Coming soon

VelVDB

Sculpt velocity fields for particles and sims, and bake them to VDB.

Overview

What VelVDB does

VelVDB is a set of three velocity-field tools under one license. Shape flow from your scene's own geometry, add procedural wind and swirls, layer it all together, and bake one world-space velocity .vdb that particles and simulators can read.

The fields preview live in the viewport as arrows or streamlines, and streamlines can be turned into splines. Results repeat exactly, so a sequence bakes the same on any machine and in any order.

What it is: Three geometry helpers (Create > Geometry > Machine3D): VDB MeshVel, VDB Noise Field and VDB Merge.
3ds Max: 3ds Max 2025 and 2027
Works with: Bakes are standard .vdb files, read by VDB Force, M3D Field Force, Phoenix, Thinking Particles and Houdini.
License: One seat per workstation. Render nodes free.

Features

Three tools, one license

VDB MeshVel

Turn any mesh or spline into a sculpted velocity field.

Flow follows the surface's U or V direction, or pushes along its normals.
Fill a shell around open surfaces or the inside of closed ones. Limit it by material ID.
Splines work too, with a radius and a strength-by-distance curve.
A stack of Rules shapes speed and direction by distance, axis, radius, U/V or along the spline, each with its own curve and noise.

VDB Noise Field

Procedural wind and evolving swirls, baked to VDB.

Steady wind with Gusts, Wander and a Speed Ramp.
Noise or smoke-like Curl turbulence, with detail layers.
Swirls that are born, drift, spin and fade, with axes that can face the camera or roll off a surface.
A Calm to Chaotic ramp, Variation and a texture-map input. Ships with presets.

VDB Merge

Layer velocity fields into one.

Stack MeshVel, Noise Field and VDB Force sources as layers.
Combine with Add, Subtract, Multiply, Min, Max, Blend, Replace, Fill Gaps and more, each with a weight.
Mask by mesh inside, near a surface, field speed or field presence, with falloff.
Clamp the result with Speed Scale, Max Speed and smoothing, then bake one .vdb.

VelVDB is coming soon

Want to know when it launches? Drop us a line.

Contact us

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Machine3D

Plugins and tools for 3ds Max, built and used in production.