RealFlow在线教程翻译（1）——Your First Project（你的第一个项目）

（以下英文部分及图片皆来源于RealFlow官方文档：http://support.nextlimit.com/display/rf2014docs/Your+First+Project）

Now it is finally time to start RealFlow. Experienced users will surely get along easily.New customers should first read through this section to learn how to get started with the program and some of its numerous possibilities.

现在终于到了开始启动RealFlow的时间了。有经验的用户当然会很轻松。新用户应当先阅读这一部分以便学习怎样开始使用这个程序并了解其无限的可能性。

After RealFlow has launched, a window appears. This is RealFlow’s "Project Manager" and contains functions to create a new scene or open an existing file. By default, all new files are created in a certain directory. This specific path can be changed permanently under "Preferences", but for the very first project it is currently not necessary to alter this path.The “Preferences” also provide options to adapt RealFlow to your favourite 3D platform in terms of axis setup and scale.

RealFlow启动后会弹出一个窗口。这是RealFlow的项目管理窗口，它具有创建新场景或打开现有文件的功能。所有新文件都被默认存放在一个确定的路径下。该指定路径可以在“preferences”选项下更改，但是对于第一个项目，目前还没有必要对它进行修改。“Preferences”选项还提供将RealFlow的旋转与缩放操作方式调整成与你习惯的3D软件相一致的功能。

RealFlow’s "Project Manager" window during startup.

RealFlow开启时的“项目管理”窗口

First of all you must enter a “Project name”. By clicking on the “CREATE A NEW PROJECT” button, RealFlow generates a set of different folders, where the simulation files will be stored later. All these folders are grouped under the project’s main directory, carrying the name you have entered before. If you did not specify an alternative path, everything is stored under the program’s default location, which is printed one line below. “Full path” displays the entire path to your scene including the previously entered project name.

首先，需要输入工程名称。单击“CREATE A NEW PROJECT”  按钮，RealFlow会生成一系列不同的文件夹用来存放之后的仿真文件。所有这些文件夹都以之前输入的名称在工程主路径之下分组显示。如果没有指定路径，所有文件都会被存放在程序的默认路径，该路径在下方用一条横线注明。“Full path”显示场景中包含先前输入的工程名的完整路径。

A scene can be opened with the appropriate button on the upper right or via the “Recent projects” list. To open a file from this list, simply double-click on the desired project. As long as the "Project Management" window is visible, it is not possible to access the underlying windows or panels. You first have to either close the window or define/open a project. Now enter a name of your choice, e.g. “Vase Filling”, and click on “CREATE A NEW PROJECT”, or directly define a new path to a custom directory and then create the project.

可以通过右上角恰当的按钮或通过“Recent projects”列表打开场景。只要在所需的工程上双击就可以通过列表打开该文件。在"Project Management"窗口未关闭的情况下，无法操作其下方的窗口或面板。首先关闭该窗口或创建/打开一个工程。现在输入一个名字，如“花瓶灌水”，点击“CREATE A NEW PROJECT”，或直接定义一个新路径然后创建工程。

You can start to add emitters, objects and forces immediately and start your first simulation. We want to go through these very first steps with you. In this basic scene a vase-shaped object should be filled with fluid particles. The first object will be the vase: in the upper part of the program's interface you can see tabs with different icons. A click on these symbols either triggers an action or creates a simulation element, also called “node”. To add the desired node, please look for this icon in the "Geometry" shelf and click on it:

现在可以立即添加发射器，物体和力并开始你的第一次仿真了。现在我们一起来做第一步。在这个基础场景中一个花瓶形状的物体将被填充液态粒子。第一个对象是vase（花瓶）：在程序界面上方可以看到带有不同图标的标签。点击这些符号或触发一个动作或创建一个仿真元素，也称“节点”。欲添加这个节点请在 "Geometry" 栏中找到这个图标并点击。

After you have chosen the “Vase” object you will recognize that it has been added to the viewport, but also to the “Nodes” window and the “Relationship Editor”. Position and scale of the newly created objects are fine and we do not have to change anything. The second node is a particle emitter and this will be the fluid source. A list with RealFlow's emitters can be found in the "Liquid - Particles" shelf. Please choose the "Circle" emitter

选择“Vase”对象后你会发现它已经被加到视图、“Nodes”窗口与“Relationship Editor”（关系编辑器）中了。新创建对象的位置和尺寸都刚好，我们不必做任何修改。第二个节点是粒子发射器，它应该是流体源。在 "Liquid - Particles"（液体粒子）栏中有一个RealFlow发射器列表，请选择“Circle”（圆形）发射器。

The emitter's viewport symbol shows an arrow pointing downwards – this arrow indicates the direction of emission. To make everything a little more interesting, the emitter will be moved upwards and rotated. Change the view to “Front” with the2 key. The emitter can easily be repositioned with the “Move” tool that is activated with theW key. Now you can see three axis for each spatial direction. Click on the axis, pointing upwards, and move the node roughly 1 grid unit. A rotation is performed with theR key. Once this tool is active, the emitter shows three circles. Again, each circle represents one direction in 3D space: X, Y and Z. Click on the red circle (= X) and drag the mouse until the emitter has a rotation of approximately 45 degrees. In the upper left corner of the viewport you can see the current rotation. With theT key it is possible to scale the emitter. Click on the small yellow cube in the middle of the axis and drag the mouse until the "Sx", "Sy" and "Sz" parameters in the upper left viewport caption show a value around 0.4. Finally, go to:

发射器视口符号显示一个指向下的箭头—该箭头指示发射器的方向。为使事情更有趣，发射器可以上移并旋转。通过数字键2改变视角至“正视图”。发射器可以通过“Move”（移动）工具（快捷键W）被很容易地改变位置。现在你可以看见空间中的三个坐标轴。点击某轴，将节点向上大约移动一个网格单位。通过R键控制旋转。一旦该工具激活，发射器会显示三个圆圈。同样，每个圆圈代表3D空间中的一个方向：X，Y，Z。点击红色圆圈（X轴方向）拖拽鼠标直到发射器旋转大约45°。在视口的左上角可以看见当前的旋转。通过T键可以缩放发射器。点击轴中间的黄色小立方体并且拖拽鼠标直至 左上角的"Sx", "Sy" 与"Sz" 参数值大约为0.4。然后转到：

Circle01 > Node Params > Particles > Resolution > 25.0

The last node is a “Gravity” daemon. This node can be found in the "Daemons" shelf:

最后一个节点是“Gravity”（重力）。该节点位于"Daemons"  栏中。

“Gravity” adds a force to the scene that acts globally. This means that it is not restricted to a certain area or volume. The force acts everywhere in the scene with exactly the same strength and you can place the emitter at any point in the scene without changing its properties. Now you already have everything for your first simulation. Click on the “Simulate” button and watch the particles, how they become accelerated and fall into the vase. There, they form drops and splashes and fill the object. After 200 frames, the simulations automatically stops and you can scrub the timeline back and forth to evaluate the result. Here is a screenshot from RealFlow's viewport with all scene elements:

“Gravity”为场景添加一个全局作用力，这意味着其不局限于某个特定的区域。这个力在场景的任何位置大小都相同，你可以将发射器移到场景的任何位置而不需改变其属性。现在你已经有了第一次仿真所需的一切。点击“Simulate”（仿真）按钮，观察粒子，它们正加速落入瓶中，它们在那里形成水滴并溅起然后填充该对象。200帧之后，仿真自动停止，你可以前后拖动进度条来观察结果。这里有一张RealFlow包含所有场景元素的视口截图。

To get an impression of the simulation in realtime, it is a good idea to create a preview. Go to the "Main Menu" and choose:

如果想实时观察仿真结果，可以创建一个预览。转到 "Main Menu"（主菜单）然后选择：

Playback > Video Preview（回放>预览）

Now, RealFlow will go through the cached simulation data and take a screenshot from each frame. Once all frames have been captured, a preview movie will be assembled and sent to the “Movie Player”. There you can enjoy your first simulation!

If you want to have a look at the project’s directory and the stored simulation data, choose the following entry from the "Main Menu":

现在，RealFlow将会遍历缓存的仿真数据并对每一帧进行截图。将所有帧捕获之后，会生成预览录像并发送至“Movie Player”（视频播放器）中。在那里你可以享受你的第一次仿真！

如果你想查看项目路径与存储的仿真数据，在"Main Menu"（主菜单）中选择以下路径：

File > Open Project Folder...（文件>打开工程文件夹）

This command opens an external window from the operating system to check whether all files have been created. The actual RealFlow file has the project’s name and the extension FLW, e.g. “Object Filling.flw”. It is important to understand the structure and hierarchy of the project’s directory, because RealFlow stores and reads files directly from these folders (some of these directories are only created in case of need):

这一命令会从操作系统中打开一个外部窗口来检查是否所有文件都被创建。 RealFlow文件名由工程名和扩展类型flw组成，如“ Object Filling.flw”。了解工程路径的层级结构十分重要，因为 RealFlow直接从这些文件夹存储和读取文件（其中的一些路径仅在需要时创建）：

displacement	This is the place where all displacement maps are stored. 存储所有位移数据
fields	Hybrido fluids work with velocity fields and you can find the associated data files under the "gfc" directory. 速度域混合流动，在“gfc”路径下可以找到关联数据文件
images	Wetmap and foam-map sequences can be found here. 可以在这找到Wetmap and foam-map队列
initialState	Here, RealFlow stores all files that can be used to start simulations from previously recorded states, e.g. relaxed and calm fluid volumes. 存储可以用来从初始记录状态启动仿真的文件，如松弛与静态流动体
meshes	Polygonal meshes from Hybrido and traditional fluid simulations can be found here. 存储混合仿真与传统液体仿真的多边形网格
particles	All particle files with the BIN (“binary”) extension. Hybrido fluid particles are stored here as well, but under a separate directory (rpc) 存储所有扩展名为bin（binary（二进制））的粒子文件，混合流体粒子也存储在此，但位于独立路径之下（rpc）
log	The log file is stored in this folder. It stores exactly the same information from RealFlow's "Messages" window. 存储log文件，大致与"Messages"窗口中的内容相同
objects	This folder contains dynamics data and files for geometry/object exchange. 存储动力学数据和几何/对象交换文件
preview	RealFlow stores all preview-based image sequences and videos here. The folder contains three directories, called “images”, "maxwell" and “video”. “video” is also the home of a “frames” folder, where all images from automatically generated video previews will be stored. 存储所有作为预览录像基础的图像序列与录像。该文件夹包含三个路径，分别为“images”（图像）, "maxwell"（麦克斯韦） and “video”（录像）。“video”内还有用来存储自动生成预览录像的图像的“frames”（帧）文件夹。
foam	This folder is created automatically on demand and contains foam cache files. With activated foam-maps, another directory is created storing the textures. This directory carries the name of the related Hybrido fluid domain. 本文件夹按需自动创建并含有foam（泡沫）缓存文件。另一带有激活foam-maps的路径储存textures（纹理）。该路径以相关混合流体域命名。
mist	Like foam, this directory is only created on demand. You can find the mist cache files here. 类似foam，该文件仅在需要的时候创建，在这里可以找到mist缓存文件

These directories are not only important for storing RealFlow files, but also for importing simulated data into your 3D application. The “objects” folder is of special importance, because we recommended storing all exchange files you have created within this directory. By default, RealFlow looks here for geometry files from external 3D applications and you do not have to browse through your hard disc. The SD format is RealFlow's standard file format for geometry and motion data. The exchange plugins, that are available for all major 3D platforms, can read and write SD files as well.

这些目录不仅仅存储文件，对将仿真数据导入到3D软件中同样重要。 “objects”文件夹特别重要，因为我们推荐将创建的所有交换文件存储于此目录之下。RealFlow默认在此查找外部3D软件创建的几何文件，无须在硬盘中手动查找。SD格式是RealFlow几何与运动数据的基础文件格式。可用于主流3D平台的交换插件也能读写SD格式文件。

The places where you want to store the scene data are not limited to the project's folder, but they can be written anywhere onto your hard disk, or even on network drives. The according path settings and specifications can be made individually for each scene in the “Export Central” dialogue. There, it is also possible to define custom node and file names, select image formats for RealFlow's various map types and choose different export formats for your simulation data. You have all possibilities to change file paths, locations and names, but in most cases it is not necessary to do this, because RealFlow will automatically manage 99% of your export tasks by setting the correct names and saving all data to the appropriate folders.

存储场景数据的位置并不限于工程文件夹，可以是硬盘上的任何位置甚至网络上。每个场景的相应路径可以在 “Export Central”（导出中心）对话框中单独设置。还可以自定义节点与文件名，为RealFlow的不同map类型选择图像格式并为你的仿真数据选择不同的导出格式。你可以任意修改文件路径、位置和名称，但是大部分情况下没必要这样做，因为RealFlow可以通过设置正确的名称并将所有数据存放于适当的文件夹中来自动管理99%的导出任务。

Don’t like RealFlow's startup interface? No problem, because you can completely rearrange the GUI elements and customize the layout to your own needs. Every window can be moved to a new place and combined with other panels. The size of the viewports and windows is not fixed, but can be dynamically adjusted. It is even possible to save different layouts for reusing them later, for example for scripting, animation or general purposes.

不喜欢RealFlow的初始界面？没问题，因为你完全可以重新布置GUI（图形用户界面）单元，然后按需要自定义布局。所有窗口都可以移动至新位置并与其他面板结合。视口和窗口的大小不是固定的，可以动态调节。甚至可以保存不同的布局以便之后重用，如脚本、动画或一般目的。

RealFlow provides endless ways to customize the program itself and its output. Almost everything you see can be edited, changed or fit to your own needs. Of course, these possibilities make RealFlow a complex software, but you will also see that many processes are automised and that you can easily work with the pre-adjusted default settings in many cases.

RealFlow提供无限多的方法来自定义程序本身与其输出。几乎所有可见的都可以被编辑，改变以适应你的个人需求。当然，这些可能也使RealFlow变成了一款复杂的软件，但你也可以看到很多流程是自动的并且在很多情况下你可以轻松应付默认初始预设。

Happy simulating!

仿真快乐！