Andras Ketzer releases FluidNinja VFX Tools 1.8
Developer Andras Ketzer has released FluidNinja VFX Tools 1.8, the latest version of his simulation baking toolset for Unreal Engine.
The update adds support for Unreal Engine’s new Heterogeneous Volume type, and for Unreal Engine 5.4, the latest version of the software.
A popular tool for baking fluid simulations inside Unreal Engine
First released in 2019, FluidNinja VFX Tools bakes fluid simulations like fire, smoke, clouds and magical effects to 2D data inside Unreal Engine.
The resulting baked data – which can include flipbooks and flow maps – can be used to drive volumes or Niagara particle simulations in-game.
The process reduces the size of simulation assets, and enables complex sims to run in real time.
According to Ketzer, the baked data provides an alternative to VDB assets 100x larger: he cites typical file sizes of 1-4MB versus 100-400MB.
Now supports Unreal Engine’s new Heterogenous Volumes
FluidNinja VFX Tools 1.8 adds support for the new Heterogeoneous Volume (HVOL) volume type introduced in Unreal Engine 5.3.
HVOL is suited to detailed, small-to-medium environmental effects, for which FluidNinja VFX Tools previously used a custom volume type.
In version 1.8, a single volume function handles all of Unreal Engine’s native volume types: Fog Volumes (FVOL), Cloud Volumes (CVOL), and the new HVOL.
Price and system requirements
FluidNinja VFX Tools 1.8 is compatible with Unreal Engine 4.20+ and 5.0+. A perpetual license costs $99.99.
The Student Edition – which isn’t limited to students: it’s a non-feature-limited, non-time-limited non-commercial edition – is free to use on personal and showreel projects.
Read more about the new features in FluidNinja VFX Tools 1.8 on Discord
Read more about FluidNinja VFX Tools on the Unreal Engine Marketplace
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