Whale Jump Realflow Project

 Been Working Intensively for long days and long nights to get this looking good! You can see my previous attempt below, I feel that this version is much better and complete.

Method:

First started off with the Whale Jump animation done in Maya with a rig downloaded from Creative Crash. This was then exported to my "Pre Realflow Scene" in 3DS Max which was then exported to Realflow using .SD (Realflow's Native File Format).

In Realflow I set up my Hybrido sim using the Dense Creation mode which is a lot faster than adaptive mode. I then ran a low res sim so I could set my gravity to the right amount before having to wait for high res sims to finish. The Gravity is very important for defining the scale of the scene, I used a value off around 11 in this scene. Once I was happy with my low res sim I set a high res sim running using about 10m Particles for the core fluid. This took around 6-7 Hours.

 Core Fluid (1)

 Core Fluid (2)

Core Fluid (3)

Next I setup my Splash and Foam sim using Liquid SPH Particles instead of my normal technique using Dumb particles. Dumb Particles only get you so far, they cannot self collide and they start to look very powdery, although they are a lot faster and less spacious than Liquid Particles. But Liquid Particles are very accurate using SPH Simulation you get nice looking Foam Patterns. This sim took around 3-4 Hours. I was also caching these out as .PRT Files so I can render them with Krakatoa.

Top Down View Of Liquid SPH Splash&Foam Simulation

 Next Was Meshing which you can refer to my post below for more info, This took around 3 Hours.

Back in 3DS Max I setup my Ocean shader using V-Ray which you can read more about below. Then I added a Houdini Ocean Toolkit (HOT) modifer on the Realflow mesh so I get my ocean displacement. I then made a plane (800x800 Quads) that streches out into my Cameras Horizon, I then copied my HOT modifier onto that plane (the same one on the Realflow Mesh) not changing any values sometime they don't look the same in the viewport, this can be sorted out in comp as long as its the exact same modifier. Rendering for the Realflow Mesh and Infinite ocean plane (Two Separate Render Passes) took around 12 Hours. And then the Splash and Foam rendered with Krakatoa took around 2 Hours.

Test Render of the Ocean Shader in V-Ray

The Infinite Ocean (Blue) and the Realflow Mesh (Purple)

Now in After Effects I used the mask tool to cut off the volume mesh of the Realflow Mesh render and also made two masks for the sides so it would blend seamlessly into the Infinite Ocean pass, Also a bit of Colour Correction was needed to get this looking right. Then the Splash and Foam pass was added, Motion Blur etc. Also I added a final grade taking alot of the blue saturation and contrast from the ocean out so you get a more realistic looking ocean. I also made some basic Breakdowns which are on the Final Shot Video.

Final Shot

Thanks For Looking