







Phoenix FD 4 for Maya is an all-in-one solution for fluid dynamics. Simulate fire, smoke, liquids, ocean waves, splashes, spray, mist and more.
It empowers VFX artists to simulate fire, smoke, explosions, liquids, foam and splashes, while offering exceptional flexibility and speed.
Online Licensing.
Please specify number of licenses and number of months/years in the comments when purchasing.
А Workstation license includes 1 Graphic User Interface (GUI) and 1 Simulation License
Please make sure that your system fulfills these requirements before installing. Note that Phoenix FD is only supported for 64 bit operating systems and 64 bit versions of Maya.
Phoenix FD for Maya comes in 2 build types - Compatible with V-Ray 3 and V-Ray Next.
If you don't have V-Ray, it does not matter at all which one you install - Phoenix would still be able to simulate, load, save and preview caches. If you do have V-Ray 3 or V-Ray Next, please take care to install a matching Phoenix build.
Note that reading textures during simulation, e.g. by Sources, Mappers, etc, would be faster if you also have V-Ray installed.
Windows
Processor | Intel® Pentium ® IV or compatible processor with SSE4.2 support. |
RAM | 8 GB RAM and 8 GB swap minimum – recommended 32 GB or more RAM, 32 GB or more swap file |
USB port | Required for dongle licensing, USB 2.0 or newer |
TCP/IP | Only IPv4 is supported. IPv6 is currently not supported. |
Chaos License Server | 4.5.1 or later |
Versions of Autodesk Maya and operating systems on which Phoenix FD is supported. Note that Phoenix FD is only supported for 64 bit operating systems and 64 bit versions of Maya.
Version of Maya | Supported Operating System |
Maya 2016 x64 | Windows ® 7 SP1, Windows ® 8.1 Professional, and Windows ® 10 Professional |
Maya 2017 x64 | Windows ® 7 SP1 and Windows ® 10 Professional |
Maya 2018 x64 | Windows ® 7 SP1 and Windows ® 10 Professional |
Maya 2019 x64 | Windows ® 7 SP1 and Windows ® 10 Professional |
Processor | Intel ® Pentium ® IV or compatible processor with SSE4.2 support. |
RAM | 8 GB RAM and 8 GB swap minimum – recommended 32 GB or more RAM, 32 GB or more swap file |
USB port | Required for dongle licensing, USB 2.0 or newer |
TCP/IP | Only IPv4 is supported. IPv6 is currently not supported. |
The following table shows the versions of Autodesk Maya and operating systems on which Phoenix FD is supported. Note that Phoenix FD is only supported for 64 bit operating systems and 64 bit versions of Maya.
Version of Maya | Supported Operating System |
Maya 2016 x64 | Red Hat ® Enterprise Linux® 6.5 WS, or CentOS 6.5 |
Maya 2017 x64 | Red Hat ® Enterprise Linux® 6.5 and 7.2 WS, or CentOS 6.5 and 7.2 |
Maya 2018 x64 | Red Hat ® Enterprise Linux® 6.5 and 7.2 WS, or CentOS 6.5 and 7.2 |
Maya 2019 x64 | Red Hat ® Enterprise Linux® 7.2 WS, or CentOS 7.2 |
Here's some tips to help make sure your Phoenix sims calculate as fast as possible.
Hardware
|
Recommendation
|
---|---|
Bus speed | Phoenix transfers huge amounts of data between memory and the CPU. The entire simulation grid gets processed tens to hundred times per simulation step, so the bus speed is the bottleneck in most simulations. |
CPU speed | Processor speed is more important than core count. Also, NUMA and multiprocessor architectures do not perform well with Phoenix. Simulating on one NUMA node is often faster than waiting for multiple nodes to synchronize. |
Fast Storage | Both large and small simulations take significant time just to write the cache files from the simulation and to read them back for the preview, so good storage speed can help decrease simulation times up to 30%. Turning off the preview for all grid and particle channels during large simulations could also help speed up the simulation. |
GPU | GPUs are currently only used for the GPU preview of fire/smoke simulations. |
On some machines, the Anti-Virus software may treat Phoenix FD's files .aur, .f3d and .vdb as a potential risk and consume significant processing power to scan them. Since cache files are often hundreds of Megabytes or more, this could cause the simulation to slow down several times.
Consider adding an exception in your Anti-Virus software for these file formats.
You may also add Phoenix FD log file extension (.log) or the log file directory (accessible through the Phoenix Preferences) to the exceptions of the Anti-Virus software.
It may also be beneficial to add an exception for the Maya process (maya.exe under Windows).
Here is a short step by step guide by Microsoft on Adding an Exclusion for Windows Defender.