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Flow Illustrator – A simple to use online flow simulation tool
Make your own simulation video with Flow Illustrator!
What it does
Flow Illustrator creates a video showing the fluid flow (air, water, etc.) past an object, such as a car, for example. This online simulation tool is very easy to use, because the shape of the object can be communicated to the server simply by uploading the picture of the object. You can even make a video of a flow past yourself: edit a selfie slightly and use this website. The Gallery section contains example videos, where you can quickly see what the result can be like. Make Video section does just that: makes a video for you. For more information about the available variables look at the parameters to consider page.
How to use
First, prepare a picture, as a bitmap, that is .bmp, .jpg, .png or a similar file. Flow Illustrator will assume that pure white area of the bitmap is the flow region and any coloured region is the body, these are used to tell the simulation software where to put the flow. Use Paint or a similar application to erase those parts of the picture that should be filled with flowing fluid. Upload it from the Make Video section and receive the video ID. Wait a little and download the video. Look at the User guide.
What to expect
The video will show your object surrounded by fluid, which is suddenly brought into motion with a constant speed. Small white particles, like snowflakes, will randomly appear out of thin air, follow the fluid motion, and then melt. Some of the fluid will be painted with colours reflecting the rotation velocity (vorticity divided by 2) of fluid particles. This trick is widely used in flow visualisations. Together, the snowflakes and the vorticity field give a good idea of the fluid motion. Read more on what to expect from your simulation.
How it works
Our server transforms the picture into numbers suitable for input to a code, a Navier-Stokes solver, which, by stepping in time, solves the equations governing the flow past the object. It then converts the numerical solution back into a graphical form and composes the frames into a video. Flow Illustrator is optimised for speed and robustness, with accuracy being traded in. Treat the videos as artist impressions. The artist is you. Look here for more details on the simulation algorithm.
Create your first flow simulation
Easy to use, Flow Illustrator enables the visitor to make their own fluid flow simulation videos that can be used for educational purposes, presentations and recreation. The Gallery contains ready-to-use videos, images, and templates. The Movie Maker (Run Simulation section) allows you to upload your own picture of the body and create a video of the flow past this body (so that you can even make a video of a flow past your car, or past yourself or a colleague). The video duration, speed, and other parameters can also be specified.
This level of flexibility and efficiency is made possible by an original fast algorithm for flow calculations, specially designed for this purpose.
If this is your first visit, read what it does on this page. Then have a look at the videos in Gallery section, to see what you can get. Then download our small sample image, edit it a little if you wish (add your own mark to it using Paint or a similar application), go to the Run Simulation section, upload the image and make the video with the default values of the parameters. You can also use in the same way the images from our Sample Images library, and your own images. Have fun!
Gallery
