The Challenge of the Perfect Overflow in Infinity Pools
When working with Chaos Phoenix to simulate water in an infinity pool, you're looking for that effect where the liquid gently overflows over a lower edge and elegantly falls into a receptacle 🏊♂️. However, what you often get is water that takes too long to react, accumulates unnaturally, or simply fails to overflow. It doesn't matter if you create the pool as a Fill Object, as an object inside the simulator, or fill it with another emitter: the effect doesn't look natural and you end up questioning your entire setup.
Unraveling the Root of the Problem
What usually hinders the result is not Phoenix itself, but how the simulation is set up. The software is extremely sensitive to two key factors:
- Scale units and grid size
- Resolution and smoothness of collision geometries
- Initial fill and emitters configuration
- Gravity and viscosity parameters
If you work in real meters but your simulator is too large, calculations become slow and the water doesn't behave realistically. Phoenix doesn't understand filling to an exact edge; it simply resolves fluids that react to gravity and collisions 🧪.
The Setup for the Perfect Overflow
The most effective solution is to work with a single simulator and not try to mix nodes that fill different areas. Follow these steps for realistic results:
- Define the complete pool including the low edge and lower receptacle
- Adjust the grid resolution so the edge has sufficient detail
- Enable Wetting so the water adheres slightly to the wall
- Control the Initial Fill Up starting with a low level at 80-90%
- Use a constant liquid emitter for progressive filling
This approach generates a continuous and natural flow instead of an abrupt initial jump 🌊.
Optimization for Cinematic Results
For more complex and detailed simulations, consider these advanced adjustments:
- Use Grid Up-Res to increase resolution in critical areas
- Adjust Surface Tension to improve behavior at edges
- Experiment with Viscosity for different types of liquid
- Employ Forces to direct the flow in specific directions
- Test different angles on the overflow edges
Phoenix doesn't understand that yours is luxury architecture, it simply obeys gravity
In the end, Phoenix doesn't understand that yours is luxury architecture. To it, the water won't behave like in the resort catalog, it simply obeys gravity. You expect a relaxing spa, and it gives you a tsunami of calculations per frame... but with patience and precise adjustments, you'll achieve that perfect overflow 😅.