Rethinking Visual Effects Production: JangaFX’s Journey to Real-Time Simulation. Modern GPUs have changed almost every aspect of technology innovation in recent years. However, although chatbots and AI image generators frequently make headlines, JangaFX is transforming visual effects (VFX) through real-time physics simulation by utilising today’s computing power. EmberGen enhances space battle visuals without slowing down production by enabling game developers such as CCP Games (EVE Online) to produce beautiful, realistic volumetric clouds.
Complex physical simulations that used to take days to produce are now able to happen in real-time to technology developments like the newest NVIDIA RTX GPUs and the software that maximizes their potential.
This significant change presents both opportunities and challenges as studios rethink their creative processes around quick input, from the cosmic views of How the Universe Works to the fiery rescues of Superman and from the nebulae of EVE Online to the cinematic explosions in League of Legends. By developing the tools that let artists work interactively on high-end images, JangaFX is spearheading these attempts to speed up VFX operations.
Challenges with Fire
It took hours to produce a single frame when simulating smoke and fire in the early 2010s. Additionally, even though Nick’s system included technology that was capable for the time a 75-gigabyte hard drive and a GTX 780 graphics card animation software did not make the most of GPU capabilities. Instead, they would rely on CPUs to handle all of the intricate mathematical computations that underlie the real-world simulations.
GPUs have already demonstrated their ability to provide breathtaking images in real time for gaming. Why not use simulations, then? EmberGen, a platform created to provide artists with the speed and interaction they require to maintain their creativity, was founded on that query.
Breaking the Render Barrier: The Birth of Real-Time VFX
Tools for fluid simulation, such as FumeFX, were mostly dependent on CPU power prior to the advent of contemporary GPUs.
Creating visual effects back then required putting up with a fragmented workflow. Before turning these computations into results that could be seen, the software first determined how particles travelled or smoke curled over time. Hours were spent on each phase, and artists frequently had to repeat simulations. The incessant waiting stifled the flow of creativity.
By combining rendering and simulation into a single, real-time procedure, EmberGen ended this cycle. An iterative slog was transformed into an interactive experience by enabling artists to change parameters and view their completely produced effects instantly.
This made it possible for artists to modify particle effects and see the results right away. With Valve’s real-time tools, you could click a button, watch an explosion, and start playing right away. His goal was to give 3D volumetric simulations the same sense of immediacy. Real-time fluid simulation was always thought to be unachievable, but by 2016, advances in GPU technology made it viable, setting the groundwork for EmberGen.
How EmberGen Changes the Workflow
Games like EVE Online, where CCP Games faced a difficult task: developing complex, volumetric clouds that could add dimension to their space battles without crashing their production pipeline, are prime examples of EmberGen’s influence.
It takes a lot of processing power to create these volumetric clouds. By utilising the VRAM capabilities of NVIDIA RTX GPUs, EmberGen assisted CCP Games in removing these restrictions and enabling artists to create and modify complex cloud forms in real time. These optimized simulations were exported by the team as VDB files for their game engine. Dell wanted to ensure that artists had unrestricted freedom to iterate.
The Technology Behind Embergen’s Real-Time Magic
EmberGen‘s real-time capabilities are mostly based on its interaction with GPUs, particularly more recent models such as NVIDIA’s RTX 4090 and RTX 6000 series. Applications may handle billions of voxels (3D pixels) simultaneously because to the high memory bandwidth and parallel processing capabilities, which speed up computations and provide results instantaneously.
Workstations designed for these rigorous workflows provide professional creators access to this power. Real-time simulation and rendering are made possible by the NVIDIA RTX GPUs included in the Dell Precision 5860 Tower and Precision 7960 Tower. From their own workstations, producers may easily produce their own explosions, nebulae clouds, and much more when paired with JangaFX’s visual effects tools.
Why Real-Time Matters
Reducing the hidden steps between the artist and the artwork is the goal of real-time simulation, according to Nick and the JangaFX team. Artists are free to try new things and push limits when they can see the results of their changes right away. Projects like the volumetric clouds offered by EVE Online are made possible by this openness. It also motivates the group to continue expanding the capabilities of GPUs.
Professional-grade graphics are fully utilized in Dell Pro Max high-performance PCs, which are designed for unparalleled performance.
EmberGen is Built for Games
Everyone are pleased to report that more than 200 top game studios actively use EmberGen. For years, these game-specific workflow has been put to the test in production. EmberGen is capable of producing realistic or stylized magical effects, fire, explosions, and energy. EmberGen is unmatched in its ease of use and integrated texture export capabilities, in addition to enabling real-time iteration.
Effortlessly Generate Flipbooks & Sprite Sheets
Unlike any other visual effects software in the market, EmberGen uses a flipbook process. Create completely built, game-ready flipbooks in a matter of seconds, then use the inspector tool to see how your flipbook animations look. Do you need to change? It will only take a few seconds, so no worries. EmberGen was developed with games in mind from the beginning.
Iterate with Unprecedented Velocity
It understand: Traditionally, it takes more than a week to create a single flipbook that can be used repeatedly. It developed EmberGen to provide the outcomes it required because to were tired of that fight. For faster iterations than ever before, EmberGen makes use of your GPU’s full potential to model and depict volumetric phenomena in real-time. To create new varieties on the spot, use random seeds. Because every simulation is deterministic, you can be certain that it will be the same every time you launch it.
Features
- Real-time Simulations: Edit simulations in real-time by using your GPU.
- Animated Meshes: To utilize them as emitters and colliders, import Alembic and FBX files.
- Import Cameras: For pixel-perfect compositing, import FBX cameras.
- Export Flipbooks & Image Sequences: PNG, TGA, VDB, and EXR Exports: Do you need to render volumes somewhere else? No issue!
- Modern Volume Rendering: Use the renderer to get excellent results right now.
- Simulation Looping: Modify your simulations in real time as the timeline is being looped.
- Included are more than 100 pre-made projects: Analyze the presets to learn EmberGen.
- Easy to Use Interface: Without a doubt, the best user interface you have ever encountered in software.
