Bifröst by: Megan Clare

What is Bifröst? Developed by Exotic Matter, using Naiad technology, Bifröst is a procedural engine, capable of generating liquid simulations. Based on FLIP (Fluid Implicit Particle) solver, Bifröst can generate liquid from emitters, which then react to gravity and also be directed using colliders and accelerators.

Uses for Bifröst Fluid system – Think Water!  Pools, Wakes and Splashes, Waterfalls, Rivers, & Oceans, etc.

Bifröst Meaning From Norse mythology, meaning a burning rainbow bridge that reaches between Midgard (the world) and Asgard, the realm of the gods. In this context it is a bridge between procedural and interactivity (explicit water/gas simulation). Also a bridge between the Naiad developers and the original ICE developers coming together to create Bifröst.

Differences between Bifröst & Naiad Bifröst uses an adaptive data structure and scales better, allowing a higher performance and faster run time. Biggest difference: Bifröst runs in Maya and the workflow has greatly improved. No need to export objects out of Maya to interact with fluid simulation.

How To Create Bifröst Need a polygon object that you want particles to emit from. Select the object and then go to Bifröst > Create Liquid and Maya will set it up for you.

Continued Once particles are created, stimulate Bifröst particles to get them to show up aka hit Play on timeline. See growing yellow bar appear on timeline, with green bar growing slightly behind it. (Processing) Turn object into a collision object (Bifröst > Add Collider)

Continued Get rid of cache data to save processing the simulation every time. (Bifröst > Bifröst Compute and Cache Options > Create) Enable Bifröst Meshing options and apply materials Render

Case Study

Bifröst in Maya 2016 Adaptive Foam – using another set of particles on top of existing simulation to create froth, foam, bubbles and spray to fast moving liquids.

Bifröst Aero – Maya 2016 Creates simulated fire, smoke, cloud, and fog effects.

Guided Simulations in Bifröst Gives the artist control, providing the ability to art- direct the behavior of liquids using a cached simulation or animated mesh object. With a guided simulation a full-depth low-resolution liquid can be used to guide a high resolution simulation. Guided Simulations in Bifrost - Maya 2016

Tutorials & References Intro to Bifrost Fluid Sim in Maya (Wineglass) Creating Water in Maya 2015 with Bifrost Creating Body of Water - Peaceful Coastal Ocean