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Ryan Guy edited this page Jul 24, 2023 · 133 revisions

Stable Releases

version 1.7.1 (Jul 25 2023)

  • FLIP Fluids 1.7.1 fixes compatibility issues for MacOS/Linux, updates support for Blender 4.0 Alpha, and adds new features and bug fixes.
  • Compatibility Notes:
    • FLIP Fluids 1.7.1 is officially supported in Blender 2.80 to Blender 3.6.
    • Blender 4.0: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and the latest daily build of Blender 4.0, but this may change as Blender 4.0 develops.
  • Added: FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Command Line Tools > Alembic Export tool to automatically launch a command line Alembic (.abc) export of the simulation.
    • The Blender Alembic Exporter can suffer from instability and incorrect mesh export due to the same Blender design issue that results in render instability. This tool can be used to ensure a stable and correct export.
    • This tool automatically sets up the simulation meshes for export and can also export the surface velocity and whitewater velocity attributes for motion blur rendering.
    • This tool also adds optimizations that can speed up the export process compared to using the default Blender Alembic exporter.
  • Added: Operator in the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Disable Addon submenu to temporarily disable the FLIP Fluids addon within the Blend file.
    • The FLIP Fluids addon is continuously running scripts in order to manage all of the functionality of the addon. These scripts can add overhead and can slow down the Blend file, especially if there are many objects contained in the file. Use this operator to temporarily disable the addon to speed up the Blend file when you are not actively using the addon.
    • While the addon is disabled, all functionality will be disabled. To continue using the addon, simply re-enable the addon using the operator displayed in the FLIP Fluids sidebar or the Physics Properties panel.
  • Added: Feature to set an Obstacle > Velocity Scale value to scale the moving obstacle velocity by this amount within the simulation.
    • Values greater than 1.0 will exaggerate the velocity and the simulation will behave as if the object is moving faster than it actually is.
    • Values between 0.0 and 1.0 will dampen the velocity, but may result in increased volume loss.
    • Negative values will reverse the direction of velocity.
    • This setting is for artistic control and any value other than 1.0 will not be physically accurate.
  • Added: Operator in the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Geometry Node Tools submenu to remove the motion blur setup.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where the mesh generator could create a non-manifold mesh with holes in certain situations (issue #622).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Command Line Tool Operators would not launch correctly on Linux operating systems.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error message where processor model may not be retrieved correctly on Linux operating systems when using the Help > FLIP Fluids > Save System & Blend Info operator. Retrieving the processor model is now supported on a wider variety of Linux distributions, but is not guaranteed to work correctly on all distributions.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where debug particle and debug force field drawing was not compatible with MacOS Apple Silicon (M1/M2) systems in Blender 3.5 and 3.6.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed compatibility issue in Blender 4.0 where debug particle and debug force field drawing would generate errors and not be displayed.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where a bake could not be resumed if the cache stats file had become corrupted, such as in a power failure or Blend crash. The addon will now automatically regenerate the state file. Note: If the stats file had become corrupted, the Domain > Stats menu will be missing frame data and may not display correct information.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where the Obstacle > Expand Geometry would not take effect for negative values within the simulator.
  • Improvement: Grid visualization, debug particle, and debug force field drawing will now display with depth in Blender 3.5 or later and is no longer an overlay drawn in the viewport foreground.
  • Improvement: Updated default Domain > Simulation > Boundary Collisions > Open Boundary Width value to 4 voxels. After testing, it was found that lower values may not remove liquid from the open boundaries fast enough in some situations.
  • UI: General cleanup and updates for consistency across menus.

version 1.7.0 (Jun 27 2023)

  • FLIP Fluids 1.7.0 adds official compatibility support for Blender 3.6 LTS, bug fixes, and UI improvements.
  • Compatibility Notes:
    • FLIP Fluids 1.7.0 is officially supported in Blender 2.80 to Blender 3.6.
    • Blender 4.0: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and the latest daily build of Blender 4.0, but this may change as Blender 4.0 develops.
  • Added: Simulation time scale can now be set to a custom value or to match the time scale of another Blender simulation system (Rigid body, soft body, cloth, Mantaflow fluid). Useful to ensure that keyframed time scales are consistent between different simulation types. Documentation.
  • Added: A FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Measure Object Speed Tool to measure the speed of an object within the simulation. Ensuring a realistic movement speed for an object can be important for realism and predictable results for your effect. The measured speed of an object depends on the object animation, simulation world scale, time scale, and frame rate.
  • Added: An optional alternative Tabbed View Mode for displaying the domain simulation settings. This view mode can be enabled in the FLIP Fluids Preferences Menu > UI Options.
    • The default view lists all of the settings in a vertical stack of panel categories. The tabbed view displays a single panel category at a time and the panel to display can be selected in the tab selection.
    • If you are new to the FLIP Fluids addon, we recommend the default view as this will match the UI more closely in many of the tutorials you may view.
    • The tabbed view is a good choice if you are familiar with the FLIP Fluids addon domain settings and can be quicker to navigate to different settings categories. The tabbed mode can help reduce the amount of scrolling when searching for a setting.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where grid visualization bounds may not be drawn in the grid display was disabled.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed warning messages related to soon-to-be-deprecated drawing features in Blender 3.6 and 4.0.
  • Bug Fix: Corrected changed documentation links within the FLIP Fluids Preferences menu.
  • Bug Fix: Various warnings/errors in Blender 3.6 and 4.0.
  • UI: Domain UI settings have been updated for improved consistency between panel categories. Most settings sub-menus can now be collapsed to reduce visual clutter. Some collapsed categories will display an important setting or summary of settings.
  • Improvements: Improved stability of pressure solver to minimize solver failures for larger simulations (~100M+ particle simulations).
  • New Video: Updated Slow Motion Sphere Tutorial - A remake of the Slow Motion sphere tutorial! There have been a lot of changes in both the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender since the original tutorial was created 5 years ago. This tutorial will show you a new and interesting method of creating this effect using the latest features.

version 1.6.5 (Jun 07 2023)

  • FLIP Fluids 1.6.5 is a small update that adds a hotfix to a bug related to compatibility between the sheeting effects feature and surface attributes.
  • Compatibility Notes:
    • FLIP Fluids 1.6.5 is officially supported in Blender 2.80 to Blender 3.5.
    • Blender 3.6: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.6, but this may change as Blender 3.6 develops.
    • Blender 4.0: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 4.0, but this may change as Blender 4.0 develops.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where surface color, age, and viscosity attributes could be generated and displayed incorrectly if the sheeting effects feature was enabled.
    • This issue could cause fluid surface attributes to be generated as all black or partially black on random frames.
    • This issue was caused by a threading conflict within the simulator and can randomly affect users depending on system hardware and simulation set up.
    • If you were affected by this issue, re-baking the simulation will be required after updating to this version.

version 1.6.4 (May 23 2023)

  • FLIP Fluids 1.6.4 adds bug fixes reported since the last release, as well as small new features and improvements.
  • Compatibility Notes:
    • FLIP Fluids 1.6.4 is officially supported in Blender 2.80 to Blender 3.5.
    • Blender 3.6: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.6, but this may change as Blender 3.6 develops.
    • Blender 4.0: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 4.0, but this may change as Blender 4.0 develops.
  • Added: An experimental FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Prepare Geometry > FLIP Fluids Remesh operator has been added to automate the process of converting a collection of objects to a mesh, applying operators, and remeshing the object into correct and manifold geometry for the simulator. More information and a video tutorial can be found in the documentation topic here.
  • Added: The Domain > Stats section will now display a Performance Score value for the frame or an average over the entire cache (Documentation).
    • The Performance Score value is a simple measure for how much fluid is being processed per second on your system under the current simulation setup and settings.
    • The score may range from small single or double-digit values to higher values in the thousands.
    • This value can be used to get an idea for how the current simulation setup is performing on your CPU and how different changes to the setup or settings affect performance.
    • This value can also be useful for measuring performance at different thread counts. Running small simulations with too many threads can harm performance due to overhead of thread management. For small simulations, you may see a higher performance score and quicker simulation baking at a lower number of threads (Documentation).
    • The performance score may increase for larger high resolution simulations as there is more fluid to process and take advantage of more CPU resources.
    • Enabling more addon features will often increase how long it takes to compute the fluid, and in turn will decrease the performance score.
    • This stat value will only be displayed in simulations baked in this version of the FLIP Fluids addon or later.
  • Added: Operators to increase/decrease the render output version suffix in the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Bake Simulation menu, similar to the -/+ operators for the cache directory.
  • Added: Operators to increase/decrease the version number suffix in the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Bake Simulation menu for both the cache directory and render output directory at the same time.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed crash that could be triggered when a Surface Force Field object was located entirely outside of the domain bounds and had either of the Front/Bakse/Edge force directions disabled.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed big where Command Line Bake > Render After Bake operator would always default to rendering in Normal mode even in Batch mode was selected on Windows OS.
  • Bug Fix: Improved support for Blend files that contain multiple Scenes objects where one scene contains a FLIP Fluids addon setup:
    • Fixed bug where switching between a FLIP Fluids scene and other scene can result in removal of surface/whitewater materials.
    • Fixed bug where saving Blend file where Domain was not contained int he active scene could result in
    • Fixed console error message triggered when using the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Select Surface/Whitewater if domain was not contained in the active scene. Using these operators in this case will now display a popup message that selection is not possible in this scene.
    • Fixed bug where beginning a bake within a scene that does not contain a domain, or switching scenes during the bake export process, could trigger and error and remove the surface/whitewater objects from the domain. A popup error will now be displayed with information and halt the baking operation.
    • Fixed bug where using the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Initialize Motion Blur operator would not fully initialize if the active scene does not contain the domain. A popup error will now be displayed to direct the user to switch scenes.
    • Fixed bug where the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Auto-load Baked Frames feature would load frames in an active scene that did not contain a simulation.
    • Fixed bug where the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Auto-load Baked Frames CMD could not be restarted after switching between scenes.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bake error where cache savestate files could not be written if an existing savestate contained .backup files from a previous bake. Note: .backup savestate files may be generated in cases where Blender shuts down unexpectedly during a simulation bake.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug where cache savestate .backup would not be removed when resetting a bake.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed console error when retrieving Help > FLIP Fluids > System & Blend File Info on Apple Silicon M1/M2 systems, which could result in missing information.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed console error that could be displayed when the Domain > FLIP Fluid Cache menu was open.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed compiler error in case sensitive OS system (Pull request #614 by amarshall).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed compiler warnings on Apple Silicon M1/M2 systems.
  • Improvements: Stability improvements to reduce simulation 'explosions' for both the FLIP and APIC solving methods.
  • Change: Changed the default Domain > Advanced > Multithreading > Fixed value to run with 4 threads and added a tooltip hint for when to used Fixed threading mode.
    • Multithreading > Auto-detect: Use the maximum number of threads available on the CPU for simulation. Tip: Running smaller low resolution simulation with too many threads may actually harm performance due to overhead of thread management - this mode may be more performant for running medium to high resolution simulations.
    • Multithreading > Fixed: Use a specified number of threads for the simulation. Tip: Running smaller low resolution simulations with less threads may boost baking speed due to reducing overhead from thread management - try values around 4 thread for default lower resolution simulations.
    • Tip: When changing the number of threads, check the new Performance Score stat in the Domain > Stats > Cache/Frame Info to view if the change is increasing or decreasing the performance score (see above release note on Performance Score).
    • The multithreading settings are now also available in the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Bake Simulation menu to allow for quicker adjustment of these settings.
  • Change: Force Field Antigravity feature will no longer falloff linearly over the entire Antigravity Width and will instead only begin falloff after a 90% threshold distance at the end of the width. This will result in a stronger Antigravity effect near or outside of the force field when using larger width values. This change may affect older simulation setups if the Antigravity Width value is large.
  • Change: Command Line Bake > Render After Bake operator will now reload the Blend file before the render starts so that any changes to the Blend file after starting the bake command will take effect before the render starts.
  • Change: Domain > Simulation > More Bake Settings > Skip Mesh Re-export menu will now display a column overview for adjusting which FLIP objects have the Export Animated Mesh option enabled when the filter is set to All.
  • Documentation: Combined performance related topics into a new Performance Notes and Tips page.

version 1.6.3 (Apr 20 2023)

  • FLIP Fluids 1.6.3 is a minor update that adds small bug fixes reported since the last release.
  • Compatibility Notes:
    • FLIP Fluids 1.6.3 is officially supported in Blender 2.80 to Blender 3.5.
    • Blender 3.6: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.6, but this may change as Blender 3.6 develops.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue on Linux systems where command line tool operators may not launch if the Blend filepath contained whitespace characters.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue that would result in the simulator crashing if a surface mesh or whitewater mesh file size for a frame exceeded 2.15GB (2^31 - 1 bytes).
    • The mesh filesizes will still be limited to some maximum, specifically 4.29GB (2^32 - 1 bytes).
    • Even if you can generate a mesh file this large, you may not be able to load this amount of mesh data into Blender before running out of resources or time.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where linking Fluid/Inflow/Outflow/Obstacle/ForceField type FLIP objects would result in a baking error. Note: Linking a FLIP Domain type object is not supported.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error preventing baking that can be triggered when loading a cache created in FLIP Fluids versions 1.0.8a (Mar 2020) or earlier.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where resuming from an earlier frame savestate would have the addon remove the frame savestate from the cache, preventing ability to resume from this frame in future use.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where baking from an earlier savestate may not be possible due to a file permission error.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed warning in Blender 3.5+ about importing deprecated blg module features (Custom OpenGL drawing).
  • Change: If the Domain > Whitewater > Max Particles setting is set to 0, the simulator will no longer limit the number of generated whitewater particles. We would still recommend setting some reasonable limit to prevent generating too many particles which can slow down simulation and require large amounts of cache storage.
  • UI: Corrected tooltip for the Domain > Advanced > Remove Particles With Extreme Velocities option. It is not recommended to disable this option outside of experimentation and testing.

version 1.6.2 (Mar 29 2023)

  • FLIP Fluids 1.6.2 adds support for Blender 3.5, as well as bug fixes and improvements.
  • Compatibility Notes:
    • FLIP Fluids 1.6.2 is officially supported in Blender 2.80 to Blender 3.5.
    • Blender 3.6: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.6, but this may change as Blender 3.6 develops.
  • Blend File Compatibility Notes:
    • Blend files created in earlier versions of the FLIP Fluids addon are compatible with FLIP Fluids 1.6.2, but a small change may be needed.
    • Changes are required if you had used non-defaults for the Domain > Whitewater > Particle Behavior At Boundary (Collide/Kill/Ballistic) feature. A new domain boundary collisions system has replaced this feature (Documentation), which could possibly require changes to these simulation settings.
  • Added: Feature to set open or closed Domain boundary collisions in the Domain > Simulation panel (Documentation).
  • Added: Support for launching a command line animation/frame render using the Turbo Tools Addon by 3d illusions if an installation of this addon is detected. Documentation.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where removing the FLIP status from an object that is also a Rigid Body object would remove the object from the view layer, making this object difficult to find.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue in Blender 3.4 and later where vertex groups, uv maps, and color attribute geometry layers would not be preserved when resetting and then starting a new bake.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where unicode characters in filepaths would cause command line operators not to launch.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed errors in Blender 3.5 related to use of deprecated custom drawing operations that will be removed in Blender 3.7. All custom drawing operations are now functional using the supported drawing module.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed installation error messages related to the Asset Browser in versions of Blender before the Asset Browser was added as a feature.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where domains imported from the Asset Browser could result in simulations running an incorrect number of threads.
    • Note: The UI may still display an incorrect number of threads, but the simulator will use the correct amount. The UI value will be corrected upon beginning a simulation or re-loading the Blend file. This issue is caused by a current limitation of the Blender Asset Browser.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where FLIP objects imported from the asset browser that were created in earlier versions of the addon may not contain new features of future addon versions.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed 'Unknown Error' See Console For Details error that could be triggered when running a simulation within a domain that had been imported from the Blender Asset Browser.
  • Improvement: General simulation stability improvements and optimizations that can result in less substeps being computed.
  • Improvement: General render stability improvements.
  • Changed: Substep timesteps will now be quantized for a more consistent simulation accuracy during a frame.
    • This means that the simulator will attempt to run substeps in a way that the time interval between each step is split evenly.
    • For example, in some sitations, substeps could be computed in a way so that substep 1 computes 80% of the frame, and substep 2 computes the remaining 20%. With this change, each substep will compute 50%.
    • Related topic: What are substeps?
  • Changed: Command line operators on Linux will now default to running in the Bash Unix Shell instead of Xterm. Bash a popular default shell among Linux distributions. More notes on Linux Command Line Support.
  • Changed: Updated Set Relative to Blend render output operator to name the folder in the form [blend_file]_render.
  • Removed: Domain > Surface > Attributes > Generate Against Obstacles option has been removed. This option is no longer needed and was found that it should always be enabled, which it now is internally within the simulator.
  • Removed: Removed NVIDIA RTX Driver Warning (Issue #599) from the preferences menu. This issue has been fixed by NVIDIA in a driver update and is no longer relevant. If you are still experiencing this issue, the solution is to update NVIDIA drivers.
  • UI: Changed FLIP Object > Copy Settings to Selected operator name and tooltip to improve clarity of what this operator does (Documentation).
  • UI: Updated links to reflect changes in Blender's move to the new Gitea issue tracker.
  • Documentation: Added topics and improved interconnectivity of topics related to side effects of settings.
  • Documentation: Added addition simulation baking time data to example scenes documentation to compare between two CPUs:
    • Intel Core i7-7700 CPU: Base Freq 3.60GHz, Max Freq 4.20GHz, 8 threads
    • Intel Core i9-13900K CPU: Base Freq 3.00GHz, Max Freq 5.80GHz, 32 threads

version 1.6.1 (Jan 06 2023)

  • FLIP Fluids 1.6.1 is a small update that mainly adds bug fixes from recent reports and testing.
  • Compatibility Notes:
    • FLIP Fluids 1.6.1 is officially supported in Blender 2.80 to Blender 3.4.
    • Blender 3.5: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.5, but this may change as Blender 3.5 develops.
  • Added: Options to the Domain > Advanced Settings > Simulation Stability menu to set the pressure and viscosity solver max iterations (Documentation).
  • Bug Fix: Added workaround to issue that could result in render crashes if an object contained keyframes for the Outliner > Display in Render (camera icon) option (Issue #566).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where the addon could not be disabled and then re-enabled in the same Blender session.
  • Bug Fix: Added a workaround to an error message that could be triggered when updating from FLIP Fluids 1.6.0 to another version.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where keyframing the Domain > World > Enable Sheeting Effects option would not take effect within the simulator.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error that could be triggered when using the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Delete Domain operator if multiple objects shared the same mesh data of the domain or child objects.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where an "Unsupported Render Format" error popup and solution would not be displayed when using the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Generate Batch File or Render Single Frame operators.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where vertex groups on the surface or whitewater meshes would not be preserved between frames in Blender 3.4 or later.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where resolution, cache, and render output settings would not be displayed in the FLIP Fluids Sidebar menu if the Blend file was unsaved.
  • Bug Fix: Added workaround for FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Command Line Tools issues where other addons could possibly interfere with the command line window launch due to scripting conflicts.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where the Domain > Stats > Cache Info > End Frame value may display an incorrect frame number.
  • Improvements: Tuned internal pressure solver values for improved stability in simulations containing large volumes of fluid.
  • UI: Fixed issue where the Domain > World > Total Surface Tension value could display as an incorrect value or in an invalid number format. Note: the actual surface tension value would be correct within the simulator.
  • UI: Added missing FLIP Object > Copy Settings to Selected operator tooltip (documentation).
  • UI: Added popup messages and solutions to potential errors generated when using the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Select Domain operator if the domain was contained in a separate scene (unselectable) or if multiple domains (unsupported) were contained in the Blend file.
  • UI: Updated links to the FlippedNormals product page within the UI.

version 1.6.0 (Nov 24 2022)

  • FLIP Fluids 1.6.0 mainly adds bug fixes and smaller features, as well as begins an initial test phase for the integration of the preset scenes library into the Blender asset browser.
  • Compatibility Notes:
    • Blender 3.4: The upcoming release of Blender 3.4 (December 7th, 2022) required no changes to the FLIP Fluids addon and is supported in this version.
    • Blender 3.5: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.5, but this may change as Blender 3.5 develops.
  • Important note on NVIDIA GeForce RTX Driver Compatibility Issue:
    • A recent NVIDIA GeForce RTX 'Game Ready Driver' update may cause frequent Blender crashes while baking a simulation. Until this issue is fixed in a NVIDIA driver update, the current solution is to update to the NVIDIA 'Studio Driver' version. Studio drivers are typically more stable for content creation software.
    • NVIDIA Graphics drivers can be downloaded here.
    • Read more about this issue here.
    • A warning in the FLIP Fluids Preferences menu has been added and will display info and links if a RTX graphics card is detected.
  • Added: The FLIP Fluids Preset Scenes Library can now be installed into the Blender Asset Browser.
    • This addon feature is currently in an initial test phase.
    • Blender's asset browser feature is a work-in-progress and the Blender developers are working on adding more features and improvements. There are some necessary features of the asset browser that will be required for improving the integration of our preset scenes in future development.
    • See installation instructions, notes, and known issues here.
    • Watch our video overview (timestamp: 0:59)
  • Added: Operator to copy the active FLIP object settings to all selected FLIP objects of the same type.
    • Supported on Fluid, Inflow, Outflow, Obstacle, and Force Field object types. Not supported on Domain objects.
    • Keyframed settings will not be copied - these will need to be copied manually, such as through the Blender graph editor.
    • Settings cannot be copied to an object that has not already been set as a FLIP type object. You will first need to set non-FLIP objects to a FLIP type. Tip: to set multiple objects to a FLIP object quickly, use the FLIP Fluids sidebar > Add Objects operators.
  • Added: An Enable Technical Support Tools option to the addon preferences menu.
    • This option enables features used by the developers to assist in technical support requests but may also be useful to artists during issue troubleshooting.
    • If enabled, some of these features will be included as operators under the FLIP Fluids sidebar > Technical Support Tools menu. (Read more here).
  • Added: Save Blender Installation and Simulation Info to Blend File option to the addon preferences.
    • If enabled, save information about your system hardware, Blender installation, and simulation setup into the Blend file.
    • Saving this info into the Blend file helps improve turnaround time when requesting technical support and improves accuracy when diagnosing issues. To view the type of info that is saved, use the Help > FLIP Fluids > Copy System & Blend Info operator.
    • If disabled, this info will be cleared upon the next save of your Blend file, but it may be required to provide additional items and info when requesting support.
  • Added: Operator to FLIP Fluids sidebar > Add Objects menu to delete a selected domain.
    • This operator will not delete the cache directory.
    • This operator is recommended for deleting domains as deleting within the viewport may leave behind stray child objects such as simulation meshes.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where scene gravity was not set to 0 when the scene properties Use Gravity option was disabled.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where a mix of static and dynamic Inverse Obstacles would not be computed correctly within the simulator.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed incorrect velocity extrapolation within the simulator (issue #593).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where the simulation would continue baking after stopping a simulation if the cache filepath contained square brackets.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where whitewater spray emission speed could not be set below 1.0. This value now has a soft minimum of 1.0 and a true minimum of 0.0.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where too many threads would be launched when computing obstacle objects containing many separate pieces (mesh islands) which would slow down computation due to overhead managing threads. This issue would affect fracture simulations generated by the Blender Fracture Modifier branch.
  • Improvement: Command line operators that generate a render will now check if the render output directory is valid or else generate an error. This causes the operation to fail early instead of failing after the render is completed.
  • Improvement: Added additional info to the Help > FLIP Fluids > Copy System & Blend Info operator. Information about the Blender Installation and simulation setup is now included to assist in technical support requests.
  • Change: The Set Render Output Relative to Blend operator will now output to a relative folder with a name in the form render_[blendfilename]. This is to avoid multiple Blend files from sharing the same render output folder and potentially overwriting files.
  • Removed: 'Smooth' surface tension solving method. This solving method did not work as expected and caused confusion. Useful cases for this option were rare.
  • UI: Removed redundant viewport text in grid visualization debug drawing. This information is already contained in the Domain > Simulation > Grid Info section.

version 1.5.0 (Sep 07 2022)

  • FLIP Fluids version 1.5.0 adds compatibility support for Blender 3.3, a new physically-based Mixbox color mixing mode, a variable viscosity feature, bug fixes, improvements, and more!
  • Compatibility Notes:
    • Blender 3.3: The latest Blender 3.3 release is now officially supported with this version of the FLIP Fluids addon.
    • Blender 3.4: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.4, but this may change as Blender 3.4 develops.
    • Blender 2.79: Support for Blender 2.79 has been discontinued in order to further progress the development of the FLIP Fluids addon.
  • Important Notes on Activating Hidden Features:
    • A current bug in Blender that can cause frequent render crashes or incorrect renders will affect the following features of the FLIP Fluids addon and are hidden by default: rendering of surface or whitewater attributes, rendering color blending features, and rendering variable viscosity features. This bug has been reported to the Blender developers here: T88811 (03-jun-2021).
    • Workaround: When using these features, rendering from the command line will be necessary to prevent this bug and for complete render stability. The FLIP Fluids sidebar helper menu contains command line tools to help you automatically set up and launch a command line render (read more).
    • Activating Hidden Features: Since these features are affected by a bug that is outside of our control, these features will be hidden by default. These features can be unhidden by activating the Enable Developer Tools option in the FLIP Fluids addon preferences menu (open with Help > FLIP Fluids > FLIP Fluids Preferences).
  • Added: New Mixbox color mixing mode for the fluid surface attributes.
    • Mixbox is a tool developed by Secret Weapons for simulating physically-based pigment mixing. Learn more about the Mixbox technology here: Secret Weapons - Mixbox.
    • The Mixbox features are installed within the FLIP Fluids addon preferences menu by using the Mixbox.plugin file.
    • See the Mixbox Installation Instructions or video guide for how to install, uninstall, and use the Mixbox features.
    • The Mixbox color mixing mode can be set in the Domain > FLIP Fluid Surface > Geometry Attributes menu.
    • This is currently a hidden feature due to a bug in Blender. See Important Notes on Activating Hidden Features above.
  • Added: Basic variable viscosity simulation feature (Documentation).
    • Variable viscosity can be enabled in the Domain > World > Viscosity settings.
    • After enabling, each Fluid or Inflow object can be set to emit a different viscosity value.
    • After enabling, a viscosity attribute will be generated for the fluid surface and can be accessed within a shader or other areas of Blender with the name flip_viscosity.
    • Variable viscosity simulations can add a lot of additional stress on the viscosity solver, which may cause the solver to fail. It is okay for the solver to fail infrequently, but if it is failing on multiple consecutive frames, this may result in an unstable simulation.
      • Symptoms of an unstable viscosity simulation can be stuttering fluid motion, viscosity not being applied, fluid suspended in air, or other unexpected behavior.
      • View the Domain > FLIP Fluid Stats > Solver Stats menu to view information about the solver stress and solver failures.
      • If the solver stress level becomes too high and results in frequent solver failures, increase the Min Substeps value in the Domain > FLIP Fluid Advanced panel which will reduce stress on the solver (Related topic: What are substeps?).
      • Increasing simulation substeps will often be required to keep the simulation stable when using this feature. We would recommend increasing the minimum substeps to around 2 - 4 to start with, or higher depending on the complexity of the simulation.
      • Factors that can increase solver stress: higher resolutions, larger differences between viscosity values, higher amounts of fluid motion, complexity of simulation (complex obstacle geometry and/or rapid motion of obstacles), and lower frame rates.
    • This is currently a hidden feature due to a bug in Blender. See Important Notes on Activating Hidden Features above.
  • Added: Solver stats to the Domain > FLIP Fluid Stats menu (Documentation).
    • Displays the status of the pressure and viscosity solver: success/failure status, solver iterations, estimated error, and stress level.
    • The solver stats can be viewed for individual frames or viewed as a summary over the entire cache.
  • Added: Expanded command line operator support to MacOS and Linux (previously Windows-only features). Notes:
    • Operators that automatically launch new command line window processes are now supported on MacOS and Linux.
    • These operators include the Bake Simulation, Render Animation, and Render Frame features.
    • These operators can be found in the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Command Line Tools menu.
    • Linux notes:
      • These features rely on and assume that the xterm terminal emulator is available on the PATH in your Linux distribution.
      • If the option to open image file after rendering a frame is enabled, the xdg-open program will be used to open the file.
  • Added: Expanded support for fluid surface attributes.
    • Option to generate accurate velocity-based surface attributes against obstacles. Notes:
      • Velocity-based attributes are the velocity, speed, and vorticity attributes of the fluid surface.
      • If this option is enabled, correct velocity-based attributes will be generated at the interface where the liquid and obstacles meet, but at the cost of simulation performance.
      • If disabled, velocity-based attributes where liquid and obstacles meet may be incorrect and may contain motion blur spikes or shading artifacts.
      • This option only needs to be enabled if rendering with velocity-based shaders and/or motion blur where the liquid-obstacle interface is visible, such as when there are transparent/invisible obstacles.
    • Attributes are now supported when using the Upscale Domain Resolution on Resume feature. Previously, attributes would be initialized to a default values on resume when using this feature.
    • Attributes are now supported when using the Sheeting Effects feature. Previously, newly created fluid particle attributes would be initialized to a default value.
    • Attributes are now supported when the FLIP Fluid Surface > Particle Scale is greater or less than the default value of 1.0. Previously, using larger or smaller values could result in shading artifacts or missing attribute data.
    • Exceptions: The Source ID attribute will not be supported in the above changes. This attribute is deprecated and is being replaced by a similar attribute that expands functionality and improves use cases.
    • These are currently hidden features due to a bug in Blender. See Important Notes on Activating Hidden Features above.
  • Added: Operators to the FLIP Fluids Sidebar Helper menu to set render output directory based on blend file location and name.
    • The Set Relative to Blend operator will set the render output directory to a location named render that is a folder in the same location as the saved .blend file.
    • The Set Prefix as Filename operator will set the image sequence file prefix to the Blend filename with a trailing underscore.
  • Added: Feature to auto-load baked frames when running a command line bake.
    • This option is similar to the regular sidebar Auto-Load Baked Frames feature and is named Sync With CMD Bake.
    • While running a command line bake, the addon will automatically update the timeline to the most recently completed frame.
    • This option may affect Blender responsiveness or cause lag when there is not a command line bake running. Turn this option off when there is not a command line bake running if there are performance problems.
    • Similar to other options that run continuously (baking, grid visualization, custom debug drawing), Blender will not run its autosave process while this option is enabled.
    • This option will also update the simulation stats panel while a command line bake is running. Normally you would have to re-load the Blend file to update this information while a command line bake is running.
  • Added: Priority Level setting to the Fluid and Inflow objects to control the order that fluid generated by these objects is added to the simulation.
    • If multiple fluid/inflow objects are adding fluid to the simulation during a frame, the object with the higher priority value will be added first.
    • Use to control which fluid attributes are prioritized and set first such as with intersecting objects or nested objects.
    • For example, this feature can be used to create a variable viscosity simulation where a sphere has a high viscosity shell on the outside and a low viscosity fluid on the inside. In this scenario, a smaller fluid sphere would be nested within a larger fluid sphere. The priority level of the smaller sphere can be set higher to ensure that this low viscosity fluid is prioritized and added before the larger sphere.
  • Added: Operator to complete installation of the FLIP Fluids addon as an alternative to restarting Blender.
  • Added: Shortcut operator to the Blender > Help > FLIP Fluids submenu that opens the FLIP Fluids addon preferences.
  • Added: Option to the addon preferences menu to play an alarm sound after the simulation bake finishes.
  • Added: Functionality to preserve Color Attribute mesh data groups between frames in Blender 3.2. Note: the Color Attribute group functions similarly to the deprecated Vertex Color group in Blender 3.1 and earlier.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed baking error that could be triggered by setting a meshing volume object and then deleting the object before starting a bake.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where cache directory could be changed during bake through the sidebar menu
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error triggered when exporting to Alembic while the FLIP Fluids addon is not active.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error that could be triggered if a simulation mesh contained a Vertex Color group in a .blend file created in Blender 3.1 or earlier that was opened in Blender 3.2 or later.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed UI issue where cache info stats could display a vorticity attribute entry when the vorticity attribute was not enabled.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error that could be triggered if a surface/whitewater mesh object was in edit mode while starting/resetting a bake.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where resuming from an earlier savestate and ending the simulation before the frame completes may not update the most recent savestate to the correct frame.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed misc errors that could be triggered in the OTOY Octane Render for Blender 3.1 version when the renderer was set to Octane.
  • Change: Default surface tension accuracy raised from 90% to 95%.
  • Change: Reduced log filename length to a max character length to prevent filepaths from becoming too long in order to reduce Windows OS path length related issues.
  • Improvement: Improved stability of the viscosity solver.
  • Improvement: Improved accuracy and performance of color attribute to mesh transfer.
  • UI: Added operators to Fluid/Inflow properties to enabled Domain attributes.
  • UI: Added reminder and operator to save the Blender file before running command line tool operators.
  • UI: Added a hint to the Domain > FLIP Fluids Display settings to set whitewater particle scale in geometry nodes modifier if a point cloud set up is detected. This will only displayed if the point cloud was initialized by the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Initialize Motion Blur operator.
  • UI: Added domain resolution property to the sidebar menu.
  • UI: Initialize Motion Blur operator in the sidebar now cannot be used without first enabling the Preferences > Developer Tools option. This sidebar menu will now prompt the user to enable the developer tools option.
  • UI: removed redundant Render Tools menu from sidebar.
  • UI: Added a warning and info box that is displayed if there are features enabled that could trigger an attribute crash bug (T88811).
  • UI: Added a warning and info box that is displayed if the Cycles Persistent Data is enabled. This option currently contains issues and is not compatible with the FLIP Fluids addon.
  • Documentation: Large updates to the FLIP Fluids Addon Documentation and Wiki. Most pages have been edited and all settings documentation now include a table of contents and UI screenshots for ease of use.
  • Documentation: New and updated addon installation instructions.
  • Documentation: Added FLIP Fluids Mixbox plugin installation and usage instructions.
  • Documentation: New and updated written tutorial "Creating Your First FLIP Fluids Simulation".
  • Documentation: World > Variable Viscosity.
  • Documentation: Stats: Solver stats and notes.
  • New Video: FLIP Fluids Mixbox plugin guide.
  • New Video: FLIP Fluids Development Update 2021-2022.

version 1.4.0 (Jun 07 2022)

  • Blender 3.2 Compatibility: FLIP Fluids version 1.4.0 adds official compatibility support for Blender 3.2.
    • Blend File Compatibility: .blend files created in Blender 3.1 using FLIP Fluids 1.3.0 or 1.3.1 should be compatible in Blender 3.2 using FLIP Fluids 1.4.0.
  • Blender 3.3 Compatibility: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between FLIP Fluids 1.4.0 and Blender 3.3, but this may change as Blender 3.3 develops. Issues related to Blender 3.3 compatibility can be reported and tracked in this thread: issue #581.
  • Important notes: The attribute and motion blur features contained in this release are currently considered unstable due to a bug in Blender that can cause frequent render crashes.
  • Added: Age and Color surface attribute smoothing options to the FLIP Fluid Surface > Geometry Attributes menu.
    • These options control the amount of smoothing when transferring the Age/Color attribute to the surface mesh. Higher values result in smoother attribute transitions at the cost of simulation performance. The smoothing value represents the search radius for nearby particles in number of voxels.
  • Added: Features for basic Color attribute mixing (Documentation).
    • Enable Mixing: Simulate basic color mixing. If enabled, particles will absorb color attributes from nearby particles. If disabled, particles will hold a static color value that does not change.
      • Notes: This feature mixes colors using RGB additive blending, which is not physically accurate. Due to this, colors may not mix accurately compared to real-life color mixing such as paints. For example, mixing blue and yellow paint results in a green tone, but with RGB additive mixing this results in a shade of grey. RGB mixing can still produce acceptable results if the selected colors are closer or next to each other on the color wheel, such as Red/Orange/Yellow or Blue/Light-Blue. Colors that are on opposite sides will not mix well and will average to the center of the wheel to result in a shade of grey.
      • We are looking at solutions for physically accurate color blending and this will arrive in a later update.
    • Mix Rate: Controls how quickly particles will absorb color from nearby particles. Higher values will cause colors to mix and spread more quickly. Lower values will cause colors to mix and spread more slowly.
    • Mix Radius: Radius in which a particle can absorb color from nearby particles. Increasing this value can result in smoother mixing transitions at the cost of simulation performance. This value is the search radius of nearby particles in number of voxels.
  • Added: Functionality to the Surface Force Field object for selectively generating force vector fields based on front/backfacing triangle direction as well as against planar edges (Documentation). Notes:
    • Enabled Sides: Front - Enable force field on the front-facing polygons. This is the side where face normals point outwards.
    • Enabled Sides: Back - Enable force field on the back-facing polygons. This is the side opposite of the face normal.
    • Enabled Sides: Edge - Enable force field on planar edges. These are the edges of the surface that are not connected to any other polygons. Must have either one of Back or Front sides enabled for edge attraction to be enabled. Tip: Disable this option if you want the fluid to be attracted to the surface while still being able to flow off the edges of the surface.
  • Added: Render After Bake option to the Helper > Command Line Tools sidebar to automatically start a command line animation render after the command line bake process is completed.
    • This option offers a selection between a normal command line render or to launch a frame by frame batch file render.
    • Automatically launching the command line process is supported on Windows only. For MacOS/Linux, the Copy Bake Command operator can be used to copy the command to the clipboard so that it can be manually pasted in a terminal window.
  • Added: Launch Frame Render option to the Helper > Command Line Tools sidebar to automatically launch a command line render for a single frame.
    • This operator will render the current timeline frame.
    • If the Open Image After Render option is enabled, the command line script will automatically open the image using the default image program of your OS after the render is completed.
    • If the Close CMD Window After Render option is enabled, the command line window will be automatically closed after the render is completed.
    • The .blend file should be saved before using this operator in order for render and simulation settings to take effect. However, it is not required to save the .blend file if you are only changing a frame in the timeline or if changing the two above settings.
    • This operator is supported on Windows only. For MacOS/Linux, the Copy Render Command operator can be used to copy the command to the clipboard so that it can be manually pasted in a terminal window. The above two options are not supported on MacOS/Linux.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error messages due to compatibility issues when using the addon in Blender 3.2.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed crash that could occur when exporting animated simulation objects in Blender 3.2.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where generated surface attribute data could be incorrect on the under-side of the surface mesh, or in the direction that the liquid was flowing.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where surface/whitewater motion blur could be rendered incorrectly on the first frame of an animation.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed possible AttributeError that could be triggered when deleting an object when a domain is present in the scene.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issues where cache paths saved on Windows may not load on macOS/Linux due to backslashes in filepath.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error that could be triggered when using the Create Domain operator when a thin object is selected.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where Create Domain operator could automatically adjust resolution too high for force fields that are allowed to be planar surface or points.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where resuming a simulation could resume with incorrect Source ID attribute values on the fluid surface.
  • Change: The generated batch file render window will no longer close after completing the render.
  • Change: The Helper > Initialize Motion Blur sidebar operator will now generate a separate geometry node group for each whitewater particle type (foam/bubble/spray/dust) instead of a single group.
    • Note: if using this operator on a simulation set up where you had used this operator previously, you may want to check for duplicate geometry node groups in the modifiers panel and delete the old one.
  • Change: The FLIP Fluid World > Viscosity Accuracy now has a soft maximum value of 4. The value can still be manually set up to a maximum of 6, but we would in general not recommend setting this value above 4 in any case as there are greatly diminishing returns in visual accuracy.
  • Improvement: Age and Color attribute generation is now optimized and multithreaded.
  • Improvement: Added optimizations to prevent the addon from slowing down the Blender UI when the addon is not in use (issue #582).
  • UI: The Select Domain operator will now still be accessible when the Helper > Select Objects panel is collapsed.
  • UI: Added a Restart Required warning to the FLIP Fluids sidebar menu to prevent user from setting up a simulation and triggering errors before installation is complete.
  • UI: Expanded Obstacle > Inverse option tooltip to improve on explaining what this option does (Documentation).
  • UI: Updated inline UI documentation links for when the Preferences > UI Options > Display Documentation Links in UI option is enabled.

version 1.3.1 (Mar 30 2022)

  • FLIP Fluids version 1.3.1 is a small update the mainly includes an important Sheeting Effects Feature fix and a few other small changes.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where sheeting thickness value displayed in the UI did not match the value used when running a simulation.
    • This resulted in the sheeting feature generating splashes that were too thick and could add more liquid to the simulation than necessary.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where Force Field Resolution setting could change upon reloading a .blend file.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed macOS/Linux UI issue where the copy render command operator would not be selectable.
  • Improvement: The Initialize Motion Blur operator will now generate a geometry node group that will inherit the material set on the fluid surface so that the material does not need to be set manually.
    • This uses the Set Material Index geometry node.
    • This node is not yet supported for whitewater objects (pointclouds) and you will need to set the material in the geometry node modifier manually.
  • UI: Added user-friendly error popup hint if a KeyError: 'advanced' error is encountered upon starting a bake.
    • This error means that either the FLIP Fluids addon version is not compatible with Blender or if Blender was not restarted to complete installation.
  • UI: Removed forgotten 'debugging text' from UI and command line output.
  • UI: Command line output and UI have been updated to include the Blender timeline frame number of the simulation.

version 1.3.0 (Mar 11 2022)

  • Blender 3.1 Compatibility: FLIP Fluids version 1.3.0 adds official compatibility support for Blender 3.1.
    • Blend File Compatibility: .blend files created in Blender 3.0 using FLIP Fluids 1.2.1 should be compatible in Blender 3.1 using FLIP Fluids 1.3.0.
  • Important notes: The attribute and motion blur features contained in this release are currently considered unstable due to a bug in Blender that can cause frequent render crashes.
    • The bug is reported here: T88811.
    • Rendering from the command line is necessary to fully prevent render crashes when using these features.
    • We recommend saving frequently when working with attributes. There may be bugs that can cause crashes during attribute set up that will need to be reported to the Blender developers.
    • These features are currently hidden from the UI. To unhide these features, enable the Developer Tools option in the FLIP Fluids Addon Preferences Menu.
  • Added: Whitewater attributes using Blender 3.1's new point cloud object type. These options can be found in the FLIP Fluid Whitewater panel.
    • Added functionality to export a 3D velocity vector attribute for whitewater particles as flip_velocity.
    • Added functionality to export an integer stable ID attribute for whitewater particles as flip_id.
    • Added functionality to export a float lifetime attribute for whitewater particles as flip_lifetime.
    • Added attribute and motion blur example scenes containing detailed notes to demonstrate how to use attribute features.
      • These scenes focus on attribute setups for whitewater particles, but the same concepts apply to the liquid surface.
      • 0_whitewater-basic_pointcloud.blend - How to convert whitewater to a point cloud object type.
      • 1_surface_and_whitewater-basic_motion_blur.blend - How to set up basic motion blur on both the fluid surface and whitewater particles.
      • 2_whitewater-velocity_attribute_shader.blend - How to shade whitewater particles based on velocity.
      • 3_whitewater-id_attribute_random_particle_size.blend - How to use the stable ID attribute to randomize whitewater particle size and color.
      • 4_whitewater-lifetime_attribute_based_particle_size.blend - How to use the lifetime attribute to scale down whitewater particles before they are despawned.
  • Added: Functionality to export a vorticity attribute for the fluid surface.
    • The attribute is a 3D vector type and can be accessed with the name flip_vorticity.
    • Vorticity is a measure of local speed at which the liquid is rotating and can be used as a measure of fluid turbulence and motion.
  • Added: Operator to FLIP Fluids Helper menu to automatically set up motion blur rendering. This operator can be found in the sidebar under the Geometry Nodes Tools submenu.
    • This operator will set up everything needed for motion blur rendering and will check that the render engine is set to Cycles, that Cycles motion blur rendering is enabled, that necessary FLIP Fluids attributes are enabled, will initialize basic geometry node set ups on the fluid surface and whitewater (if enabled), and will check that the simulation mesh objects have motion blur rendering enabled.
    • The operator will also display what changes were made to the .blend file in the Blender System Console window.
    • This operator is best used before baking a simulation, as the attribute data may need to be baked.
    • For information on what this operator does and how to set up motion blur rendering manually, refer to the 1_surface_and_whitewater-basic_motion_blur.blend example scene.
  • Added: Functionality for the user to rename the addon folder from the default flip_fluids_addon name in the Blender addons directory.
    • For advanced installation only. Can result in errors or incorrect behavior if misused.
    • To enable this functionality, the user must enable the Allow Addon Directory Renaming option in the FLIP Fluids Preferences menu.
    • Directory name must not include special characters, including periods ('.').
    • Can be used to install multiple versions of the FLIP Fluids addon alongside each other.
      • It is very important that only one version of the addon is ever enabled at any time, or errors and incorrect behavior can result.
      • To switch between versions, first disable the current version, enable the desired version, and either restart Blender or reload the .blend file.
  • Added: Simulation viewport/render visibility toggles, which could be difficult to notice, have now been copied to the FLIP Fluid Display Settings menu and Helper Quick Viewport Display menu.
  • Added: An error message hint to set cache to location with write permissions if cache directory could not be created.
  • Bug Fix: File permission errors will now be displayed in a a popup message with user friendly information.
  • Bug Fix: Added error popup that prevents user from setting more than one object as a Domain. Note: the user may still be able to add multiple domains if copying/pasting a domain object, but will presented with a popup error upon attempting to bake the simulation.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where simulation meshes would not update on a frame change if a custom whitewater instance object was set to no object.
  • Bug Fix: Possible workaround to Blender issue where copying geometry nodes modifiers can result in a crash.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where certain file extensions were not being deleted from cache, causing issues in the load latest frame features.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where the simulation could continue running in the background after closing Blender.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where a domain FLIP object type could be changed or removed while a simulation is running, resulting in errors.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where force field curve/empty objects would not be affected by the Helper > Remove objects operator.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where surface mesh would be generated 1/8th of a voxel outside of the domain bounds
  • Bug Fix: The FLIP Fluid Cache > Make Absolute path operator now functions on an unsaved .blend file.
  • UI Fix: Added +/- operators to Helper Cache Directory to be consistent with the domain cache settings.
  • Documentation: Added Domain Attributes Settings.
  • Documentation: Added Official Marketplaces of the FLIP Fluids addon page including marketplaces FAQ.

version 1.2.1 (Dec 03 2021)

  • This version is a hotfix that mainly improves compatibility with older MacOS versions.
  • MacOS Compatibility: Improved support for older OS versions that are no longer receiving service updates from Apple.
    • This mainly affects MacOS 10.13 (High Sierra) and earlier that were experiencing an Unable to load fluid engine library error.
    • If you are continuing to experience this error, please contact us.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where the fluid surface mesh would be generated incorrectly if the Meshing Against Obstacles option was disabled (issue #567).
  • UI: Corrected attribute name listed in Generate Source Color Attributes option tooltip.

version 1.2.0 (Nov 25 2021)

  • Blender 3.0 Compatibility: FLIP Fluids version 1.2.0 adds official compatibility support for Blender 3.0.
    • Do not use older versions of the FLIP Fluids addon with Blender 3.0 as you may encounter severe compatibility issues.
    • Blend File Compatibility: .blend files created in Blender 2.93 using FLIP Fluids 1.1.0 should be compatible in Blender 3.0 using FLIP Fluids 1.2.0.
    • Forward compatibility support for Blender 3.0:
      • If a .blend file is saved in Blender 3.0 and then opened in an earlier version of Blender 2.8x or 2.9x, the addon will automatically update the .blend file so that FLIP Fluid objects are compatible and function correctly.
      • We still recommend keeping Blender 3.0 .blend files and earlier versions in separate saves. Blender will warn that you may still experience data loss in the .blend file in areas/features outside of the FLIP Fluids addon.
  • Blender 3.1 Compatibility: Not officially supported.
    • Added preliminary support for Blender 3.1 which is set to release on March 9, 2022.
    • Compatibility may break as Blender 3.1 is developed. Issues related to Blender 3.1 compatibility can be reported and tracked in this thread: issue #560.
  • MacOS Compatibility: Added potential fixes to a rare issue where the FLIP Fluids Engine was not supported on older MacOS versions. If you are experiencing any compatibility issues on any MacOS version 2014 or later, please let us know.
  • Added: Functionality to preserve any UV Map Layers or Vertex Color Layers on the fluid mesh data (issue #561).
    • Note: as the fluid meshes have dynamic topology, the values in the layers will not be transferred to the next frame. The layers will contain default data and should only be used procedurally.
  • Added: Alternate surface tension solving method:
    • Regular: Choose for general purpose surface tension effects. This option is the default and is the same method used in previous versions.
    • Smooth: Choose for improved stability, smoother results, and improved cohesion in small-scale effects. Good for thin streams/strands of liquid and for high surface tension effects. Not recommended for highly chaotic fluid motion or large volumes of liquid as this can result in volume increase issues.
  • Added: Report a Bug (GitHub) operator to the FLIP Fluid Preferences menu.
    • This operator will open the GitHub issue tracker and pre-fill the form with your system and version information.
    • Not all information may be found out depending on system and Blender version.
    • A GitHub account is required to post on the issue tracker.
    • This operator can also be found in the Blender > Help > FLIP Fluids menu.
  • Added: Copy System Information operator to the FLIP Fluid Preferences menu.
    • This operator will copy your system and version information to the clipboard.
    • Paste this info when sending us a message through the Blender Market, support[at]flipfluids.com, or elsewhere.
    • Not all information may be found out depending on system and Blender version.
    • This operator can also be found in the Blender > Help > FLIP Fluids menu.
  • Added: (Experimental Motion Blur Support) Added an example .blend file to the experimental builds package to demonstrate how to use a new Blender 3.0 feature to render true motion blur on the liquid surface (motion_blur_rendering_example.blend).
  • Added: Preset Scenes to the FLIP Fluids addon downloads. These are work-in-progress preset scenes for popular liquid types. More in development!
  • Example Scenes: Example scenes for Blender 2.8+ have had the UI reset for consistency in newer versions of Blender.
  • Example Scenes: surface_tension_pour.blend has been updated to use the new Smooth surface tension solver mode and to correct settings to more closely match the rendered example.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where attribute error would be generated on addon initialization if Cycles addon was not enabled (issue #552).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where IndexError would be generated if surface attributes were enabled, but not yet baked.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where unsupported object types could be set as a FLIP Fluid object (issue #556).
  • Bug Fix: Added workaround to issue where adding a Graph Editor Modifier to FLIP Fluids settings could bypass the property min/max values, generating an error during bake.
    • This manual fix has only been added to certain settings where a user is more likely to add a graph modifier. Settings in the FLIP Fluid World panel, and settings in the Obstacle properties.
    • A workaround for other settings can be to make sure the graph curve stays in the min/max range values.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where objects could be incorrectly simplified into a cuboid (issue #557).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where temporary stat cache files would not be processed and updated upon loading a .blend file (issue #558).
  • Bug Fix: Error message generated if cache directory location was invalid on .blend file load.
  • Bug Fix: Baking crash (Index Out Of Range or EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION error) that could be possible when the Remove Mesh Near Domain option is enabled.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where Re-launch Bake After Crash command line bake feature could resume the simulation from an incorrect frame after an error is encountered.
  • Bug Fix: Re-launch Bake After Crash command line bake feature will no longer attempt to re-launch a simulation if a Out of device/disk space error is encountered.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where custom drawing of text in the grid visualization feature could display with inconsistent colors depending on Blender version.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where the option to enable surface tension could be grayed out and not selectable.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where building from source could display a cmake_minimum_required() deprecation warning.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where particles would not be jittered correctly if Jitter Surface Particles option was disabled (issue #564).
  • Bug Fix: UI Issue where color selector could be greyed out if the color attribute domain setting was enabled (issue #565).
  • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) Missing Documentation link in the preferences menu is now visible.
  • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) Issue where automatic toggling of Cycles visibility options upon FLIP Fluid object creation was not functioning correctly.
  • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) Issues related to automatically setting Cycles ray visibility for FLIP Fluid/Inflow/Outflow/Force/Domain objects.
  • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) Issues related to immediate baking crashes.
  • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) Issues related to immediate render crashes during initialization.
  • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) Issues related to incorrect addon and simulation mesh initialization.
  • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) Misc. errors during Blender startup.
  • UI: The Beginner Friendly Reminder and tooltip displayed in the Physics panel now adds a note that when this preference is enabled, some settings will be hidden.
  • UI: Various reported typos and formatting in property tooltips (Thanks for the reports!).
  • UI: Tooltips and documentation have been updated to use the term Voxel rather than Grid Cell for consistency.
  • UI: Re-arrangements to the FLIP Fluids Preferences menu.
  • Removed: Deprecated Check For Updates operator.

version 1.1.0 (Aug 20 2021)

  • Blender 3.0 Compatibility: Blender 3.0 is still in development and is set to release in October 2021. At the moment, there are no known issues when using Blender 3.0 or the Blender 3.0 Cycles-X branch with this version of the FLIP Fluids addon.
    • Compatibility may break as Blender 3.0 is developed. Issues related to Blender 3.0 compatibility can be reported and tracked in this thread: issue #535.
  • Added support for the Apple Silicon chip.
  • Added functionality to the Automatic Command Line Bake operator (Windows Only):
    • If a simulation error occurs that stops the simulation, the operator will now attempt to automatically re-launch and resume the simulation. Certain errors such as 'Out of Memory' errors can be solved by re-launching a simulation.
    • If Blender crashes, the command line bake will try to detect the crash and attempt to re-launch Blender and the baking process.
    • The max number of re-launch attempts can be set in the FLIP Fluid Preferences menu.
  • Added 'Remove Mesh Near Domain' feature support for the preview mesh.
  • Added operator to FLIP Fluid Cache panel to set the cache location to a directory based on the name of the .blend file.
  • Added +/- operators to the FLIP Fluid Cache panel to increment/decrement a number at the end of a cache directory, similar to the icons when saving a .blend file.
  • Added support for all render output image file types when using the Helper > Generate Batch File operator.
  • Added support for curves that use the Poly spline type when used as a Curve Guided Force Field.
  • Improved support for fracture simulations set as a FLIP Fluid Obstacle where the fracture simulation contains non-manifold geometry.
    • Instead of ignoring the entire mesh when non-manifold geometry is detected, the simulator will only ignore fractured pieces of the mesh that contain non-manifold geometry.
  • Bug Fix: Simulation will no longer stop if a frame statistics temporary file is found to be in use and unable to be deleted (issue #529).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where command line operators may not work if spaces are contained in the Blender executable path, specifically when located in C:/Program Files/.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed inconsistent UI issues (issue #533).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where non-mesh type objects could be selected as a custom whitewater particle object, leading to an error during render.
  • Bug Fix: Re-fixed preview rectangle artifacts issue that was introduced as a side effect by another bug fix (issue #491).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where the whitewater display percentage setting loaded an incorrect amount of whitewater after resuming a simulation. Notes:
    • This was caused by the addon saving incorrect information to the savestates cache.
    • Simulations will need to be re-baked for this fix to take effect.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a FileNotFoundError when using the FLIP Fluids Helper > Generate Batch File if the render output location was set to a relative path.
  • Bug Fix: fixed issue where Helper > Generate Batch File operator did not support image file prefixes in the render output location.
  • Bug Fix: When baking from the command line and an error is encountered within the simulation, an error message will now be output correctly to the command line window.
  • Bug Fix: The cache directory can no longer be set to a location directly relative to the .blend file (ex: '//').
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where liquid could be spawned with triangle line artifacts for cuboid shaped Fluid objects in high resolution simulations.
  • Bug Fix: Crash that could be caused by using undo after activating the Create Domain operator on a selected object.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed incorrect render issue when 'Render > Persistent Data' option is enabled. Note: with this option enabled, rendering can be less stable. It is recommended to render through the command line if enabling this option.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where a curve or empty type object could not be added as a force field object through the helper menu.
  • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) TypeError which prevents fluid surface object from being generated upon creation of a domain.
  • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) KeyError generated upon starting a simulation.
  • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) Immediate crash upon starting a render of a FLIP Fluids addon cache generated in Blender 2.93 or lower.
  • Blender Bug: Added a workaround for issue T87629 to return a 'fake' preferences with default values if the actual preferences cannot be accessed. This workaround is to support activating the FLIP Fluids addon through the command line.
  • Blender Bug: There is an issue that causes render crashes when rendering vertex attributes (T88811). The only known workaround is to render using the command line.

version 1.0.9b (Apr 06 2021)

  • FLIP Fluids version 1.0.9b adds many bug fixes, stability improvements, and by popular demand, a new solver feature using the APIC simulation method!
  • Added an APIC solver using the Affine Particle-In-Cell method.
    • The simulation method, FLIP or APIC, can be set in the FLIP Fluid Simulation panel or FLIP Fluid Advanced panel.
    • Choose FLIP for high energy, noisy, and chaotic simulations. Generally better for large scale simulations where noisy splashes are desirable.
    • Choose APIC for high vorticity, swirly, and stable simulations. Generally better for small scale simulations where reduced surface noise is desirable or for viscous simulations.
    • FLIP vs APIC documentation and comparisons
  • Added an Accuracy option to the viscosity solver to control the solver error tolerance.
    • Decrease to speed up baking at the cost of accuracy. Increase to improve accuracy at the cost of baking speed. High viscosity thick or stiff fluids benefit the most from increasing accuracy. Low viscosity thin fluids often work well at a lower accuracy. Setting above a value of 4 may have greatly diminishing returns on improvement.
    • The default value of 4 is the same amount of error tolerance used internally in previous versions.
  • Added an operator to the FLIP Fluid Helper sidebar menu to generate a Windows batch file (.bat) to command line render each frame of an animation one by one.
    • Operator will detect already rendered frames in the output directory and disregard these from the batch file.
    • Upon a render crash, the batch file will start up Blender again and begin rendering the next frame. In this way, you can minimize unrendered frames if your system is prone to render crashes.
    • Can be used outside of the FLIP Fluids addon to render a sequence of frames individually. There are some bugs in Blender which can cause an animation to be rendered incorrectly and a workaround to these issues is to render each frame one by one.
  • Added viewport visibility toggles to the fluid particle, force field, and obstacle debug tools.
  • Added a UI warning and tooltip if the Estimated Surface Tension Substeps info value exceeds the allowed Max Frame Substeps Value (Documentation).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue in Blender 2.91+ where rendering fluid meshes with motion blur enabled could result in longer Cycles render times.
    • Note: Motion Blur Rendering of fluid surfaces or whitewater particles is not currently supported (See: Motion Blur Support).
    • This fix will only apply to newly created scenes. To workaround this issue in an existing scene, select a fluid/whitewater object and disable the Object Properties > Motion Blur option (only applies if Cycles is the selected renderer).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where low viscosity streams would have a velocity bias in the positive X/Y/Z direction (issue #455).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed an issue where many particles could become stuck to sharp obstacle edges which could lead to an unstable simulation (issue #508).
  • Bug Fix: Bug where using the inflow Constrain Inflow Velocity option could cause a bulge to form in the lower x/y/z corner of the domain.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where disabling the whitewater feature and resuming a simulation would result in invalid whitewater cache files being generated in the cache directory.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where keyframing a min/max property could overwrite other min/max properties (issue #516).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where the bake operator status could hang on Calculating time remaining....
  • Bug Fix: UI issue where the Resume From Frame X label could be displayed in red text instead of the default white.
  • Bug Fix: UI issue where domain FLIP operator displayed the hide/show viewport/render icons in reverse order compared to regular Blender convention.
  • Bug Fix: UI issue where bake information would not be updated when using the Reset operator if the current cache directory did not exist.
  • Bug Fix: An error that would prevent a helpful error message from being displayed when loading the fluid engine library (Pull Request Here).
  • Bug Fix: Potential fix for render crashes when the Fluid Particle Debugging or Force Field Debugging tools are enabled (issue #521).
  • Bug Fix: Bug where using the FLIP Fluids Helper > Solid/Wireframe operator would deselect Fluid/Inflow/Outflow objects after execution.
  • Bug Fix: Removed deprecated cache operators (Copy/Move/Rename) from being searchable and executable in the F3 operator search menu.
  • Bug Fix: ValueError that could be triggered upon creating a domain if the .blend file was located on a different drive than the Blender installation.
  • Bug Fix: 'TypeError' that could be triggered in Blender 2.93 by pressing the F3 operator search key.
  • Bug Fix: Removed extraneous debugging code that would cause (harmless) error messages in Blender 2.79.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error messages in Blender 2.79 due to difference in icon names in Blender 2.8+.
  • Example Scene Fix: Fixed volume_force_animated_character.blend example scene issue where the fluid objects would be emitted in the wrong direction. Corrected in the example scenes file as of March 25, 2021.
  • Changed: The FLIP Fluids Helper > Solid/Wireframe operators no longer change the render visibility of the objects. This functionality has been split into a separate row of Show/Hide Render operators that sets the render visibility of all selected objects.
  • Changed: Safety Factor (CFL Number) setting in the FLIP Fluid Advanced panel has moved from the Simulation Stability section to the Frame Substeps section. The Safety Factor option is more closely related to how the simulator calculates adaptive substeps.
  • Blender Support: Updated addon code to be compatible with Python 3.9 for future versions of Blender.
  • Blender Support: At the moment, there are no known compatibility issues between FLIP Fluids and Blender 2.93 Alpha. This may change as development of 2.93 progresses and bugs can be tracked in (issue #519).
  • Improved accuracy of viscosity solver setup.
  • Improved memory handling and storage of fluid particles and attributes.
  • Improved stability and performance.

version 1.0.9a (Feb 03 2021)

  • FLIP Fluids version 1.0.9a is a maintenance update to add small improvements and bug fixes reported since the last stable release.
  • MacOS Compatibility notes:
    • Due to a bug in Blender versions 2.80, 2.81, and 2.82, it will no longer be possible for us to support MacOS in these three versions. The FLIP Fluids addon on MacOS will still be supported in Blender 2.79, 2.83+, and 2.9+.
  • Blender 2.92 Alpha support: as of January 5th 2021, the daily Blender builds now support the FLIP Fluids addon. In earlier 2.92 builds, a Python feature that the addon uses was missing.
    • Support may break as Blender 2.92 develops and issues can be tracked here: Issue #507.
  • Added three new example scenes by popular request (Animation previews, Example Scene Descriptions).
  • Added a filesystem protection layer to enforce that all file removal operations are functioning correctly, reducing bugs related to human/development error (Documentation).
  • Added a workaround into the addon for a long-standing Blender bug (T71908) which causes keyframed render settings on the fluid meshes not to be evaluated during render. This workaround fixes:
    • Issues where keyframed settings in the FLIP Fluid Display Settings panel would not take effect during render.
    • Issues where the FLIP Fluids Helper > Override Frame Playback feature would not function during render.
    • Issues where an Ocean Modifier attached to the fluid meshes would not be animated during render.
  • Bug Fix: Addon will no longer allow the FLIP Fluid current cache directory to be set as blank and will be set as a reasonable default value.
  • Bug Fix: FLIP Fluids Helper menu command line tool operators displayed incorrectly on MacOS and Linux (issue #505).
  • Bug Fix: FLIP Fluids Helper menu command line tool Copy to Clipboard operators were not functioning on MacOS and Linux (issue #505).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed potential Out of Memory error that could be triggered if a force field object is located outside of the domain.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed potential issue where the FLIP Fluid surface or whitewater object could lose it's material after reseting a bake.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where inflow particles could be seeded in an unnatural pattern (issue #509).
  • Bug Fix: Incorrect frame used in the simulation for the inflow/fluid object speed value if this value was keyframe animated.
  • Bug Fix: Potential crash if a curve guided force field had endcaps disabled while enabling a minimum distance for the force field.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where exporting an animated curve guided force field could trigger a 'Changing Topology Warning'. Note: it is okay for all current force fields to change topology.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where Remove Particles With Extreme Velocities could generate false-positives for a viscous fluid falling under regular gravity.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where keyframed quaternion or axis-angle rotation was not supported (issue #515).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where the baked debug tools (particle/obstacle/forcefield) would not be updated correctly if the simulation Time Scale value was set to 0.0.
  • Bug Fix: Potential error messages caused by the addon detecting Blender 2.9x versions incorrectly.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where a combination of high resolution and small world scaling could result in the surface preview mesh not generating.
  • New Documentation: Crash Protection Features.
  • New Documentation: Closing Blender while a simulation is running.
  • New Documentation: Addon Installation Troubleshooting.
    • How to verify your FLIP Fluids installation file.
    • How to locate your Blender addons directory.
    • How to verify your FLIP Fluids Blender installation.
    • How to clean up your Blender addons directory in the case of an incorrect installation.
    • How to manually install the FLIP Fluids addon.

version 1.0.9 (Nov 26 2020)

  • FLIP Fluids version 1.0.9 is our biggest update yet! This version includes a large new force field feature set as well as many other features, tweaks, and workflow improvements. Thank you to all of the testers who helped us develop this new version!
  • Compatibility notes on older .blend files:
    • FLIP Fluids 1.0.9 is fully compatible with .blend files and caches created in 1.0.8, however some settings have been replaced and updated. If opening an older .blend file, you may want to check the following settings and adjust if necessary:
  • Changes to default behavior:
    • Default value change: Update Settings on Resume in FLIP Fluid Simulation panel is now enabled by default.
    • Default value change: Surface Subdivision in FLIP Fluid Surface panel is now set to 1 by default. Tip: set to 0 (low quality) for quicker iteration when prototying a simulation.
  • Added 4 new force field modes (Documentation):
    • Point Force - A force field that attracts fluid towards a single point.
    • Surface Force - A force field that attracts fluid towards the surface of a mesh.
    • Volume Force - A force field that attracts fluid into the volume of a mesh.
      • Can be used similarly to Blender's older Fluid Control feature that was removed since Blender 2.82.
    • Curve Guide Force - A force field that attracts towards or along a curve, or to spin around a curve.
    • More force field modes are in development! Try our experimental versions here.
  • Added 7 new example scenes to showcase the FLIP Fluids force field feature set, including detailed notes about the simulation setup and settings (Blender 2.82+, 2.9+ only).
  • Added force field debug visualizer to FLIP Fluid Debug panel. See development update #13 for detailed information.
  • Added Force Field Resolution option to FLIP Fluid World panel.
  • Added a README.html file to the Blender Market product downloads that contains info and links for how to get started with the addon.
  • Added a Grid Info section to the FLIP Fluids Simulation panel to display info about the simulation grid including tooltips to help explain the simulation grid.
  • Added feature to upscale a simulation to an increased resolution on resuming the bake (Documentation).
  • Added functionality for Inflow/Fluid objects to emit fluid in the direction of the object's local axis.
  • Added functionality to Skip Re-Export of static and keyframed meshes in addition to skipping animated meshes.
  • Added a Force Re-Export On Next Bake feature for FLIP Fluid simulation objects.
  • Added expanded functionality for skipping/forcing mesh data to be exported in Settings and Mesh Export submenu in FLIP Fluid Simulation panel.
  • Added functionality to link exported geometry data from another cache directory in FLIP Fluid Cache panel (Documentation).
  • Added exponent precision editing for viscosity and surface tension values.
  • Added preferences option to rename the FLIP Fluids Helper menu panel name.
  • Added preferences option to display links to relevant documentation in the UI.
  • Added UI reminder that displays in the physics panel if the preferences Beginner Friendly Mode is activated.
  • Added functionality for Enable Stable Rendering operator to also undo this operation (Blender 2.8+ only).
  • Added prompt/warning to Domain UI to warn that the .blend file has not been saved. Includes operator to open the save file menu.
  • Added features to and organized the FLIP Fluids Helper Menu panels.
    • Added domain bake and cache operators to the FLIP Fluids Helper menu.
    • Added Create Domain operator to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu to generate a domain depending on the context of what type of objects are selected and in your scene.
    • Added operators to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu to select all simulation objects of a certain type (Obstacle/Fluid/Inflow/Outflow/ForceField).
    • Added operators to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu to help organize your simulation objects in the Blender Outliner.
    • Added Override Frame settings to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu that works similar to the setting of the same name in Blender's Alembic Cache modifier.
  • Updated for compatibility with latest version of OctaneRender.
  • Updated addon packaging, distribution, and testing processes to be automated to reduce issues related to human-error.
  • Updated Blender Market product downloads naming conventions to use a more consistent naming format that includes the date that the file was last updated (See FLIP Fluids Downloads).
  • Removed Rigid/Deformable mesh option for Inflow object. The simulator will now automatically detect whether the object is rigid or deformable.
  • Removed Preserve Foam options from FLIP Fluid Whitewater UI. These settings were not working as expected and are no longer needed.
  • Fixed: potential compatibility issues on MacOS systems.
  • Fixed: bug where command line tools would not be displayed for MacOS/Linux operating systems.
  • Fixed: issue where rectangle artifacts could appear in the fluid surface preview mesh (issue #491).
  • Fixed: bug in Blender versions 2.9+ where toggling a FLIP object's render visibility would not update the object visibility in the viewport rendered display.
  • Fixed: error during export that could be triggered by exporting an Empty type object as a fluid/inflow target.
  • Fixed: issue where Empty type objects could be exported to incorrect locations within the simulator.
  • Fixed: issue where the simulation mesh could be loaded into the viewport during animated object export, causing a very slow export process.
  • Fixed: bug that could cause a crash if viscosity feature was enabled while simulating small amounts of fluid.
  • Fixed: bug that could cause a crash if a object contained all vertices outside of the domain.
  • Fixed: issue where changing particle size in the FLIP Fluid Debug particle debugging tool would not affect the draw size.
  • Fixed: issue that was causing inflow object to require too much memory. More info in development update #14.
  • Fixed: issue where Strawberry Splash example scene was not compatible with newer versions of Blender.
  • Fixed: bug where a rare divide-by-zero error could cause the simulation to collapse in on itself.
  • Fixed: issue where a mesh containing a zero-area triangle could cause a crash.
  • Fixed: issue where an Attribute Error could be displayed when selecting the Domain object.
  • Fixed: possible FLIP Fluid Stats alignment issue when selecting a frame that was outside of the cache range.
  • Fixed: issue where FLIP Fluid Stats panel could display out-of-date info after a cache reset.
  • Fixed: issue where FLIP Fluid toolshelf menu was missing operator to select the whitewater dust object.
  • Fixed: Fixed potential crash issues that could be triggered when using Blender's Undo (Ctrl+Z) after creating a domain.
  • Fixed: bug where FLIP Fluid Simulation panel would not be drawn in the case that the user has run out of drive space during the previous simulation.
  • General performance improvement of 10% - 15% for medium to large simulations (Detailed notes in Development Update #33).
  • Improved speed and flexibility of geometry export system (Detailed notes in Development Update #28).
  • Improved accuracy of surface tension calculations to improve stability (prevent blow-ups).
  • Improved multithreaded performance of adding new fluid particles into simulation domain.
  • Improved performance in grid initialization.
  • Improved performance in handling FLIP Fluid Obstacle objects.
  • Miscellaneous UI tweaks, usability, stability, reliability improvements.
  • New Documentation: What is the domain simulation grid?.
  • New Documentation: FLIP Fluids Helper Menu.
  • New Documentation: FLIP Fluids Preferences Menu.
  • New Documentation: Current Status of the Preset System.
  • New Documentation: Updated installation instructions using Blender 2.8x screenshots.
  • New Documentation: Limitations of the FLIP Fluids addon.
  • New Documentation: Expanded CPU Usage Topic.
  • New Documentation: What is the difference between Blender's Mantaflow fluid simulator and the FLIP Fluids addon.
  • New Documentation: Does my obstacle object need to be completely contained by the domain?.
  • New Documentation: Tips for Creating Ship Simulations.
  • New Documentation: Scene Troubleshooting: Fluid behaviour changes when increasing resolution.
  • New Documentation: Whitewater Rendering Tips.
  • New Documentation: notes on potential feature of Motion Blur Support on Alembic Exports.
  • New Tutorial: Episode Eight: Layering Fluid to Make Delicious Sweets.
  • New Tutorial: Complete Guide Episode: Mastering Foam (part 3a).
  • New Tutorial: Complete Guide Episode: Mastering Bubbles, Spray, and Dust (part 3b).

version 1.0.8a (Mar 05 2020)

  • Hotfix to correct a major bug. Please download and update to this version if you had version 1.0.8 (Mar 02 2020) installed
  • Fixed: Bug that could cause materials to be removed from whitewater objects after render completes

version 1.0.8 (Mar 02 2020)

  • For detailed release notes of FLIP Fluids v1.0.8, see our development blog post.
  • Version 1.0.8 is fully supported in Blender 2.79, 2.81, and 2.82. Blender 2.80 is not fully supported due to severe bugs that affect the FLIP Fluids addon (See Blender 2.8 Support)
  • Updated world scaling system to include two scaling modes: Relative and Absolute (Documentation)
  • Options to set Start/End timing values in FLIP Fluid simulation panel have been removed (no longer useful)
  • Added operators for copying command line baking/rendering commands to clipboard (Windows Only)
  • Operator that automatically launches command line render no longer requires a FLIP Fluids Domain in the scene (Windows Only)
  • Removed unsafe cache operators (move/copy/rename) from UI. Use your filebrowser for these operations, which is safer.
  • Removed the Compute Chunks setting (automatic/manual) from the FLIP Fluids surface panel (no longer needed)
  • Particle Scale will be displayed in red if the value is set to less than 1.0
  • Gravity mode (Scene or Custom) in the FLIP Fluid World panel has been changed to a horizontal selector
  • Removed optimization and performance settings from FLIP Fluid Advanced panel (no longer needed)
  • Fixed: Issue where velocities could be ignored on deformable meshes (Issue #485)
  • Fixed: Issue where velocities of animated objects would be ignored if an inverse obstacle was present in the scene
  • Fixed: Issue that would cause mesh geometry not to export correctly if the Hide from Viewports object option (monitor icon in outliner) is used
  • Potential fix for 1st frame not rendering whitewater particles
  • Fixed: Issue where edge split modifiers would not be ignored during mesh export
  • Fixed: Incorrect default fluid_surface mesh type for OctaneRender
  • Fixed: Issue where the fluid_surface object could become unrecoverable if deleted within the viewport (Issue #483)
  • Fixed: Issue where OpenGL point size for particle debugging could not be set in Blender 2.8 (Issue #484)
  • Fixed: Issue where special filesystem characters could not be used in object name (Issue #462)
  • Fixed: Potential errors if simulation contained over 120 million particles (Issue #477)
  • Fixed: Issue where simulation data could become corrupted when running out of storage space
  • Fixed: Incorrect frame loading when playback offset set to -1 or 1 (Issue #488)
  • Fixed: Compositing uses the wrong cached frame during render (Issue #489)
  • Fixed: Potential crashes when rendering example scenes
  • Fixed: Issue that could trigger an error during command line baking
  • Fixed: Baking error message when switching a FLIP Fluids Domain to another simulation type
  • Fixed: Issue that could cause a baking crash if an obstacle object was located entirely outside of the domain
  • Fixed: issue where inline force field documentation links would not be consistently displayed when submenu was collapsed.
  • New Documentation: The Most Important Documentation Topics
  • New Documentation: Obstacle Inverse Workflow
  • New Documentation: The importance of scale
  • New Documentation: How to use Relative and Absolute world scaling in your workflow
  • New Documentation: Which meshing offset mode to use
  • New Documentation: Why is exporting animated objects taking so long!
  • New Documentation: Surface Tension: Estimated Substeps
  • New Documentation: Update Documentation: Alembic Support

version 1.0.7 (Nov 27 2019)

  • Version 1.0.7 is fully supported in Blender 2.79 and Blender 2.81. Blender 2.80 is not fully supported due to severe bugs that affect the FLIP Fluids addon (See Blender 2.8 Support).
  • Updated addon to use new Blender 2.81 features that improve rendering and baking stability
  • Added a new Dust particle type to the whitewater simulator. Dust particles are generated near obstacles that are marked as dust emitters. Dust particles are advected with the fluid velocity similar to bubble particles and sink towards the ground.
  • Added a 'Dust Emission Strength' parameter to the Obstacle properties section that controls how much whitewater dust the object will generate
  • Added 'Spray Emission Speed' parameter to the whitewater simulator that will scale the speed of emitted spray particles. Increase to generate larger and more exaggerated spray effects.
  • Added option to FLIP Fluid Advanced panel to disable changing topology warning for animated meshes that change topology between frames. Warning: vertex velocities will not be computed for topology changing meshes.
  • Added option to FLIP Fluid Simulation panel to automatically set domain preview resolution based on recommendation
  • Surface and whitewater mesh objects can now be renamed and are no longer required to be child objects of the Domain
  • Fixed misc compile errors and warnings for Linux/MacOS
  • Fixed bug that could cause baking crashes when using the whitewater simulator
  • Fixed bug that could prevent whitewater foam particles from transitioning into spray particles
  • Fixed bug that could cause whitewater particle objects not to be loaded in the viewport
  • Fixed bug that could cause incorrect particle geometry when switching between built-in and custom particle objects
  • Fixed bug that could leave behind stray objects in the scene when removing whitewater meshes
  • Fixed bug that could cause errors when re-loading addon scripts
  • Fixed bug where the 'More Bake Settings' subsection of the FLIP Fluid Simulation panel could not be set as default values
  • Fixed bug where rendering could be disrupted if the 'Auto Load Baked Frames' feature is enabled
  • Fixed bug that could cause grid debugging tools not to display
  • Fixed stray debugging print outs during simulation in the Blender System Console
  • Addon will now initialize the fluid_surface mesh object with smooth shading by default
  • Addon will now automatically toggle Cycles visibility settings on inflow/outflow/fluid objects according to the objects hide render property
  • Addon will now automatically lock the Blender interface (Blender > Render > Lock Interface) upon creation of the domain to prevent render crashes in Blender 2.8x
  • Addon can now visualize the domain bounds independently of the domain grid in the FLIP Fluid Debug panel
  • Removed smoothing operations from FLIP Fluid Surface panel. Amount of smoothing should be set in the fluid_surface object smooth modifier
  • Whitewater particle object can now be set as a built-in 6 sided cube in addition to a 20 sided icosphere or a custom object in the FLIP Fluid Display Settings panel
  • Whitewater display settings section in FLIP Fluid Display panel can now be collapsed in the UI
  • Misc tooltip improvements
  • Misc performance improvements

version 1.0.6 (Oct 10 2019)

  • Added support for Blender 2.81
  • Added reminder in the addon installation/preferences menu and Physics panel to complete installation by restarting Blender. See Installation Instructions.
  • Added warning about Blender 2.80 bugs to the addon installation/preferences menu and system console output. See Blender 2.80 known issues.
  • Added a reminder to prevent render crashes by locking interface in Blender 2.8x to addon installation/preferences menu and system console output
  • Added an operator to the FLIP Fluid Display Settings panel and toolshelf menu to automatically lock the interface (Blender 2.8x)
  • Added an operator to the FLIP Fluid Display Settings panel and toolshelf menu to automatically set the render display mode to Fullscreen (Blender 2.79)
  • Added operators to toolbox menu to automatically launch command line baking and rendering processes (Feature only supported on Windows)
  • Added monochromatic FLIP Fluids icon for Blender 2.8x
  • Fixed issue that could cause frequent Blender 2.8x crashes during render, Alembic export, and rigid/cloth simulation baking (issue #403)
  • Fixed bug where Inflow 'Substep Emissions' value could not be keyframed
  • Fixed TypeError that could be triggered at the end of simulation baking (issue #469)
  • Fixed bug where console output would still be displayed during mesh export when the 'Display Console Output' option was disabled
  • Reduced amount of particle meshing artifacts on boundary of domain
  • Addon no longer automatically deletes the FLIP Fluids cache when closing an unsaved .blend file
  • Addon now automatically adds a smooth modifier (set to 0 iterations) to the fluid mesh objects
  • Addon will now display an error if a user attempts to bake a simulation before completing installation

version 1.0.5 (Jun 04 2019)

  • Added support for Blender 2.80 (Experimental until official release. See known issues.)
  • Added a surface tension solver (issue #388)
  • Added sheeting effects feature (Documentation)
  • Added meshing options to remove parts of surface mesh near the domain boundary
  • Added meshing options to set offset for fluid-solid mesh interface
  • Added meshing feature to set a custom object as a meshing volume. Only fluid inside of this object will be meshed.
  • Added option to skip re-exporting animated meshes
  • Added settings and option to set a custom baking frame range instead of using the timeline start/end values
  • Added a savestates feature which gives the ability to rollback a simulation and resimulate from an earlier frame
  • Added a 'Beginner Friendly Mode' to preferences that limits UI to only show the most basic and commonly used parameters
  • Added a Basic/Advanced settings mode for Whitewater panel (issue #384)
  • Added feature to control amount of whitewater generated by Obstacle objects (issue #385)
  • Fixed bug where using world scaling would cause incorrect distribution of generated whitewater particles (issue #373)
  • Fixed 'ResourceWarning' error when disabling and re-enabled addon
  • Fixed bug that would cause bumpy mesh artifacts on edges of domain (issue #380)
  • Fixed bug where bake would continue to run after closing Blender (issue #361)
  • Fixed bug where Blender could crash while rendering in Cycles with the viewport open (issue #403)
  • Fixed bug where copper preset could be loaded as coffee preset
  • Fixed 'Value must be greater or equal to zero' error that could be triggered if domain bounding box is too thin (issue #397)
  • Fixed bug where deleted objects could be exported to the simulator (issue #405)
  • Fixed bug where particles could escape the domain and trigger an 'Out of Range' error (issue #415)
  • Fixed precision error what could cause fluid meshes to be scaled incorrectly (issue #414)
  • Fixed bug where the 'Reload Frame' operator could ignore reloading a frame (issue #419)
  • Fixed bug where the intersection between inversed obstacles would be computed as solid instead of empty
  • Fixed issue where Blender could crash during animated mesh export (issue #401)
  • Fixed Linux/MacOS bug where a simulation could stop in the middle of baking. Huge thanks to Christian Schwarz for helping us solve this issue!
  • Setting inflow 'Substep Emissions' to 0 will cause the inflow only emit fluid on the first substep of a frame (Documentation)
  • Misc material and preset library fixes
  • Improved collisions with thin obstacles
  • Improved forward/backward compatibility of .blend files between addon versions
  • Performance improvements
  • Simulation stability improvements
  • Mesh generation improvements

version 1.0.4a (Aug 24 2018)

  • Fixed bug that would cause holes (missing triangles) in the surface mesh (issue #372)
  • Fixed bug that would cause missing chunks near the boundary of the surface mesh (issue #376)
  • Fixed bug that would cause banding artifacts in the surface mesh (issue #377)
  • Fixed bug where using world scaling would cause incorrect distribution of generated whitewater particles (issue #373)

version 1.0.4 (Aug 09 2018)

  • Added support for baking from the command line (issue #329) - See Notes
  • Added debug functionality to visualize the true domain bounds (issue #299)
  • Added functionality to restrict viewport/render fluid display from the 'FLIP Fluid' physics button (issue #222)
  • Added Inflow option to constrain fluid inside of an inflow object to match the inflow emission velocity. Allows inflow to work when submerged (issue #322). Allows low velocity emission values to have the effect of slowing down inflow emission (issue #90) - See Notes
  • Added volumetric water shader 'Water (volumetric)' courtesy of Grant Wilk of Remington Graphics
  • Added optimization to skip frame calculations if time step is zero-length (issue #350)
  • Fixed bug that would require reloading a scene if an invalid cache directory was set before baking (issue #330)
  • Addon will now display popup error message when exporting a preset package to an invalid directory (issue #320)
  • Fixed incorrect surface motion blur rendering method that would result in a hard edge of the surface mesh instead of a fully blurred edge (issue #87)
  • Fixed bug that would trigger an error if a deformable inflow was located outside of the domain
  • Fixed UI issue to disable ability to insert keyframes into 'Hold Frame' option (issue #340)
  • Removed 'Invert Surface-Contact Normals' option in 'FLIP Fluid Surface' settings. This option does not work as intended and is not useful.
  • Fixed bug where whitewater particles would be killed when boundary behaviour was set to 'Ballistic' (issue #354)
  • Fixed bug where changes to whitewater particle scale would not be reloaded in the viewport (issue #339)
  • Fixed bug where renaming Inflow/Fluid target object in outliner would not rename object in Inflow/Fluid settings (issue #356)
  • Improved forward/backward compatibility of .blend files between addon versions
  • Improved performance of surface mesh generation
  • Improved compatibility with various Linux distributions
  • Removed GPU acceleration features. GPU methods have been entirely replaced with higher performance CPU methods.
  • Removed 'Enable Experimental Optimization Features' setting from Advanced panel. These features are no longer experimental and are now fully integrated into the fluid engine.

version 1.0.3 (Jun 01 2018)

  • Added operator to preferences menu to check for version updates (issue #314)
  • Added support for fluid surface motion blur rendering (issue #87) - See Notes
  • Fixed bug where editing a preset would display an error (issue #301)
  • Fixed bug that prevented viscous fluids from sticking to obstacles
  • Fixed bug that caused 'Out of Memory' error when an Inflow or Outflow was located outside of the domain (issue #316)
  • Fixed bug that would cause meshes to be misaligned if world scaling was enabled (issue #315)
  • Fixed bug that caused mesh artifacts when 'GPU Features' was disabled (issue #317)

version 1.0.2 (May 16 2018)

  • Added support for MacOS and Linux - See Notes
  • Fixed bug where addon would crash if Inflow/Outflow was outside of Domain

version 1.0.1 (May 04 2018)

  • Added full preset library
  • Added full material library
  • Added functionality to invert fluid surface-obstacle interface normals
  • Fixed bug where stats could stop being processed (issue #280)
  • Improved fluid particle stability

Experimental Releases

Update: As of November 2022, a separate experimental builds package has no longer been needed. Experimental features are now distributed within the stable and demo versions of the addon and are disabled/hidden by default under the FLIP Fluids Preferences > Enable Developer Tools option.

Experimental releases will give you access to the latest updates and features, but these builds may contain bugs and lack documentation. Please let us know what you think of the experimental builds or notice any problems, we love to hear your feedback!

Experimental Versions 9.6.x

Release notes for experimental version 9.6.x, which correspond to the stable FLIP Fluids Version 1.6.0. These versions contain the latest features, fixes, and improvements. Please read our Experimental Builds documentation before testing these versions.

version 9.6.1 (Nov 24 2022)

  • This experimental release corresponds with the stable 1.6.0 release and contains minimal changes. Refer to the 1.6.0 release notes.

Experimental Versions 9.5.x

Release notes for experimental version 9.5.x, which correspond to the stable FLIP Fluids Version 1.5.0. These versions contain the latest features, fixes, and improvements. Please read our Experimental Builds documentation before testing these versions.

version 9.5.1 (Sep 07 2022)

  • This experimental release corresponds with the stable 1.5.0 release and contains minimal changes. Refer to the 1.5.0 release notes.

Experimental Versions 9.4.x

Release notes for experimental version 9.4.x, which correspond to the stable FLIP Fluids Version 1.4.0. These versions contain the latest features, fixes, and improvements. Please read our Experimental Builds documentation before testing these versions.

version 9.4.3 (Aug 05 2022)

  • This version mainly adds a new physically-based color mixing mode.
  • Blender 3.3 and 3.4 Compatibility: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.3 and 3.4.
  • Added: New "Mixbox" color mixing mode for the fluid surface attributes.
    • Mixbox is a tool developed by Secret Weapons for simulating physically-based pigment mixing. Learn more about the Mixbox technology here: Secret Weapons - Mixbox.
    • The Mixbox features are installed and activated through a plugin. Installation instructions:
      1. Download the plugin - The plugin file can be found in the Experimental Builds Package and is labeled as Mixbox.plugin.
      2. Open addon preferences - Open the FLIP Fluids addon preferences menu (Help > FLIP Fluids > FLIP Fluids Preferences).
      3. Install the plugin - Navigate to the Preferences > Mixbox Color Blending Plugin submenu. Click the Install Mixbox Plugin operator, select the Mixbox.plugin file, and click Install Mixbox.
    • After installation you may delete or archive the Mixbox.plugin file.
    • The Mixbox color mixing mode can be set in the Domain > FLIP Fluid Surface > Geometry Attributes menu.
  • UI: Fixed command line operator tooltips to remove note on Windows OS exclusivity.

version 9.4.2 (Jul 07 2022)

  • This experimental release adds bug fixes and mainly improves support for attributes and command line tools.
  • Added: Expanded support for fluid surface attributes.
    • Option to generate accurate velocity-based surface attributes against obstacles. Notes:
      • Velocity-based attributes are the velocity, speed, and vorticity attributes of the fluid surface.
      • If this option is enabled, correct velocity-based attributes will be generated at the interface where the liquid and obstacles meet, but at the cost of simulation performance.
      • If disabled, velocity-based attributes where liquid and obstacles meet may be incorrect and may contain motion blur spikes or shading artifacts.
      • This option only needs to be enabled if rendering with velocity-based shaders and/or motion blur where the liquid-obstacle interface is visible, such as when there are transparent/invisible obstacles.
    • Attributes are now supported when using the Upscale Domain Resolution on Resume feature. Previously, attributes would be initialized to a default values on resume when using this feature.
    • Attributes are now supported when using the Sheeting Effects feature. Previously, newly created fluid particle attributes would be initialized to a default value.
    • Attributes are now supported when the FLIP Fluid Surface > Particle Scale is greater or less than the default value of 1.0. Previously, using larger or smaller values could result in shading artifacts or missing attribute data.
    • Exceptions: The Source ID attribute will not be supported in the above changes. This attribute is deprecated and is being replaced by a similar attribute that expands functionality and improves use cases.
  • Added: Expanded command line operator support to MacOS and Linux (previously Windows-only features). Notes:
    • Operators that automatically launch a new command line window processes are now supported on MacOS and Linux.
    • These operators include the Bake Simulation, Render Animation, and Render Frame features.
    • These operators can be found in the FLIP Fluids Sidebar > Command Line Tools menu.
    • Linux notes:
      • These features rely on and assume that the xterm terminal emulator is available on the PATH in your Linux distribution.
      • If the option to open image file after rendering a frame is enabled, the xdg-open program will be used to open the file.
  • Added: Shortcut operator to the Blender > Help > FLIP Fluids submenu that opens the FLIP Fluids addon preferences.
  • Added: Functionality to preserve Color Attribute mesh data groups between frames in Blender 3.2. Note: the Color Attribute group functions similarly to the deprecated Vertex Color group in Blender 3.1 and earlier.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error that could be triggered if a simulation mesh contained a Vertex Color group in a .blend file created in Blender 3.1 or earlier that was opened in Blender 3.2 or later.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed UI issue where cache info stats could display a vorticity attribute entry when the vorticity attribute was not enabled.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error that could be triggered if a surface/whitewater mesh object was in edit mode while starting/resetting a bake.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where resuming from an earlier savestate and ending the simulation before the frame completes may not update the most recent savestate to the correct frame.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed misc errors that could be triggered in the OTOY Octane Render for Blender 3.1 version when the renderer was set to Octane.
  • Change: Reduced log filename length to a max character length to prevent filepaths from becoming to long in order to reduce Windows OS path length related issues.
  • Improvement: improved accuracy and performance of color attribute to mesh transfer.
  • UI: Initialize Motion Blur operator in the sidebar now cannot be used without first enabling the Preferences > Developer Tools option. This sidebar menu will now prompt the user to enable the developer tools option. This change will only affect future stable versions as the developer tools option is not relevant in experimental versions.
  • UI: removed redundant Render Tools menu from sidebar.

version 9.4.1 (Jun 07 2022)

  • This experimental release corresponds with the stable 1.4.0 release and contains minimal changes. Refer to the 1.4.0 release notes.

Experimental Versions 9.3.x

Release notes for experimental version 9.3.x, which correspond to the stable FLIP Fluids Version 1.3.0. These versions contain the latest features, fixes, and improvements. Please read our Experimental Builds documentation before testing these versions.

version 9.3.4 (Jun 01 2022)

  • This experimental version is a release candidate for the next stable FLIP Fluids version 1.4.0 to be released shortly before the release of Blender 3.2 (June 8th 2022).
  • Blender 3.2 and 3.3 Compatibility: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.2 and 3.3.
  • Added: Render After Bake option to the Helper > Command Line Tools sidebar to automatically start a command line animation render after the command line bake process is completed.
    • This option offers a selection between a normal command line render or to launch a frame by frame batch file render.
    • Automatically launching the command line process is supported on Windows only. For MacOS/Linux, the Copy Bake Command operator can be used to copy the command to the clipboard so that it can be manually pasted in a terminal window.
  • Added: Launch Frame Render option to the Helper > Command Line Tools sidebar to automatically launch a command line render for a single frame.
    • This operator will render the current timeline frame.
    • If the Open Image After Render option is enabled, the command line script will automatically open the image using the default image program of your OS after the render is completed.
    • If the Close CMD Window After Render option is enabled, the command line window will be automatically closed after the render is completed.
    • The .blend file should be saved before using this operator in order for render and simulation settings to take effect. However, it is not required to save the .blend file if you are only changing a frame in the timeline or if changing the two above settings.
    • This operator is supported on Windows only. For MacOS/Linux, the Copy Render Command operator can be used to copy the command to the clipboard so that it can be manually pasted in a terminal window. The above two options are not supported on MacOS/Linux.
  • Added: Age and Color surface attribute blending options to the FLIP Fluid Surface > Geometry Attributes menu.
    • These options control the amount of smoothing when blending the Age or Color attributes during simulation. Higher values result in smoother attribute transitions at the cost of simulation performance. The blending value represents the blending radius in number of voxels.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where generated surface attribute data could be incorrect on the under-side of the surface mesh, or in the direction that the liquid was flowing.
  • Change: The generated batch file render window will no longer close after completing the render.
  • Change: The Helper > Initialize Motion Blur sidebar operator will now generate a separate geometry node group for each whitewater particle type (foam/bubble/spray/dust) instead of a single group.
    • Note: if using this operator on a simulation set up where you had used this operator previously, you may want to check for duplicate geometry node groups in the modifiers panel and delete the old one.
  • Change: The FLIP Fluid World > Viscosity Accuracy now has a soft maximum value of 4. The value can still be manually set up to a maximum of 6, but we would in general not recommend setting this value above 4 in any case as there are greatly diminishing returns in visual accuracy.
  • Improvement: Age and Color attribute generation is now optimized and multithreaded.

version 9.3.3 (May 25 2022)

  • Blender 3.2 and 3.3 Compatibility: At this moment there are no known compatibility issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.2 and 3.3.
  • Added: Functionality to the Surface Force Field object for selectively generating force vector fields based on front/backfacing triangle direction as well as against planar edges (Documentation). Notes:
    • Enabled Sides: Front - Enable force field on the front-facing polygons. This is the side where face normals point outwards.
    • Enabled Sides: Back - Enable force field on the back-facing polygons. This is the side opposite of the face normal.
    • Enabled Sides: Edge - Enable force field on planar edges. These are the edges of the surface that are not connected to any other polygons. Must have either one of Back or Front sides enabled for edge attraction to be enabled. Tip: Disable this option if you want the fluid to be attracted to the surface while still being able to flow off the edges of the surface.
  • Bug Fix: Added optimizations to prevent the addon from slowing down the Blender UI when the addon is not in use (issue #582).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where surface/whitewater motion blur could be rendered incorrectly on the first frame of an animation.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed possible AttributeError that could be triggered when deleting an object when a domain is present in the scene.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issues where cache paths saved on Windows may not load on macOS/Linux due to backslashes in filepath.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error that could be triggered when using the Create Domain operator when a thin object is selected.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where Create Domain operator could automatically adjust resolution too high for force fields that are allowed to be planar surface or points.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where resuming a simulation could resume with incorrect Source ID attribute values on the fluid surface.
  • UI: The Select Domain operator will now still be accessible when the Helper > Select Objects panel is collapsed.
  • UI: Added a Restart Required warning to the FLIP Fluids sidebar menu to prevent user from setting up a simulation and triggering errors before installation is complete.
  • UI: Expanded Obstacle > Inverse option tooltip to improve on explaining what this option does (Documentation).

version 9.3.2 (Mar 30 2022)

  • This experimental release corresponds with the stable 1.3.1 release and contains minimal changes. Refer to the 1.3.1 release notes.

version 9.3.1 (Mar 11 2022)

  • This experimental release corresponds with the stable 1.3.0 release and contains minimal changes. Refer to the 1.3.0 release notes.

Experimental Versions 9.2.x

Release notes for experimental version 9.2.x, which correspond to the stable FLIP Fluids Version 1.2.0. These versions contain the latest features, fixes, and improvements. Please read our Experimental Builds documentation before testing these versions.

version 9.2.2 (Feb 11 2022)

  • This is the first experimental build since FLIP Fluids Stable 1.2.1 and mainly adds attribute functionality for whitewater particles.
    • An installation of Blender 3.1 dated February 3rd 2022 or later is required to use these features.
    • If using both stable and experimental versions, we recommend creating separate saves for .blend files between these versions.
    • We recommend saving very frequently when working with attributes. There may be bugs that can cause crashes during attribute set up that we will need to report to the developers.
    • Due to a bug that can cause frequent render crashes when using attributes (T88811), rendering from the command line will be necessary when using attribute features.
  • Added: Whitewater attributes using Blender 3.1's new pointcloud object type. These options can be found in the FLIP Fluid Whitewater panel.
    • Added functionality to export a 3D velocity vector attribute for whitewater particles as flip_velocity.
    • Added functionality to export an integer stable ID attribute for whitewater particles as flip_id.
    • Added functionality to export a float lifetime attribute for whitewater particles as flip_lifetime.
    • Added example files to experimental builds package to demonstrate how to use these features.
      • 0_whitewater-basic_pointcloud.blend - How to convert whitewater to a pointcloud object type.
      • 1_surface_and_whitewater-basic_motion_blur.blend - How to set up basic motion blur on both the fluid surface and whitewater particles.
      • 2_whitewater-velocity_attribute_shader.blend - How to shade whitewater particles based on velocity.
      • 3_whitewater-id_attribute_random_particle_size.blend - How to use the stable ID attribute to randomize whitewater particle size and color.
      • 4_whitewater-lifetime_attribute_based_particle_size.blend - How to use the lifetime attribute to scale down whitewater particles before they are despawned.
  • Added: Functionality to export a vorticity attribute for the fluid surface.
    • The attribute is a 3D vector type and can be accessed with the name flip_vorticity
    • Vorticity is a measure of local speed at which the liquid is rotating.
  • Added: Operator to FLIP Fluids Helper menu to automatically set up motion blur rendering. This operator can be found in the sidebar under the Geometry Nodes Tools submenu.
    • This operator will set up everything needed for motion blur rendering and will check that the render engine is set to Cycles, that Cycles motion blur rendering is enabled, that necessary FLIP Fluids attributes are enabled, will initialize basic geometry node set ups on the fluid surface and whitewater (if enabled), and will check that the simulation mesh objects have motion blur rendering enabled.
    • The operator will also display what changes were made to the .blend file in the Blender System Console window.
    • This operator is best used before baking a simulation, as the attribute data may need to be baked.
  • Added: Functionality for the user to rename the addon folder from the default flip_fluids_addon name in the Blender addons directory.
    • For advanced installation only. Can result in errors or incorrect behavior if misused.
    • To enable this functionality, the user must enable the Allow Addon Directory Renaming option in the FLIP Fluids Preferences menu.
    • Directory name must not include special characters, including periods ('.').
    • Can be used to install multiple versions of the FLIP Fluids addon alongside each other.
      • It is very important that only one version of the addon is ever enabled at any time, or errors and incorrect behavior can result.
      • To switch between versions, first disable the current version, enable the desired version, and either restart Blender or reload the .blend file.
  • Bug Fix: File permission errors will now be displayed in a a popup message with user friendly information.
  • Bug Fix: Added error popup that prevents user from setting more than one object as a Domain. Note: the user may still be able to add multiple domains if copying/pasting a domain object, but will presented with a popup error upon attempting to bake the simulation.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where simulation meshes would not update on a frame change if a custom whitewater instance object was set to no object.
  • Bug Fix: Possible workaround to Blender issue where copying geometry nodes modifiers can result in a crash.
  • Changes: The FLIP Fluids Preferences > Enable Developer Tools option is now always enabled in experimental builds, regardless of whether this option is set. This means that experimental features will now always be unhidden in experimental versions.
  • Documentation: Added Official Marketplaces of the FLIP Fluids addon page including marketplaces FAQ.

version 9.2.1 (Nov 25 2021)

  • This experimental release corresponds with the stable 1.2.0 release and contains minimal changes. Refer to the 1.2.0 release notes.

Experimental Versions 9.1.x

Release notes for experimental version 9.1.x, which correspond to the stable FLIP Fluids Version 1.1.0. These versions contain the latest features, fixes, and improvements. Please read our Experimental Builds documentation before testing these versions.

version 9.1.4 (Nov 17 2021)

  • This will likely be the last experimental version before the release of the next stable version, FLIP Fluids v1.2.0 to be released on 25-nov-2021.
    • At this point, it is unlikely that any changes in Blender 3.0 developments should break compatibility before the release on 03-dec-2021.
    • At the moment, there are no known issues between this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.0.
    • Issues related to Blender 3.0 compatibility can be reported and tracked in this thread: issue #535.
    • Experimental versions after the next stable release will continue in the 9.2.x series.
  • Added: Functionality to preserve any UV Map Layers or Vertex Color Layers on the fluid mesh data (issue #561).
    • Note: as the fluid meshes have dynamic topology, the values in the layers will not be transferred to the next frame. The layers will contain default data and should only be used procedurally.
  • Added: Alternate surface tension solving method:
    • Regular: Choose for general purpose surface tension effects. This option is the default and is the same method used in previous versions.
    • Smooth: Choose for improved stability, smoother results, and improved cohesion in small-scale effects. Good for thin streams/strands of liquid and for high surface tension effects. Not recommended for highly chaotic fluid motion or large volumes of liquid as this can result in volume increase issues.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where Re-launch Bake After Crash command line bake feature could resume the simulation from an incorrect frame after an error is encountered.
  • Bug Fix: Re-launch Bake After Crash command line bake feature will no longer attempt to re-launch a simulation if a Out of device/disk space error is encountered.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where custom drawing of text in the grid visualization feature could display with inconsistent colors depending on Blender version.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where building from source could display a cmake_minimum_required() deprecation warning.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where the option to enable surface tension could be greyed out and not selectable.
  • UI: Various reported typos and formatting in property tooltips (Thanks for the reports!).
  • UI: Tooltips and documentation have been updated to use the term Voxel rather than Grid Cell for consistency.

version 9.1.3 (Nov 03 2021)

  • This is a minor update that mainly updates compatibility for Blender 3.0 Beta.
  • Blender 3.0 Compatibility: This build is intended to be used with Blender 3.0 Beta builds dated November 3, 2021 or later.
  • Added: Forward compatibility support for Blender 3.0
    • If a .blend file is saved in Blender 3.0 and then opened in an earlier version of Blender 2.8x or 2.9x, the addon will automatically update the .blend file so that FLIP Fluid objects are compatible and function correctly.
    • We still recommend keeping Blender 3.0 .blend files and earlier versions in separate saves. Blender will warn that you may still experience data loss in the .blend file in areas/features outside of the FLIP Fluids addon.
  • Bug Fix: Issues related to automatically setting Cycles ray visibility for FLIP Fluid/Inflow/Outflow/Force/Domain objects in recent builds of Blender 3.0.
  • Bug Fix: Baking crash (Index Out Of Range or EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION error) that could be possible when the Remove Mesh Near Domain option is enabled.
  • UI: The Beginner Friendly Reminder and tooltip displayed in the Physics panel now adds a note that when this preference is enabled, some settings will be hidden.
  • Added: updated example motion_blur_rendering_example.blend file in the experimental builds package. This example file now uses the updated geometry nodes 'fields' workflow and removes legacy nodes.

version 9.1.2 (Oct 18 2021)

  • This is a minor update that mainly updates compatibility for Blender 3.0 Alpha.
  • Blender 3.0 Compatibility Update:
    • Reminder that Blender 3.0 is still in early development and is set to release on December 3rd 2021. Please do not expect experimental versions of the FLIP Fluids addon with Blender 3.0 to be production-ready.
    • Recent changes in Blender 3.0 development caused compatibility to break with the FLIP Fluids addon, and in severe cases damaged .blend files. For this reason, we strongly recommend frequent backups of your .blend files.
    • It is strongly recommended to use this version of the FLIP Fluids addon with Blender 3.0 builds dated October 18 2021 or later.
    • At the moment there are no known issues with this version of the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 3.0 Alpha, but compatibility may break as Blender develops.
    • Issues related to Blender 3.0 compatibility can be reported and tracked in this thread: issue #535.
  • Added: An example .blend file to the experimental builds package to demonstrate how to use a new Blender 3.0 feature to render true motion blur on the liquid surface (motion_blur_rendering_example.blend).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where objects could be incorrectly simplified into a cuboid (issue #557).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where temporary stat cache files would not be processed and updated upon loading a .blend file (issue #558).
  • Bug Fix: Error message generated if cache directory location was invalid on .blend file load.
  • Removed: Deprecated Check For Updates operator.

version 9.1.1 (Sep 17 2021)

  • This is the first experimental version since the latest stable version 1.1.0 which adds minor fixes.
  • Blender 3.0 Compatibility: Fixed issues related to recent changes in the Blender 3.0 API.
    • Missing Documentation link in the preferences menu is now visible.
    • Fixed issue where automatic toggling of Cycles visibility options upon FLIP Fluid object creation was not functioning correctly.
    • Issues related to Blender 3.0 compatibility can be reported and tracked in this thread: issue #535.
  • MacOS Compatibility: Added potential fixes to a rare issue where the FLIP Fluids Engine was not supported on older MacOS versions. If you are experiencing any compatibility issues on any MacOS version 2014 or later, please let us know.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where attribute error would be generated on addon initialization if Cycles addon was not enabled (issue #552).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where IndexError would be generated if surface attributes were enabled, but not yet baked.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where unsupported object types could be set as a FLIP Fluid object (issue #556).
  • Bug Fix: Added workaround to issue where adding a Graph Editor Modifier to FLIP Fluids settings could bypass the property min/max values, generating an error during bake.
    • This manual fix has only been added to certain settings where a user is more likely to add a graph modifier. Settings in the FLIP Fluid World panel, and settings in the Obstacle properties.
    • A workaround for other settings can be to make sure the graph curve stays in the min/max range values.
    • If there is a setting where you would like this fixed, please let us know.

Experimental Versions 9.0.9.x

Release notes for experimental version 9.0.9.x, which correspond to the stable FLIP Fluids Version 1.0.9 and subsequent (1.0.9a,b,c if needed). These versions contain the latest features, fixes, and improvements. Please read our Experimental Builds documentation before testing these versions.

version 9.0.9.24 (Aug 12 2021)

  • This version mainly adds bug fixes and small improvements. This will be the last experimental version release before the release of the next stable version (v1.1.0) next week.
  • Blender 3.0 Alpha Compatibility:
    • This version adds necessary changes to the FLIP Fluids addon to be compatible with recent developments in Blender 3.0 Alpha. Compatibility with Blender 3.0 may break as development continues.
    • Issues related to Blender 3.0 compatibility can be reported and tracked in this thread: issue #535
    • Added functionality to the Automatic Command Line Bake operator (Windows Only):
      • If a simulation error occurs that stops the simulation, the operator will now attempt to automatically re-launch and resume the simulation. Certain errors such as 'Out of Memory' errors can be solved by re-launching a simulation.
      • If Blender crashes, the command line bake will try to detect the crash and attempt to re-launch Blender and the baking process.
      • The max number of re-launch attempts can be set in the FLIP Fluid Preferences menu (default = 5).
    • Improved support for fracture simulations set as a FLIP Fluid Obstacle where the fracture simulation contains non-manifold geometry.
      • Instead of ignoring the entire mesh when non-manifold geometry is detected, the simulator will only ignore fractured pieces of the mesh that contain non-manifold geometry.
    • Bug Fix: When baking from the command line and an error is encountered within the simulation, an error message will now be output correctly to the command line window.
    • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) TypeError which prevents fluid surface object from being generated upon creation of a domain.
    • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) KeyError generated upon starting a simulation.
    • Bug Fix: (Blender 3.0) Immediate crash upon starting a render of a FLIP Fluids addon cache generated in Blender 2.93 or lower.

version 9.0.9.23 (Jun 30 2021)

  • This version mainly adds bug fixes and small improvements.
  • Vacation notice: Development of the FLIP Fluids addon as well as our untitled development project will be on hold during vacation until July 23rd. Until this time, fulfillment of support requests may be delayed. Thank you for your patience!
  • Blender Bug: Added a workaround for issue T87629 to return a 'fake' preferences with default values if the actual preferences cannot be accessed. This workaround is to support activating the FLIP Fluids addon through the command line.
  • Blender Bug: Reported an issue that causes render crashes when rendering vertex attributes (T88811).
  • Bug Fix: Crash that could be caused by using undo after activating the Create Domain operator on a selected object.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed incorrect render issue when 'Render > Persistent Data' option is enabled. Note: with this option enabled, rendering can be less stable. It is recommended to render through the command line if enabling this option.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where a curve or empty type object could not be added as a force field object through the helper menu.
  • Bug Fix: Added missing Cache 'Match Filename' operator to helper menu.
  • Unfinished features: Color attribute features (and Source ID attributes) are not completely finished, but basic functionality can be accessed by enabling the 'Developer Tools' option in the FLIP Fluids Preferences menu.

version 9.0.9.22 (May 25 2021)

  • This version adds bug fixes and small features.
  • Reverted a bug fix in 9.0.9.20 (Issue where surface and whitewater materials would be removed when changing between scenes) that ended up causing large problems in material set up for the simulation mesh objects. A better fix without side-effects will need to be implemented.
  • Added operator to FLIP Fluid Cache panel to set the cache location to a directory based on the name of the .blend file.
  • Added +/- operators to the FLIP Fluid Cache panel to increment/decrement a number at the end of a cache directory, similar to the icons when saving a .blend file.
  • Added support for all render output image file types when using the Helper > Generate Batch File operator.
  • Bug Fix: fixed issue where Helper > Generate Batch File operator did not support image file prefixes in the render output location.
  • Bug Fix: The cache directory can no longer be set to a location directly relative to the .blend file (ex: '//').
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where liquid could be spawned with triangle line artifacts for cuboid shaped Fluid objects in high resolution simulations.

version 9.0.9.21 (May 13 2021)

  • This version adds preliminary support for the Blender 2.93.0 Beta MacOS Arm 64 bit version of Blender!
    • The MacOS ARM build of Blender is for native support on the Apple Silicon M1 processor.
    • This version of Blender can be downloaded here: https://builder.blender.org/download/
    • The way that we build and package the MacOS side of the addon has changed and we are looking for feedback:
      • Please let us know if you encounter any error messages.
      • If you have access to a MacOS M1 system, feedback on whether you can run a simulation using this addon version and Blender version would be greatly appreciated.
      • If you do not have access to an M1 system, we would also appreciate feedback on whether the simulator still runs on your MacOS Intel system.
      • A 'Yes, it runs' answer is just as valuable to us as a 'No, it does not run' answer.
      • Feel free to let us know on the Blender Market, on our GitHub thread, social media pages, or through support at flipfluids.com.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a FileNotFoundError when using the FLIP Fluids Helper > Generate Batch File if the render output location was set to a relative path.

version 9.0.9.20 (May 05 2021)

  • This version mostly adds fixes for reported issues.
  • Blender 3.0 Compatibility: Blender 3.0 is in early development and is set to release on August 25, 2021. At the moment, there are no known issues when using Blender 3.0 with the FLIP Fluids addon version 1.0.9b or the latest experimental version. The Blender 3.0 Cycles-X branch also seems to work after some brief testing.
    • Issues related to Blender 3.0 compatibility can be reported and tracked in this thread: issue #535
  • Added 'Remove Mesh Near Domain' feature support for the preview mesh.
  • Added an option to the FLIP Fluids Preferences menu to hide the experimental build warning displayed in the physics panel.
  • Bug Fix: Simulation will no longer stop if a frame statistics temporary file is found to be in use and unable to be deleted (issue #529).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where surface and whitewater materials would be removed when changing between scenes.
    • This involved many changes for how the addon sets up the viewport and render. Please let us know about any odd behavior in how the simulation is displayed.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where command line operators may not work if spaces are contained in the Blender executable path, specifically when located in C:/Program Files/.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed inconsistent UI issues (issue #533).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where non-mesh type objects could be selected as a custom whitewater particle object, leading to an error.
  • Bug Fix: Re-fixed preview rectangle artifacts issue that was introduced as a side effect by another bug fix (issue #491).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where the whitewater display percentage setting loaded an incorrect amount of whitewater after resuming a simulation. Notes:
    • This was caused by the addon saving incorrect information to the savestates cache.
    • Simulations will need to be re-baked for this fix to take effect.
  • Bug Fix: Issues where (harmless) error messages could be displayed when using Blender 3.0.
  • Known Issue: The Age and Source ID attributes are not yet supported when using the particle sheeting feature. A fix is in progress!

version 9.0.9.19 (Apr 21 2021)

  • This version is the first experimental build since the release of FLIP Fluids 1.0.9b (06-APR-2021).
  • Added geometry attribute features for the liquid surface mesh that can be enabled in the FLIP Fluid Surface panel. See Development Notes #55 on these features.
    • Added a velocity attribute. After baking, the velocity vectors (in m/s) can be accessed in a Cycles Attribute Node with the name 'flip_velocity' from the Vector output. If the velocity direction is not needed, use Generate Speed Attributes instead.
    • Added a speed attribute. After baking, the speed (in m/s) can be accessed in a Cycles Attribute Node with the name 'flip_speed' from the Fac output.
    • Added an age attribute. After baking, the age (in seconds) can be accessed in a Cycles Attribute Node with the name 'flip_age' from the Fac output.
    • Only supported in Blender 2.93.
    • Only supported using the Cycles renderer. According to the Blender developers, EEVEE support will come at a later date.
    • Due to a bug in Blender, these new attribute features will cause render crashes or incorrect renders. Until this is fixed, rendering from the command line will be required to prevent render crashes when using these attribute features.
    • Compatibility with older .blend files: If you had tested our prototype build for velocity-based shading, you may need to fix your .blend file when using this version. To fix your file, delete all shape keys attached to the fluid_surface object.

version 9.0.9.18 (Mar 31 2021)

  • This version is a minor release containing only stable bug fixes and contains almost every change that will be included in the next stable release, FLIP Fluids 1.0.9b (April 6 2021).
  • Bug Fix: 'TypeError' that could be triggered in Blender 2.93 by pressing the F3 operator search key.
  • Bug Fix: Removed deprecated cache operators (Copy/Move/Rename) from being searchable and executable in the F3 operator search menu.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed UI issue where bake information would not be updated when using the Reset operator if the current cache directory did not exist.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed missing icon errors in Blender 2.79 due to icon renaming in Blender 2.8+.
  • Example Scene Fix: Fixed volume_force_animated_character.blend example scene issue where the fluid objects would be emitted in the wrong direction. Corrected in the example scenes file as of March 25, 2021.

version 9.0.9.17 (Mar 17 2021)

  • This version is a minor release containing only stable bug fixes and improvements as we get ready for the next stable release, version 1.0.9b, set during the week of April 5th. Thanks for all of your testing and reports!
  • Blender 2.93 Alpha support: As of the March 11th daily build, there are no know compatibility issues between the FLIP Fluids addon and Blender 2.93. Issues related to Blender 2.93 compatibility can be reported and tracked in issue #519.
  • Bug Fix: Error message when using command line batch baking operator if render output directory does not exist on the filesystem.
  • Bug Fix: UI issue where domain FLIP operator displayed the hide/show viewport/render icons in reverse order compared to regular Blender convention.
  • Bug Fix: Bug where using the inflow Constrain Inflow Velocity option could cause a bulge to form in the lower x/y/z corner of the domain.
  • Bug Fix: ValueError that could be triggered upon creating a domain if the .blend file was located on a different drive than the Blender installation.
  • Bug Fix: Potential issue where instanced particle objects could have Motion Blur enabled, causing longer render times in Blender 2.91+ (related to similar fix in v9.0.9.16).
  • Fixed: Bug where using the FLIP Fluids Helper > Solid/Wireframe operator would deselect Fluid/Inflow/Outflow objects after execution.
  • Changed: The FLIP Fluids Helper > Solid/Wireframe operators no longer change the render visibility of the objects. This functionality has been split into a separate row of Show/Hide Render operators that sets the render visibility of all selected objects.

version 9.0.9.16 (Mar 10 2021)

  • This version adds a few bug fixes and improvements.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed an issue where many particles could become stuck to sharp obstacle edges which could lead to an unstable simulation (issue #508).
  • Bug Fix: Potential fix for render crashes when the Fluid Particle Debugging or Force Field Debugging tools are enabled (issue #521).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error messages in Blender 2.79 due to difference in icon names in Blender 2.8+.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue in Blender 2.91+ where rendering fluid meshes with motion blur enabled could result in longer Cycles render times.
    • Note: Motion Blur Rendering of fluid surfaces or whitewater particles is not currently supported (See: Motion Blur Support).
    • This fix will only apply to newly created scenes. To workaround this issue in an existing scene, select a fluid/whitewater object and disable the Object Properties > Motion Blur option (only applies if Cycles is the selected renderer).
  • Added a UI warning and tooltip if the Estimated Surface Tension Substeps info value exceeds the allowed Max Frame Substeps Value (Documentation).
  • Added viewport visibility toggles to the fluid particle, force field, and obstacle debug tools.

version 9.0.9.15 (Mar 03 2021)

  • Similar to the last experimental release, this version contains large structural changes in how the simulator functions which may be a potential source of bugs. Please let us know if you are experiencing any of the following issues:
    • Crashes or error messages during baking.
    • Out of Memory errors or simulations using an unusually large amount of memory.
    • Inability to pause, resume, or upscale a simulation.
    • Error messages when using a cache created by an older addon version.
  • Safety Factor (CFL Number) setting in the FLIP Fluid Advanced panel has moved from the Simulation Stability section to the Frame Substeps section. The Safety Factor option is more closely related to how the simulator calculates adaptive substeps.
  • Added an operator to the FLIP Fluid Helper sidebar menu to generate a Windows batch file (.bat) to command line render each frame of an animation one by one.
    • Operator will detect already rendered frames in the output directory and disregard these from the batch file.
    • Upon a render crash, the batch file will start up Blender again and begin rendering the next frame. In this way, you can minimize unrendered frames if your system is prone to render crashes.
    • Can be used outside of the FLIP Fluids addon to render a sequence of frames individually. There are some bugs in Blender which can cause an animation to be rendered incorrectly and a workaround to these issues is to render each frame one by one.
  • Viscosity Solver Improvements
    • Large structural changes to the viscosity solver code and memory layout. Please let us know about any baking crashes, error messages, or incorrect behaviour.
    • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where low viscosity streams would have a velocity bias in the positive X/Y/Z direction (issue #455).
    • Improved accuracy of viscosity solver setup.
    • Added an Accuracy option to the viscosity solver to control the solver error tolerance.
      • Decrease to speed up baking at the cost of accuracy. Increase to improve accuracy at the cost of baking speed. High viscosity thick or stiff fluids benefit the most from increasing accuracy. Low viscosity thin fluids often work well at the lowest accuracy. Setting above a value of 4 may have greatly diminishing returns on improvement.
      • The default value of 4 is the same amount of error tolerance used internally in previous versions.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where disabling the whitewater feature and resuming a simulation would result in invalid whitewater cache files being generated in the cache directory.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed typo in code that would cause an error that would prevent a helpful error message from being displayed (Pull Request Here).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed UI issue where the Resume From Frame X label could be displayed in red text instead of the default white.

version 9.0.9.14 (Feb 18 2021)

  • This is the first experimental version since release of FLIP Fluids Stable 1.0.9a (03-FEB-2021).
  • New system for storing and managing particles in the simulation engine (More info in development notes #47). This is a large structural change for how the simulator functions and may be a potential source of bugs. Please let us know if you are experiencing any of the following issues:
    • Crashes or error messages during baking.
    • Out of Memory errors or simulations using an unusually large amount of memory.
    • Inability to pause, resume, or upscale a simulation.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where keyframing a min/max property could overwrite other min/max properties (issue #516).
  • Bug Fix: Updated addon code to be compatible with Python 3.9. Some Linux distributions package Blender with Python 3.9 rather than the officially supported Python 3.7.
  • Bug Fix: Removed extraneous debugging code that would cause (harmless) error messages in Blender 2.79.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where the bake operator status could hang on Calculating time remaining....

version 9.0.9.13 (Jan 27 2021)

  • This is a minor update that only includes small and stable changes. Assuming no large problems are found, this version will become a maintenance patch, FLIP Fluids 1.0.9a, that will contain most changes since the release of 1.0.9. Expected release of February 3, 2021.
  • Bug Fix: Potential crash if a curve guided force field had endcaps disabled while enabling a minimum distance for the force field.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where exporting an animated curve guided force field could trigger a 'Changing Topology Warning'. Note: it is okay for all current force fields to change topology.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where Remove Particles With Extreme Velocities could generate false-positives for a viscous fluid falling under regular gravity.
  • Bug Fix: Issue where keyframed quaternion or axis-angle rotation was not supported (issue #515).
  • Bug Fix: Issue where the baked debug tools (particle/obstacle/forcefield) would not be updated correctly if the simulation Time Scale value was set to 0.0.
  • Bug Fix: Potential error messages caused by the addon detecting Blender 2.9x versions incorrectly.

version 9.0.9.12 (Jan 13 2021)

  • This is the first experimental version since development has resumed after our winter holiday break! This update mainly involves adding minor bug fixes.
  • Blender 2.92 Alpha support: as of January 5th, 2021, the daily Blender builds now support the FLIP Fluids addon. In earlier 2.92 builds, a Python feature that the addon uses was missing.
    • The stable FLIP Fluids 1.0.9 is also now supported in Blender 2.92 Alpha.
    • Support may break as Blender 2.92 develops and issues can be tracked here: Issue #507.
  • Fixed bug where an incorrect frame was used in the simulation for the inflow/fluid object speed value if this value was keyframe animated.
  • Integrated a workaround into the addon for a long-standing Blender bug T71908 which causes keyframed render settings on the fluid meshes not to be evaluated during render. This workaround fixes:
    • Issues where keyframed settings in the FLIP Fluid Display Settings panel would not take effect during render.
    • Issues where the FLIP Fluids Helper > Override Frame Playback feature would not function during render.
    • Issues where an Ocean Modifier attached to the fluid meshes would not be animated during render.
  • Added three new example scenes by popular request (Animation previews, Example Scene Descriptions).
    • These scenes are also supported in the stable FLIP Fluids version 1.0.9.
  • New Documentation: Addon Installation Troubleshooting.
    • How to verify your FLIP Fluids installation file.
    • How to locate your Blender addons directory.
    • How to verify your FLIP Fluids Blender installation.
    • How to clean up your Blender addons directory in the case of an incorrect installation.
    • How to manually install the FLIP Fluids addon.

version 9.0.9.11 (Dec 16 2020)

  • This is the first experimental version since the stable version release of FLIP Fluids 1.0.9. Update mainly involves adding minor bug fixes reported after the stable release.
  • Notice: Development of the FLIP Fluids addon will be on winter break during December 17th, 2020 - January 3rd, 2021. Have a happy holidays and a wonderful new year!
  • Compatibility notes:
    • Due to a bug in Blender versions 2.80, 2.81, and 2.82, it will no longer be possible for us to support MacOS in these three versions. The FLIP Fluids addon on MacOS will still be supported in Blender 2.79, 2.83+, and 2.9+.
    • Blender 2.92 is not yet supported. This version of Blender is still in early development and we will need to wait until this becomes more stable in order to add support (track issue here).
  • Added a filesystem protection layer to enforce that all file removal operations are functioning correctly.
    • All file removal operations must pass through this layer which detects bugs related to human/development error.
    • Enforces that files can only be deleted within the current cache directory or the FLIP Fluids addon scripts directory.
    • Enforces that directories cannot be deleted recursively (ex: files within subdirectories of a subdirectory cannot be deleted).
    • Enforces that files can only be deleted if they contain an extension contained in a whitelist of extensions used by the FLIP Fluids addon.
      • Extension whitelist: .backup, .bbox, .bobj, .data, .ffd, .fpd, .info, .md, .png, .preset, .sim, .sqlite3, .state, .txt, .wwp
  • Bug Fix: Addon will no longer allow the FLIP Fluid current cache directory to be set as blank and will be set as a reasonable default value.
  • Bug Fix: FLIP Fluids Helper menu command line tool operators displayed incorrectly on MacOS and Linux (issue #505).
  • Bug Fix: FLIP Fluids Helper menu command line tool Copy to Clipboard operators were not functioning on MacOS and Linux (issue #505).
  • Bug Fix: Fixed potential Out of Memory error that could be triggered if a force field object is located outside of the domain.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed potential issue where the FLIP Fluid surface or whitewater object could lose it's material after reseting a bake.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where inflow particles could be seeded in an unnatural pattern (issue #509).

version 9.0.9.10 (Nov 23 2020)

  • Update mainly involves testing and polishing. All features in this experimental version will be moved in the next stable 1.0.9 version release (November 26th 2020).
    • New experimental features will continue in the next experimental version 9.0.9.11.
    • More force field features will be added to the stable versions (ex: 1.0.9a or 1.1.0) as they are tested and are considered stable.
  • Added missing Add Force object in the FLIP Fluids Helper Menu.
  • When the addon creates a new domain object using the Create Domain operator, the origin will now be set at the object's center.
  • Added a UI notification to the FLIP Fluid Simulation panel to notify user in the case that the simulation will be upscaled (increasing resolution on resume).
  • Rearranged settings in the FLIP Fluid Simulation panel to group settings related to setting the simulation grid in one place.
    • Added a Grid Info section to display info about the simulation grid including tooltips to help explain the simulation grid.
      • 3D voxel dimensions
      • 3D physical dimensions
      • Voxel size
      • Voxel count
    • Copied option to display grid visualization in the Grid Info section.
    • Copied option to set World Scale in the FLIP Fluid Simulation panel.
  • Force Field Resolution option is now set to Ultra by default. This is the recommended value for force fields that are static.
  • The FLIP Fluid Preset panel and features are now hidden by default as this feature has been deprecated for more than a year. These features can still be enabled in the FLIP Fluid Preferences menu. Read More Here.
  • FLIP Fluid Preferences options are now greyed out instead of hidden in the case that the user has just installed the addon but has not restarted Blender. This is to show that there are preferences that exist in this menu.
  • Viewport/Render display options (final/preview/none) in the FLIP Fluid Display Settings panel are now displayed in a full list rather than a drop down menu.
  • FLIP Fluid Helper Menu now contains an option to set the viewport display (final/preview/none) for both the fluid surface and whitewater meshes separately.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed major crash issue on MacOS that could be triggered by updating simulation settings on resuming a bake.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed potential Index out of range crash when using a point force field in combination with a small world scale.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug where FLIP Fluid Simulation panel would not be drawn in the case that the user has run out of drive space during the previous simulation.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where using the Organize Outliner operator could leave FLIP Fluid objects in the incorrect collection if the object had changed the simulation type.
  • New Documentation: notes on potential feature of Motion Blur Support on Alembic Exports.

version 9.0.9.09 (Nov 04 2020)

  • Update mainly consists of bug fixes and a feature to upscale simulation resolution on resume.
  • Added functionality to upscale a simulation to an increased resolution on resuming the bake. Notes:
    • If resuming a bake at a higher resolution, the simulator will automatically upscale the simulation data to the new resolution.
    • Useful if you have a simulation that takes some time to generate motion before you want to render the animation. For example, the initial motion and fill of a river could be simulated at a low resolution quickly, and then upscaled and continued at a higher final resolution.
    • Functionality to downscale a simulation to a lower resolution will be added at a later date.
  • Material UI dropdown lists have been copied from the FLIP Fluid Material panel into the FLIP Fluid Display Settings panel.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where the simulation mesh could be loaded into the viewport during animated object export, causing a very slow export process.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where Empty type objects could be exported to incorrect locations within the simulator.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where implementation and functionality of the Disable Changing Topology Warning was missing.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed issue where rectangle artifacts could appear in the fluid surface preview mesh (issue #491).

version 9.0.9.08 (Oct 22 2020)

  • Update mainly consists of changes to the UI including bug fixes, organization, and small workflow features.
  • Blender Market product downloads have been renamed to use more consistent naming format that includes the date that the file was last updated (See FLIP Fluids Downloads).
  • Added a README.html file to the Blender Market product downloads that contains info and links for how to get started with the addon.
  • Added Force Re-Export On Next Bake feature for FLIP Fluid/Obstacle/Inflow/Outflow/ForceField objects. Notes:
    • When enabled, this option will force the addon to re-export the object's mesh data the next time that the user bakes or resumes the simulation.
    • This option overrides the Skip Re-Export option.
    • After the object has been re-exported, the force export option will be automatically disabled.
    • This option is only applicable if the _Skip Re-Export option is enabled.
    • Useful for if you have a complex animation or object with a lot of geometry with the Skip Re-Export option enabled to save time during export. Use this option if you make an update to your mesh and want to easily mark the object to update the next time you bake/resume the simulation.
  • FLIP Fluids Helper Menu organization and cleanup - many changes based on user feedback, thanks!
    • Submenus can now be collapsed/expanded.
    • Renamed submenus and rearranged operators within submenus.
    • Check For Updates operator has been removed from the Helper Menu and is now only available in the FLIP Fluids Preferences Menu.
    • Bake Simulation submenu now includes the current cache directory.
    • Added prompt/warning to Bake Simulation submenu to warn that the .blend file has not been saved. Includes operator to open the save file menu.
      • Note: it is not required to save the .blend file in order to run a simulation, but some addon features were designed to work better if the file is saved.
  • FLIP Fluid Simulation > Settings and Mesh Export submenu organization and cleanup.
    • Submenu can now be expanded/collapsed.
    • Object list can now be filtered to display objects by motion type: Static, Keyframed, Animated, or all objects.
    • Added the new Force Re-Export On Next Bake option to be displayed in the list.
    • Added operators to Enabled or Disable Skip Re-Export or Force Re-Export On Next Bake_ options for all objects in list.
  • The Enable Stable Rendering operator now toggles to Disable Stable Rendering if enabled, as a quick way to undo the operator (Blender 2.8+ only).
  • Obstacle Friction list in FLIP Fluid World panel can now be expanded/collapsed.
  • Default name of the domain object has been renamed to FLIP Domain when using the Create Domain operator.
  • Whitewater Wavecrest/Turbulence/Dust Emission Rate settings have been renamed to Max Wavecrest/Turbulence/Dust Emission Rate as better descriptions for the settings.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error that could be triggered if the Organize Outliner operators were used without a Domain object in the the scene.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug where stray FLIP Fluid objects could remain behind after using the FLIP Objects to Collections operator.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug where toggling render visibility for a FLIP Force Field object would not also toggle Cycles ray visibility.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug in Blender versions 2.9+ where toggling a FLIP object's render visibility would not update the object visibility in the viewport rendered mode.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug where command line tools would not be displayed for MacOS/Linix operating systems.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed bug in versions of Blender 2.9+ where newly created Domain objects would not be highlighted after using the Create Domain operator.

version 9.0.9.07 (Oct 14 2020)

  • A minor update that mainly consists of an Override Frame feature similar to Blender's Alembic Mesh Cache setting and some bug fixes.
  • Added Override Frame settings to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu that works similar to the setting of the same name in Blender's Alembic Cache modifier.
    • TIP: Keyframing the override frame number can allow for complex control over simulation playback (ex: start/stop freeze frames, reverse animation)
    • The addition of this feature caused some settings to be re-arranged in the Helper Menu and some settings have moved into a separate Simulation Playback submenu (Documentation).
  • The FLIP Meshes to Collections operator in the Helper Menu now groups all of the whitewater meshes into a single WHITEWATER collection instead of separating them each into separate collections.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed error that could be triggered when using the FLIP Objects to Collections operator in the Helper Menu.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed potential crash issues that could be triggered when using Blender's Undo (Ctrl+Z) after using the Create Domain operator in the Helper Menu.

version 9.0.9.06 (Oct 7 2020)

  • This version mainly consists of requested features to help with your simulation workflow.
  • Added functionality to link exported geometry data from another cache directory in FLIP Fluid Cache panel (Documentation).
    • Use if you want to re-use exported geometry data that is located in another cache directory.
    • Useful if you have a lot of animated geometry data in your scene that you do not want to re-export.
    • Useful for if you have multiple caches from the same scene for testing different simulation settings.
  • Added 'Create Domain' operator to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu to generate a domain depending on the context of what type of objects are selected and in your scene (Documentation).
  • Added operators to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu to help organize your simulation objects in the Blender Outliner (Documentation).
    • Separate your FLIP Fluid objects into collections by type
    • Separate the generated simulation methods into collections (useful for creating view layers)
  • Added operators to FLIP Fluids Helper Menu to select all simulation objects of a certain type (Obstacle/Fluid/Inflow/Outflow/ForceField) (Documentation).
  • New Documentation: Whitewater Rendering Tips.

version 9.0.9.05 (Sep 30 2020)

  • Added optimizations that can speed up simulation baking for medium to large simulations by 10% - 15%
  • Addon now includes two versions of the fluid simulation engine that can be switched in the addon preferences menu. Notes:
    • Engine Debug Mode enabled: uses a debugging version of the simulation that can generate error messages after a simulation crash, but runs slightly slower
      • This is the version of the simulation engine used in versions older than v9.0.9.05
    • Engine Debug Mode disabled: includes performance optimizations, but is unable to generate error messages after a simulation crash
      • If you are experiencing a persistent simulation crash, switch to the debugging engine and resume/re-run simulation to check for error messages
    • Running the debug engine or normal engine will not affect the results of the simulation
  • Addon can now be built/compiled using a Python script (build.py) rather than running CMake and GNU Make directly. The new Python script automates building both versions of the fluid simulation engine.
  • Addon packaging and distribution for Windows/MacOS/Linux is now automated to reduce issues related to human-error
  • Fixed potential crash that can be triggered when using Surface, Volume, or Curve Guided force fields
  • Default value change: FLIP Fluid Simulation -> Update Settings on Resume is now enabled by default
  • Default value change: FLIP Fluid Surface -> Subdivisions is now set to 1 by default
    • Note: this produces a more desireble mesh with less artifacts and issues, but takes some extra time to compute. If you want to maximize baking speed during testing, set this value to 0
  • New Documentation: FLIP Fluids Helper Menu
  • New Documentation: FLIP Fluids Preferences Menu
  • New Documentation: Current Status of the Preset System

version 9.0.9.04 (Sep 16 2020)

  • Added curve guided force field mode See documentation.
  • Added options to Fluid/Inflow object to emit fluid from the object's negative local axis (in addition to the existing positive axis options).
  • Fixed export error that could be triggered by exporting an Empty type object as a force field.
  • Added UI warnings if the type of Blender object is not suitable for the selected force field mode (Ex: using an Empty type object as a Surface Force).
  • Added note to Inflow Enabled tooltip that this option can be disabled to stop fluid emission.
  • Performance improvements in handling FLIP Fluid Obstacle objects.
  • Performance improvements in grid initialization.

version 9.0.9.03 (Sep 2 2020)

  • Mesh data export system has been rewritten and exported scene mesh data types are now stored in an SQLite3 database rather than directly on the filesystem (Detailed notes in Development Update #28)
    • This will be a likely source of bugs as a major portion of code had been rewritten. The following is a list of some things to test:
    • Are your mesh objects appearing in the correct place during simulation?
      • For static objects (not moving)?
      • For keyframed objects (animated with simple rotation/location/scale or f-curves)?
        • For all of Blender's rotation modes (Euler, Axis Angle, Quaternion)?
      • For animated objects (complex animation such as parenting, armatures, deformation)?
    • Are you able to start your simulation without error messages?
    • Are you able to stop and resume your simulation?
      • Is the 'Update Settings on Resume' feature still functioning correctly?
    • Are you able to reset or delete your cache without errors?
    • Are Inflow/Fluid objects with target objects emitting in the correct direction?
      • When the target is an Empty type object?
      • When the target is a Mesh type object?
    • Is the Skip Re-Export feature still functioning correctly?
    • Is the FLIP Fluid Surface 'Meshing Volume' feature still functioning correctly?
    • Is command line baking still functioning correctly?
    • Are your older .blend files (v1.0.8a and higher) and caches still running and loading correctly?
    • If you notice any undesireable changed behaviour or bugs between versions, please let us know!
    • If you are interested in viewing/debugging the database contents, the SQLite3 database file can be found in cache_directory/export/export_data.sqlite3. A graphical SQLite3 viewer such as DB Browser for SQLite can be used.
  • Added functionality to Skip Re-Export of static and keyframed meshes in addition to skipping animated meshes.
  • Added functionality for Inflow/Fluid objects to emit fluid in the direction of the object's local axis.
  • Fixed issue where inline force field documentation links would not be consistently displayed when submenu was collapsed.
  • New Complete Guide Episode: Mastering FOAM (part 3a)

version 9.0.9.02 (Aug 5 2020)

  • Latest development update covering this development week: #27
    • Notice: Ryan is back from vacation! Daily support and experimental updates have resumed!
  • Added Domain bake operators to the FLIP Fluid toolshelf menu.
  • Fixed error where some fixes mentioned in previous experimental release notes were not actually distributed in the releases.
  • Fixed compatibility issues on MacOS systems
  • Fixed bug that could cause a crash if viscosity feature was enabled while simulating small amounts of fluid.
  • Removed Preserve Foam options from FLIP Fluid Whitewater UI. These settings were not working as expected and are no longer needed.
  • Updated Documentation: Scene Troubleshooting: Fluid behaviour changes when increasing resolution.
  • New Tutorial: Episode Eight: Layering Fluid to Make Delicious Sweets.

version 9.0.9.01 (Jul 6 2020)

  • Latest development update covering this development week: #26
    • Notice: Ryan will be on vacation starting July 6th. There will be reduced customer support during this time, but you should receive a response within a few days. Regular development and daily support will resume on July 27th. Thank you for your patience!
  • Replaced model dragon model in point_force_dragon.blend example scene with a rhino statue. Unbeknownst to us, the dragon model is a cultural symbol and deforming it with fluid simulation can be seen as disrespectful. We apologize for this mistake and will be more careful int he future.
  • Fixed incorrect setting in volume_force_animated_character.blend example scene where the fluid would drop down immediately instead of following the character (gravity was set to -9.81 instead of 0.0)
  • Tuned internal settings for the Volume Force Object for improved UX
  • Added missing force field documentation links to UI (option to display documentation links in UI can be found in addon preferences menu)
  • Fixed a bug that could cause a crash if a surface/volume force contained all vertices outside of the domain
  • Fixed error where source code was not distributed with experimental build
  • Edited force field documentation topics for changes to new build

version 9.0.9.00 (Jun 30 2020)

  • Added force field mode: Point Force, a force that directs fluid towards a single point.
  • Added force field mode: Surface Force, a force that directs fluid towards an object's surface. See development update #13, #18, #19, and #20 for detailed information.
  • Added force field mode: Volume Force, a force that directs fluid towards an the interior of an object's volume. See development update #21 and #22 for detailed information.
  • Added force field grid resolution to FLIP Fluid World panel. See development update #22 for detailed information.
  • Added 'Enable Adaptive Time Stepping for Force Field' option to FLIP Fluid Advanced panel (similar to it's Obstacle counterpart).
  • Added force field debug visualizer to FLIP Fluid Debug panel. See development update #13 for detailed information.
  • Added new example scenes for force field features.
  • Added exponent precision editing for viscosity value.
  • Added exponent precision editing for surface tension value.
  • Added preferences option to rename the FLIP Fluids toolshelf panel name.
  • Added preferences option to display links to relevant documentation in the UI.
  • Added UI reminder to display if the preferences 'Beginner Friendly Mode' is activated.
  • Subsections of the UI panel can now be collapsed (Whitewater/World/Debug panels).
  • Duplicated whitewater particle size option from FLIP Fluid Display Settings panel to FLIP Fluid Whitewater panel.
  • Updated for compatibility with latest version of OctaneRender.
  • Updated whitewater tooltips.
  • Removed Rigid/Deformable mesh option for Inflow object. The simulator will now automatically detect whether the object is rigid or deformable.
  • Fixed issue where changing particle size in the FLIP Fluid Debug particle debugging tool would not affect the draw size.
  • Fixed issue that was causing inflow object to require too much memory. More info in development update #14.
  • Fixed issue where Strawberry Splash example scene was not compatible with newer versions of Blender.
  • Fixed bug where a rare divide-by-zero error could cause the simulation to collapse in on itself.
  • Fixed issue where a mesh containing a zero-area triangle could cause a crash.
  • Fixed issue where an Attribute Error could be displayed when selecting the Domain object.
  • Fixed possible FLIP Fluid Stats alignment issue when selecting a frame that was outside of the cache range.
  • Fixed issue where FLIP Fluid Stats panel could display out-of-date info after a cache reset.
  • Fixed issue where FLIP Fluid toolshelf menu was missing operator to select the whitewater dust object.
  • Improved accuracy of surface tension calculations to improve stability (prevent blow-ups).
  • Improved multithreaded performance of adding new fluid particles into simulation domain.
  • Documentation: Updated installation instructions using Blender 2.8x screenshots.
  • Documentation: Limitations of the FLIP Fluids addon.
  • Documentation: Expanded CPU Usage Topic.
  • Documentation: What is the difference between Blender's Mantaflow fluid simulator and the FLIP Fluids addon.
  • Documentation: Does my obstacle object need to be completely contained by the domain?
  • Documentation: Tips for Creating Ship Simulations.
  • New Tutorial Series: FLIP Fluids addon: The Complete Guide.

Experimental Versions 9.0.6.x

Release notes for experimental versions 9.0.6.x, which correspond to the stable FLIP Fluids 1.0.6

version 9.0.6.1 (Sep 27 2019)

  • Added support for Blender 2.81
  • Added reminder in the addon installation/preferences menu to complete installation by restarting Blender. See Installation Instructions.
  • Added warning about Blender 2.80 bugs to the addon installation/preferences menu and system console output. See Blender 2.80 known issues.
  • Added a reminder to prevent render crashes by locking interface in Blender 2.8x to addon installation/preferences menu and system console output
  • Added monochromatic FLIP Fluids icon for Blender 2.8x
  • Fixed issue that could cause frequent Blender 2.8x crashes during render, Alembic export, and rigid/cloth simulation baking (issue #403)
  • Fixed bug where Inflow 'Substep Emissions' value could not be keyframed
  • Fixed TypeError that could be triggered at the end of simulation baking (issue #469)
  • Fixed bug where console output would still be displayed during mesh export when the 'Display Console Output' option was disabled
  • Reduced amount of particle meshing artifacts on boundary of domain
  • Addon no longer automatically deletes the FLIP Fluids cache when closing an unsaved .blend file
  • Addon now automatically adds a smooth modifier (set to 0 iterations) to the fluid mesh objects
  • Addon will now display an error if a user attempts to bake a simulation before completing installation

version 9.0.6.0 (Jun 05 2019)

  • This is the initial version of the 9.0.6 experimental branch. This branch will eventually be merged into the next stable 1.0.6 version.
  • Added operators to toolbox menu to automatically launch command line baking and rendering processes (Feature only supported on Windows)

version 9.0.5.5 (May 17 2019)

  • Try it out! This version is considered stable and 'production ready' as long as you are using Blender 2.79. See Blender 2.80 known issues.
  • Fixed addon errors in Blender 2.80 due to recent API change (issue #448)

version 9.0.5.4 (May 09 2019)

  • Try it out! This version is considered stable and 'production ready' as long as you are using Blender 2.79. See Blender 2.80 known issues.
  • This versions is NOT compatible with older FLIP Fluids cache directories. Please use a newly create cache directory when testing this version.
  • Added meshing options to remove parts of surface mesh near the domain boundary
  • Added meshing options to set offset for fluid-solid mesh interface
  • Added meshing feature to set a custom object as a meshing volume. Only fluid inside of this object will be meshed.
  • Added advanced option to enable particle jittering for surface particles (issue #435)
  • Added option to skip re-exporting animated meshes
  • Added settings and option to set a custom baking frame range instead of using the timeline start/end values
  • Added a savestates feature which gives the ability to rollback a simulation and resimulate from an earlier frame
  • Added functionality to set a sheeting effect strength multiplier against individual obstacles
  • Added a 'Beginner Friendly Mode' to preferences that limits UI to only show the most basic and commonly used parameters
  • Fixed bug where custom particle drawing would not be reset after a cache reset (issue #422)
  • Fixed bug that could cause a sudden Blender crash when using 'Enable Sheeting Effects' (issue #425)
  • Fixed bug where custom logo icon would not be loaded (issue #427)
  • Fixed bug where the intersection between inversed obstacles would be computed as solid instead of empty
  • Fixed issue where Blender could crash during animated mesh export (issue #401)
  • Fixed bug where surface tension simulations could 'explode' (issue #420)
  • Fixed Linux/MacOS bug where a simulation could stop in the middle of baking. Huge thanks to Christian Schwarz for helping us solve this issue!
  • Improved support and compatibility for loading .blend files created in older FLIP Fluids versions
  • Improved speed and stability of animated mesh export (issue #401)
  • Performance improvements
  • Simulation stability improvements

version 9.0.5.3 (Feb 01 2019)

  • Added support for missing features in Blender 2.80 (issue #404)
  • Added sheeting effects feature to World panel (Documentation)
  • Added 'Surface Tension Stability' parameter to World panel (Documentation)
  • Misc material and preset library fixes
  • Fixed bug where particles could escape the domain and trigger an 'Out of Range' error (issue #415)
  • Fixed precision error what could cause fluid meshes to be scaled incorrectly (issue #414)
  • Fixed bug where debug information would be drawn when domain object is hidden or not on selected layer (issue #416)
  • Fixed bug where estimated surface tension substeps could have a negative value (issue #417)
  • Fixed bug where the 'Reload Frame' operator could ignore reloading a frame (issue #419)
  • Fixed bug where simulation could crash when resuming a bake
  • Setting inflow 'Substep Emissions' to 0 will cause the inflow only emit fluid on the first substep of a frame (Documentation)
  • Updated surface tension parameter to a more appropriate/stable default value
  • Moved 'Surface Tension Safety Factor' to World panel as 'Surface Tension Accuracy' (Documentation
  • Obstacle 'Expand' setting now has small soft min/max value restrictions to guide users towards smaller values (Documentation
  • Improved collisions with animated obstacles

version 9.0.5.2 (Dec 24 2018)

  • Fixed addon install error in Blender 2.80 due to API change (issue #408)
  • Fixed 'Value must be greater or equal to zero' error that could be triggered if domain bounding box is too thin (issue #397)
  • Fixed bug where deleted objects could be exported to the simulator (issue #405)
  • Improved simulation handling of thin obstacles to prevent leaking
  • 'Check for Updates' operator now displays release notes for experimental versions
  • Performance improvements

version 9.0.5.1 (Dec 13 2018)

  • Added support for Blender 2.80 (issue #404)
  • Fixed bug where Blender could crash while rendering in Cycles with the viewport open (issue #403)
  • Fixed bug where copper preset could be loaded as coffee preset
  • Added checkbox to Presets Panel to allow auto assigning presets
  • Updated default whitewater spray drag coefficient to add more drag to spray particles
  • Rolled back some stability improvements that were causing volume increase (issue #326)
  • Meshing improvements
  • Performance improvements

version 9.0.5.0 (Nov 19 2018)

  • Added feature to control amount of whitewater generated by Obstacle objects (issue #385)
  • Added a surface tension solver (issue #388)
  • Added new surface tension example scenes (Documentation)
  • Updated Whitewater panel UI with Basic/Advanced settings modes (issue #384)
  • Fixed 'ResourceWarning' error when disabling and re-enabled addon
  • Fixed bug that would cause bumpy mesh artifacts on edges of domain (issue #380)
  • Fixed bug where bake would continue to run after closing Blender (issue #361)
  • Performance improvements
  • Simulation stability improvements

Related Topics

Guides and Info

Settings Documentation

Menu Documentation

Technical Support

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