Baking Smoke Simulations

../../_images/physics_smoke_baking_interface.pngSmoke Cache options.

Baking is used to store the outcome of a simulation so it does not need to be recalculated.

Smoke baking settings are in Properties ‣ Physics ‣ Smoke ‣ Smoke Cache.Unlike most physics simulations smoke physics has some settings that are specific to smoke.

File Format

File format that the cache data is to be stored.

Point Cache

Blender's own caching format.

OpenVDB

Advanced and efficient storage method developed byDreamWorks Animation.

The simulation fields can be found in the .vdb files under the following names:

  • "color"
  • "density"
  • "heat"
  • "heat old" (the temperature at the previous frame)
  • "flame"
  • "fuel"
  • "react" (reaction coordinates, used for fire)
  • "velocity"
  • "shadow" (the shadows of the volume computed for viewport rendering)
  • "texture coordinates" (used for turbulence)
  • Compression

  • Method of data compression.

    • Zip
    • Efficient but slower compression method.
    • Blosc
    • Multi-threaded compression with about the same quality and size as Zip.
    • None
    • Do not compress the data.
  • Data Depth

  • Bit depth for writing all scalar (including vectors), lower values reduce the file size of the cache.

    • Float (Half)
    • Half float (16 bit data). Gives less data with the benefit of smaller file sizes.
    • Float (Full)
    • Full float (32 bit data). Gives more data at the cost of larger file sizes.

See also

For other options see the General Baking docs for more information.

Note

Baking can only been done once your blend-file is saved.If your blend-file has not been saved, the Smoke Cache panel will be disabled.