What advantages do such hybrid methods offer over traditional grid-based or particle-based solvers?
Side Effects: While stability and implicit surfacing stand out as key advantages of the volume approach to fluids, complex grid-based simulations still involve particles in many cases. A typical example would be the use of marker particles to track the surface or the addition of vortex particles to track additional turbulence. Particles used this method to enrich the effect and lend themselves more naturally to art direction: an essential requirement in production. With its modular and integrated architecture, Houdini is able to mix physical correctness with art direction in a seamless way. The familiarity of particles makes them attractive to VFX artists and developers alike. On the other hand, pure particle-based solutions do not always handle bulk flow well. This is because particle-to-particle forces have to propagate through the system, leading to excessive sub-stepping. Furthermore, the highly varying topology of interacting particles can cause problems for stiff springs, making
