Phoenix FD vs FumeFX Comparison

by Hammer Chen

click here for update version of this table.

	FumeFX 4.0	PhoenixFD 2.2 official build
price	*USD 845	*USD 960
Simulation capability	fire, smoke and explosion	Fire, smoke, explosion, water, high viscosity fluid, Infinite ocean with splash and foam, beer foam, boat wake, bubbles
UI	Floating UI	Rollout
cache file path	Absolute path	Relative path to scene, $(implicit)
Adaptive Grid	only offers "smaller than initial grid"	Fully controlled, fit in cam view
Alpha channel for smoke and fire	One for fire, one for smoke	shared
Particle shader		PHXFoam, able to render (large amount of) particle
Object Interaction (default)	Inclusive list	Exclusive list
Ocean Texture Map		PhoenixFDOcean Tex
Color gradient / curve  editor	user friendly	difficult
Particle source control	user friendly, radius with curve editor	through particle size
Gravity helper	YES, straightforward and effective
2D Simulation		YES
Viewport preview		high performance
Interactive simulation (Simulation not locking the gui)	YES (start form FumeFX 4.0)	YES
Wavelet	Wavelet	Wavelet , Resimulation
retime	YES, Post Processing	YES
Workflow for resim / select cache	straightforward, Sim Mode swicher	Automatic, might be confusing for beginner
Inertial forces	YES, Use Grid Motion	YES, can link sim grid to moving object, i.e.: moving torch
Dynamic solvers	Solvers: CG and QCG Advection: Default, Advanced (fields), Advanced(fields and vels)	Conservation: Symmetric, Smooth and Buffered Advection methods: Classic, Slow moving, Forward transfer and Multi-pass
Fluid Mapping	YES
heathaze		YES
displace voxels post-sim	NO	YES
Fire create smokes	YES
Smoke buoyancy	Sensitive to dynamic
Cache optimization	Drop unused channels by post processing	Storage quality control (similar to jpeg compression)
Import Field3D, openVOD	support	support
Export PRT	support	support
Self-illuminate acceleration	Illumination map	Grid-based
Render elements	FumeFXfire, FumeFXsmoke, velocity, zdepth	YES for Maya version
Integration with Particle Flow	FumeFX Birth, Follow, Test	PhoenixFD Birth, Force, Test
Integration with thinkingParticles	FumeFX Birth, Follow, Probe
GPU Preview	Floating windows, user friendly	Thorugh 3dsmax extended viewport
Solid mode		YES
Network simulation	through backburner
Spline Follow	YES	YES, follow path
Render Warps	YES
Effectors	YES
Learning curve		Lots of parameters, take time to learn
best GI renderer compatability	mentalRay	V-Ray
Customer support		Offical forum and Facebook group

*Please check official website for their local store / sales details.


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Phoenix vs FumeFX
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