Cache
Reference
- Panel
- Type
Domain
The Cache panel is used to Bake the fluid simulation and stores the outcome of a simulation so it does not need to be recalculated.
Baking takes a lot of compute power (hence time). Depending on the scene, it is recommended to allocate enough time for the baking process.
If the mesh has modifiers, the rendering settings are used for exporting the mesh to the fluid solver. Depending on the setting, calculation times and memory use might exponentially increase. For example, when using a moving mesh with Subdivision Surface as an obstacle, it might help to decrease simulation time by switching it off, or to a low subdivision level. When the setup/rig is correct, you can always increase settings to yield a more realistic result.
Obs
Fluid simulations use their own cache. All other physics simulations make use of the General Baking operators.
- Cache Directory
Directory to store baked simulation files in. Inside this directory each simulation type (i.e. mesh, particles, noise) will have its own directory containing the simulation data.
- Type
The type of the cache determines how the cache can be baked.
- Replay
The cache will be baked as the simulation is being played in the viewport.
- Modular
The cache will be baked step by step: The bake operators for this type are spread across various panels within the domain settings (e.g. the bake tool for the mesh can be found in the Mesh panel).
- All
The cache will be baked with a single tool. All selected settings will be considered during this bake. The bake tool for this type can be found in the Cache panel.
- Start
Frame on which to start the simulation. This is the first frame that will be baked.
- End
Frame on which to stop the simulation. This is the last frame that will be baked.
Obs
The simulation is only calculated for positive frames between the Start and End frames of the Cache panel. So if you want a simulation that is longer than the default frame range you have to change the End frame.
- Offset
Frame offset that is used when loading the simulation from the cache. It is not considered when baking the simulation, only when loading it.
- Use Resumable Cache
Extra data will be saved so that you can resumed baking after pausing. Since more data will be written to drive it is recommended to avoid enabling this option when baking at high resolutions.
- Volume File Format
File format for volume based simulation data (i.e. grids and particles).
- Uni Cache
Blender’s own caching format with some compression. Each simulation object is stored in its own
.uni
cache file.- OpenVDB
Advanced and efficient storage format. All simulation objects (i.e. grids and particles) are stored in a single
.vdb
file per frame.
- Mesh File Format Liquids Only
File format for the mesh cache files.
- Binary Object
Mesh data files with some compression.
- Object
Simple, standard data format for mesh data.
- Bake All, Free All
This option is only available when using the Final cache type. Bake All will run the simulation considering all parameters from the settings (i.e. it will bake all steps that can be baked individually with the Modular cache type at once).
The progress will be displayed in the status bar. Pressing Esc will abort the simulation.
Once the simulation has been baked, the cache can be deleted by pressing Free All. It is not possible to pause or resume a Bake All process as only the most essential cache files are stored on drive.
Advanced
- Compression Volumes OpenVDB Only
Compression method that is used when writing OpenVDB cache files.
- None
Cache files will be written without any compression.
- Zip
Cache files will be written with
Zip
compression. Effective but slower thanBlosc
.- Blosc
Cache files will be written with
Blosc
compression. Multithreaded compression, similar in size and quality toZip
compression.
- Precision Volumes OpenVDB Only
Precision level that is used when writing OpenVDB cache files.
- Full
Volumetric data (e.g. grids, particles) will be written with full precision (32-bit).
- Half
Volumetric data (e.g. grids, particles) will be written with half precision (16-bit).
- Mini
Volumetric data (e.g. grids, particles) will be written with mini float precision (8-bit) where possible. For cache data where this is not possible, 16-bit floats will be used instead.
- Export Mantaflow Script
Export the simulation as a standalone Mantaflow script when baking the scene (exported on «Bake Data»). Usually, only developers and advanced users who know how to use the Mantaflow GUI will make use of this functionality. Use a Debug Value of
3001
to enable.