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Thank you team so @Cerberaand @keppn much for this support..i have been away for personal affairs but im so glad for this support and im beginning to work on it. will give feedback on the progress made

Turbulence FD will give you what you need and be a complete package in that you do NOT need to purchase a 3rd party renderer. Personally, though I have found it very hard to get good rendering results out of TFD if you want something more than just smoke. Very hard to get those wonderful high luminance flames turning to smoke as the simulations evolve. it can be done, but I have yet to find the tutorial that guides me through the process. If you want to stick with R20 AND still feel the need to get a 3rd party renderer, then may I suggest X-particles. The cost is only (625 - 439) $214 more than TFD but you get a whole suite of other tools along with it, plus training, materials, and pre-sets. Plus you get particles, fluids, liquids, grains, etc. I would imagine you want your explosions to break up something so a particle system may be in order. RS already has a preset for accepting XP density and temperature channel data. Oh, and while every other part of the Fused collection is a subscription, X-Particles is a perpetual license. Now, if you are going to purchase a 3rd party renderer, then may I also suggest just signing on for R2023 which comes with both Pyro and RS. Both are EXTREMELY easy to use (IMHO). The other advantage of XP and Pyro over TFD is that they deal with an industry standard VDB files for caching. TFD uses its own standard and to render TFD using other renderers entails a secondary conversion step of the TFD's format into VDB files. So my recommendations are: TFD - For the least money --- but could be harder to get acceptable results given its funky (IMHO) rendering process should you want a good transition from fire to smoke with all nice luminance values. Fused: Lots of power that will give you all that you need but for more money. But, while it also requires a subscription into a 3rd party renderer, it does keep you out of subscriptions for C4D and XP. C4D R2023 - One stop shop for the same cost increase as going with Fused but you save on the cost of a 3rd party renderer as RS comes with R2023. Also very easy to use. The downside is that you are now fully vested into a subscription program. Dave

For MY workflow I disagree with point 6. I prefer using stand alone programs to create my sims because they run much faster allowing me to be more productive. I can set up a typical sim in an hour or two but it's the fine tuning that can take forever to get right. Making those adjustments in a stand alone program (Houdini, EmberGen) will be much faster than making them within C4D, hands down. We all have our preferred workflows so whatever works for you, go for it!

The point of my post was future shock. 20 years ago, I never thought a robot could never walk on 2 legs. 10 years ago, I never thought they could bring dead actors back to life or de-age them to their 20's. 5 years ago, I never thought software could create amazing art. 2 years ago, I never thought an AI system could write a term paper. My key takeaway from the AI/robotic videos is that AI researchers are beginning to decode how living creatures "perceive" themselves. Is that the first step to independent sentience? Not sure, but the potential repercussions of that research many years down the road do give me cause for concern. So, rather than get caught up in the amazing developments in robots and AI, I keep wondering what will the next 10 years bring? I do find the union of AI and robotics to be very interesting and an opportunity for the betterment of mankind. I am even more hopeful about AI, nanorobots and medicine. I also think it will be great day when all vehicles are self-driving and under the same control of an AI traffic system. Imagine a world with no traffic jams and highway accidents. Imagine what the interiors of cars would be like in that world? Would they look more like small living rooms with couches so you can take a nap because you know you will get to your destination completely safe in all weather conditions? That would be awesome! So as with all technology, there is an upside potential that we are all eager to buy into. Unfortunately, all technology also has a downside. When you look out 10, 15 or 20 years, there is something to be concerned about when you combine AI and the internet in an uncontrolled way --- particularly if that AI system can so flawlessly replicate human speech, human language, human appearance in that distant future. I do agree with your point about how an AI system is determined based on what information it is fed. Feed it hateful writings and it will give you hate speech. Feed it sci-fi apocalyptic visions and it will give you a gloomy prediction on the future. What data the AI is based on is something that will be hard to control so it is hard to say that all AI systems will be benign or only developed by people who want to serve mankind. It would be pretty naive to think that global bad actors/dictators will be staying out of the AI pool forever. My concern is simple over our future in 20, 15 or even 10 years from now: What are the dangers of combining a malevolent AI system with the technological advancements in replicating human image and voice and then putting that combination on the internet to give it a global platform as well as access to a massive source of information? Do you really think that we can control the deployment of such a system that NEVER becomes a major "influencer" on social media over the next 10 years? What would your reaction be today if you find out that someone you trust and follow on YouTube today was not actually a person but a program? I cannot say with any level of certainty that will NOT happen in 10 to 20 years. Also, that reach may not be just through social media platforms. It could be more personal like text and email or posts to your favorite blogs. Today's phishing schemes are getting better and better.... think of how sophisticated they will be in 10 years if directed by an AI system that has absorbed and processed all available information on you from the internet. People will be fooled. They will be scammed for money (a given), but even more frightening is if they are tricked to give the AI system more access to information that bad actors can then use to harm society (e.g., access to that highway system keeping cars safe on the road). Also, identity theft takes on a whole new meaning in 10 years should the software be able to replicate you flawlessly doing whatever it desires and then hack that video into a security camera system. Yea....all this great technology that makes us jump up and scream "what a time to be alive!" also has a downside that "may" reveal itself in the distant future (or sooner). Thus, my future shock. Dave

I'm searching for old threads using key words but it isn't showing any results. Is it 'broken' or am I doing something stupid?