame is gone and view or placement edits re-simulate. Unbounded keeps off-screen smoke and makes view edits render-only.
- Thick black smoke: raise smoke density on Look and darken smoke color; no re-simulation is needed.
- Post-sim detail and Post-sim distortion on Render add fine detail and rolling deformation at render time, without re-simulating.
- Show force guides on Forces draws the local force box and the wind arrow in the Viewer.
- GPU scheduling Maximum speed simulates faster but the desktop may feel sluggish meanwhile; the result is identical.
Good to know
- New nodes start with the engine stopped: until you click Fire Engine or turn on Read cache, the output is empty. Clicking Fire Engine again stops the engine and frees its GPU memory.
- Cache folder: nothing is written until Cache folder is set; there is no default folder. Each build writes a new folder inside it and older builds are kept. Allow about 1.3 GB per 100 frames, on a fast local disk.
- With Read cache on, Look, Light and Render changes stay live; emission, motion, forces, collisions, resolution and start-frame changes need Build / rebuild cache again, and Cache status says so. Upstream picture changes always need a rebuild. Cancelling a build keeps the cache you had.
- Bullet Time freezes the simulation at Freeze at (ticking it uses the current frame). The view, the volume placement, the lights and the look keep following the timeline, so you can move around a frozen fire, and a held frame costs no simulation time. Animate Bullet Time off to let it go on: the fire continues as if it had never stopped, so it jumps to where it would be on that frame. It works live and on a read cache.
- If you stop the render in the Viewer while the node is simulating, the simulation pauses at the last whole frame (Status: Paused at frame N) and carries on from there on the next render; it does not start over.
- An engine that has not been viewed or rendered for about 10 minutes, or about a minute when the graphics card is nearly out of memory, frees its GPU memory by itself. Fire Engine stays on: view the node again and it reloads and simulates again from the start frame, while a read cache plays at once.
- At most two engines run at the same time, and a playing cache uses one of them. If Status asks for it, stop Fire Engine on another fire node.
- Build / rebuild cache needs the NVIDIA Flow Vulkan (preview) solver backend, the default on Advanced. The depth output needs Legacy OpenCL.
Something unclear or missing? Write to [email protected].