Note: This article only applies to Corona 9 and older. In Corona 10 and newer you can use FumeFX 6.0 and newer.
Examples
Method 1 - Saving FumeFX simulation in VDB file format:
This solution works best if you don't have a ready-made FumeFX simulation yet (you don't have the simulation files saved in FXD or other file format).
When your FumeFX setup is ready, go to FumeFX UI, click on the Output Directory icon (folder icon at the top), navigate to the folder where you wish to store your simulation, enter your file name (for example "my_fume") and select the "Open VDB file" format from the "Files of type" list below. Click "Open" to save your changes:
Now run your FumeFX simulation. This will save it as a series of VDB files, which you can then load using the Corona Volume Grid object.
Here is how:
Go to Create > Objects > Corona > CVolume Grid and Create the Corona Volume Grid object anywhere in your scene:
Press "Load from file..." and pick the first file of your VDB simulation:
Note1: sometimes it may be necessary to adjust some of the settings such as absorption, scattering, and emission to get the desired effect. For more information, see: How to use the Corona Volume Grid?
Note 2: you may need to check or uncheck the "Flip frame" option, which will rotate the Volume Grid object by 90 degrees:
"Flip frame" on:
"Flip frame" off:
Method 2 - Converting an existing simulation to VDB file format:
This method is suitable only if you already have your original simulation saved in FXD or other supported file format. The conversion is almost one-click:
Download the ffxconvert Command Line Utility:
http://docs.afterworks.com/FumeFX5max/ffxconvert%20Command%20Line%20Utility.htm
Run the utility as instructed in the above documentation.
Here is an example command, which will convert original FXD frames called my_fume_1, my_fume_2, my_fume_3, and so on, ranging from 0 to 100, into the VDB format:
ffxconvert -i C:\fumefx\my_fume_.fxd -o my_fume_.vdb -r 0 100
Then load the resulting VDB simulation using a Corona Volume Grid as explained in Method 1 above.
End result:
Using either of the above methods, the end result should be identical or similar to the original FumeFX simulation:
Note: This article only applies to Corona 9 and older. In Corona 10 and newer you can use FumeFX 6.0 and newer.