# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Creating Basic Water animation

|previous=Basic Animation/Bounce
}}
```
!A low resolution, high viscosity fluid
test

## Water and Other Fluids

Water is without a doubt one of the most important compounds in our
lives; It covers about 75% of the earth and is therefore incredibly
important in quite a few Blender animations. Wouldn\'t it be great if we
could get an accurate physical representation of this liquid in Blender?
We can, using a tool called Fluid Simulation. This tool looks
unnervingly complex at first glance, but this tutorial should clear it
up for you. At least to a basic level.

## The Domain

One can imagine how much time it would take Blender3D to think about
everything in the infinite space of a 3D world in terms of fluid objects
and deflection, so we obviously need to cut down on that size. Create a
fairly large cube. This will eventually be set as the volume in which
all of the fluid simulation occurs. Don\'t make it too large, but not
too small either, let\'s say 10 times bigger. With this cube selected,
go to to the Physics context
![](Blender255PhysicsContextButton.png "Blender255PhysicsContextButton.png")
of the Properties window. Find the button that says \"Fluid\", and click
the \"Fluid\" button to enable the function. Set type to \"Domain\". All
the fluid physics will be calculated inside this cube. Also in that tab,
you\'ll see 3 sub-sections, \"Fluid World\", \"Fluid Boundary\" and
\"Fluid Particles\". Each one opens a different set of settings. These
will be explained as they become important.

Under \"Time\" you can adjust how many seconds the fluid animation will
take. Due to this you should change the \"End\" frame to \"96\", under
the \"Timeline\", because the standard setting is \"4\". You can also
change it how you like.

To make the other objects go into the \"Wireframe\" viewport.

!Domain\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\

## The Fluid

As a basic start up for your experiments with fluid simulation, I am
going to take you through a small demo in which we drop an object into a
pool of water, creating a splash. To do this, we need a fluid object and
an obstacle object. For the fluid, create another cube, scaled down to
cover the bottom of your domain. Make a rectangle, that hovers just
inside the domain and is half as high as the domain. Enable this object
in fluid simulation also and set type to \"fluid\". When we start to
bake the fluids, this will be set up as your liquid.

Let us go over what you have now. You have your starting cube, with
fluid physics and type \"domain\", and will be referred to as
\"Domain\". Inside this is the rectangle that will cover the bottom of
your Domain , which is the liquid. The liquid will be a different object
with the type \"Fluid\".

!Fluid\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\

## The Obstacle

Create a third object which we will call \"Obstacle\". This will be the
object dropped into the water, and will be described further in the
explanation. Give it an IPO/Animation to drop into the water, and enable
it as \--you guessed it\-- an obstacle (click the \"fluid\" button, in
physics, and set type to \"obstacle\").

Set up the animation in the front/side views, not the top view. The
z-axis is where gravity works.

!Obstacle\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\

## Baking Fluids

Now we get to see what it all looks like. Select the domain object, and
find the big button that says \"BAKE\" under \"Physics\" - \"Fluid\". If
you want to use a bake again, don\'t choose a temporary location,
otherwise you\'ll have to bake it all over again. Press it. Be patient,
blender has to bake this simulation, something like it would render the
final product. The loading bar of this baking will stay in the bar at
the top of the screen with the blender logo. If at any time you feel
that you want to abort this process, press \"Esc\". Once the bake is
finished, click under the \"Timeline\" on the play button. You should be
able to view the full simulation.

!Bake\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\

## Finishing touch

Blender will make your water its default opaque grey, unless you set its
color. A good way to make realistic, clear water (as well as glass for
that matter) is to edit the color, then apply a simple mirror effect
plus transparency effect. After your water has rendered, select the
domain in object mode. This selects the liquid in the frame you have
just added. in the \"Materials\" tab (if when you click on this, the
colors settings are not up, just press add new under the only panel
there). Go to the \"Mirror\" section, play around with the settings
until you get what you fancy. Suitable settings include Reflectivity to
0.1 for water, 0.15 for glass, set depth to 7; Under the Transparency
section, click on Raytrace and set IOR to 1.3 for water, 1.5 for glass;
Then set the Alpha value to 0.1 while adding an appropriate color under
the \"Diffuse\" section, like: \"6279E7\". I should do the same for the
\"Fluid\"

!Simulation\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\

## Other Fluid Objects

There are other incredibly useful types of fluid objects like \"inflow\"
and \"outflow\". The both of these do exactly what they sound like.
Inflow objects pour more fluid into the scene, and outflow objects drain
it away.

