Legacy How to Run a Test Case

Once you receive an invite to the FLIP Fluids beta, you will be required to run a successful test case before you receive a full version of the FLIP Fluids Beta addon for testing. Running a test case involves running a pre-defined fluid simulation scene and submitting your test case results to the GitHub page. The time required to run a test case simulation ranges from a few minutes to many hours depending on your computer specs and which test scene and resolution (level of simulation detail) that you choose.

Running test cases will help us diagnose hardware compatibility issues and make sure that the simulator is running correctly on your computer. Running test cases will also help us improve and optimize the fluid engine to run better on hardware similar to your system. If you are able, please try to run as many of the test cases as you can.

How to Run a Test Case

This guide will detail how to run and submit a test case.

1. Download and install the FLIP Fluids Test Suite addon

The FLIP Fluid Test Suite is a specialized version of the addon that will help you run pre-defined simulation scenes and export test case results. Your beta invitation email should include a link to the test suite download.

How to Install/Uninstall the Addon

Warning: Only one version of the FLIP Fluids addon may be installed at a time. If you currently have another FLIP Fluids addon installed, it must first be uninstalled. This includes full beta versions of the addon.

2. Download a test case scene

Select a test case simulation scene (.blend file) to run.

• Minimal 'lite' versions of the test case scenes can be downloaded from the test_case_scenes folder on the GitHub project page.
• Complete test case scenes that include packed textures and that are ready to be rendered can be downloaded from the complete_test_case_scenes folder on Dropbox.

Details about each test case scene can be found here: Test Suite Scenes

3. Open and run a test case scene

Open the downloaded test case scene. If the FLIP Fluids Test Suite installed correctly, you should see the test case panel on the right side of the screen under the Blender Physics Properties menu.

Select Test Case Cache Directory: Simulation data files such as meshes and logs will be written to this directory. By default, this directory will be located in the same folder as your downloaded test case scene. WARNING: The cache directory should not be set to a location inside of a Dropbox folder. You may get 'Access Denied' errors when the addon attempts to access cache files that the Dropbox application is also accessing. Select Test Case Resolution: Select one of the preset simulation resolutions. The resolution is the level of detail of the simulation. Higher resolutions will take longer to compute. Run Test Case: This operator will begin 'baking' the simulation. This process may take a few minutes to many hours depending on your system and the selected scene and resolution. It is not required run the entire simulation at once. You may pause the simulation, close Blender, and resume the simulation at your convenience. Wait until the simulation is complete before moving on to the next step. While you wait, you may scroll through the Blender timeline to view your generated meshes! Export Test Case Results: This operator will export a .zip file of your test case results. More on this step is detailed in the next section.

Troubleshooting: I am getting an "Unable to load library: pyfluid" or "blender.exe - Bad Image error". What do I do?

Some testers have reported encountering these errors after clicking the Run Test Case button. This error means that the addon was not able to load the fluid engine library. So far, 100% of these cases have been solved by reinstalling/updating graphics drivers (see issue #6). Please let us know if this fix does not work for you.

4. Export test case results

The previous simulation step may have finished to completion, or the simulator may have stopped with an error. In either case, you should export your test case results.

Select a location to save the test case results: The results will be saved as a .zip file. Please do not change the file name if you can avoid it. Click the Export Test Case button: A popup menu will be displayed. Fill out your system information and click OK to export your results.

5. Submit your test case results

Test case results are to be submitted to the FLIP Fluids issues page.

1. Log in to your GitHub account and navigate to the issues page.
2. Click the New issue button to begin creating an issue.
3. Title the issue [Test Case Results] your_github_username. For example if your GitHub username is rlguy, the issue will be titled: [Test Case Results] rlguy
4. Attach the test case results .zip file. A .zip file may be attached by dragging the file onto the comments textbox. You may attach multiple test case results at a time.
5. Add any additional info/comments and click Submit new issue. This issue will be used to post any future test case results that you run. There is no need to submit duplicate test cases (same scene at same resolution).

After we receive your test case submission, we will review your results and verify that the simulator ran successfully.

You may view an example results issue here: [Test Case Results] FLIPFluidsBetaTester

What happens if my test case simulation ran successfully?

If we determine that your test case ran successfully or without fatal errors, you will receive a build of the FLIP Fluids Beta addon. The build will be located in your password protected Dropbox folder that you received in your beta invite.

What happens if my test case simulation failed?

If we determine that your test case failed, we will begin working with you to diagnose what went wrong and do as much as we can to get the simulator running on your system in a timely manner.

If you run into errors while running a test case, please still export and submit your test case results. In the issue, describe what happened. Try to include any screenshots of error messages that you receive. Check the Blender System Console for errors (On Windows: Blender > Window > Toggle System Console).

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Have any questions? Are any of these instructions unclear? Don't hesitate to let us know! Send us a message at flip.fluids.beta [at] gmail.com