Just doing some initial r&d for an upcoming project so we decided to try out the Krakatoa trial and wow! What a wicked tool! Uber easy to use and it really produces some amazing results.
http://www.delicatemachines.com/r&d/sandtest_tk002.mov
So my only question is… how do we buy the darn thing? 
I definitely need to buy this but I didn’t see any online store anywhere but I could be missing something.
thanks!
Hi Joel,
First of all, welcome and thank you for the kind words!
Yes, you have definitely missed something:
http://www.franticfilms.com/software/products/krakatoa/download/
Quote:
To unlock all features of Krakatoa™ and turn your Evaluation Version into a Full Commercial version, you can request a 15 day Evaluation License using the form on this page or purchase a Krakatoa™ license by E-mailing krakatoa-sales@franticfilms.com
So just fire an email to the above address and our very own Scott will explain to you what is needed...
Also note that all license holders get access to our Beta program - we are currently working on a 1.1.0 update of Krakatoa with new features and improvements across the board, so you will be able to test the Beta, too...
Regards,
Borislav "Bobo" Petrov
Technical Director VFX
Frantic Films Winnipeg
Another thing - looking at the (wicked!) quicktime test, you mention Raytraced and Shadow Map shadows.
Please note that shadow casting from particles onto particles (and matte objects) always uses Attenuation maps (which are map-based but not the same as Z-Depth Shadow Maps) and the type of shadows set in the light source is completely ignorred. Rendering particles volumetrically with self-shadowing simply requires a different approach to shadows.
When casting shadows from matte objects onto particles, Krakatoa uses Depth Maps by default, but can also use Raytraced shadows. (See "Use Depth Maps" in the "Matte Objects" rollout).
JFYI...
Thanks for the tip Bobo! I admit I still have a lot to learn about how everything works and I hope to gain a lot of knowledge on these next few projects we’re doing which will involve a lot of Krakatoa.
Out of curiosity; has anyone done any testing with Pflow Box 2 yet and colliding particles? Just wondering if filling an object with sand is possible… in theory at least.
thanks
Out of curiosity; has anyone
done any testing with Pflow
Box 2 yet and colliding
particles? Just wondering if
filling an object with sand is
possible… in theory at
least.
If there IS a beta for Box 2 already, we are not on it… Not sure whether Box 2 is supposed to do this - I expect it to do mesh to mesh interpaticle collisions a la Thinking Particle, not point to point, but it would be cool if it did. RealFlow’s particle approach (SPH) is more suited for it, but its general workflow sucks a lot. You do know that you can read RealFlow BIN files into Krakatoa, right? The next beta (due out tomorrow if nothing breaks) will add the capability to load whole RealFlow sequences into PFlow dynamically and modify them as regular particles.
Have you seen this test, btw?
http://franticfilms.com/software/support/krakatoa/work_in_progress_gallery.php#RealFlow_Fluid_Simulation_-_Particle_Rendering_Test
Seeing that WIP page, you can see sand seems to be a popular test subject. Surprised we don’t see more volcanic plumes or smoke though…
I’d stick with RealFlow for high particle count effects like sand, and maybe just use Box#3 for adding “interpolated” particles to fill in the space as needed.
- Chad
Most likely we won’t be called on for actually filling volumes with particles so hopefully we’re safe from that. Mainly blowing dust and the odd burst of sand here or there.
I was just curious as I remember seeing those amazing collision tests Oleg did with the very early incarnation of Box#2 and now that it is in alpha/beta I was wondering if anyone had toyed around with the idea. I will look into the Realflow approach though just for fun; might be cool to give it a try and see what I can come up with.
Thanks for the info!