Flow Illustrator Stand Alone Version (Windows Only)

[ChazInMT]

The new Stand alone windows version of Flow Illustrator is now available.

I have been messing with it for about an hour, here's what I know so far.

It is Windows only....Please don't go making this a "Why isn't it in MAC or UNIX or whatever" Thread...Start your own! I'll flag any whining about this as abuse and ask that your post be removed.

That aside, it is very basic. You only have a Velocity and Viscosity setting to mess with. But it works well. There is no way I know of now to make a "You Tube" video out of it, there may be a way to "screen capture?" the vid and make it work, but it isn't an option now. If someone has a way to do this, by all means post it!!

You probably want to run a premade image that comes with Flow Illustrator first to see it work, the sports car is pretty cool.

As far as loading your own image, it looks like the smaller the image, the "faster" it goes. You put whatever .bmp or .JPG file you have into the Images folder that comes with the program, and then open it by entering as I did for my civic2004.bmp file, I did only the pink bit "Enter filename: images\civic2004.bmp".

If you do it wrong, it just shuts the program down, no biggy, just restart it. If you do it right.....Ooooo Pretty picture!!! If your image is small, the controls may be out of frame, just click on what you want to change and it will come into frame.

I point this out cause it took me a while to figure that out, and the instructions are a bit lacking.

You have to shut the program down and restart any time you want to change your image. It is very small so it only takes an instant.

I'm finding that setting Velocity at 120 and Viscosity at 45 it looks like it should on my Honda Civic bitmap image. I have a 840 x 420 sized pic and a 420 x 210 version. When the bigger one is up, it slows the program and looks sluggish compared to the small one, but both images at the 120/45 settings look the same. (Maybe 600 X 300 would be a happy compromise between syrupy and small)


If you want to talk about it, or have questions, I think this forum would be a great central clearing house for it. I'll do my best to answer questions as will, I'm sure, other savvy folks who will use this little tool.

So here is the link, and I make this disclaimer LOUD AND CLEAR:

This is a very early Beta version of the software and IT IS FREE. Someone worked their butt off to make this available, so don't go hunting down the creator and making them regret putting this out there by making a bunch of requests, or any complaints. If you don't like it, don't use it. Delete keys are on most keyboards.

So for now, here ya go.

(Message I got)

The first Windows version of the stand-alone Flow Illustrator is available for download. We hope to improve it with your help. The software is intended to be easy to use, and this is why we do not provide many explanations. Please try and report your experiences to this list.

The program is available from Blah blah blah The file will be deleted on 09/12/2011 15:19:40

It is an archive. Open it and read the manual.

Thanks to Michael who made this possible.

Best regards Sergei

December 12, 2012 Here is the new website for Flow Illustrator with the program available:

Interactive Flow Illustrator Web Page

Fun Stuff!!! Hope you all enjoy this!

Charlie

[CigaR007]

Woohoo ! Kudos to the people that made this possible !

[Sven7]

I'm going to have to check this out later.

[cfg83]

ChazInMT -

Thanks Michael, you rock!



CarloSW2

[onefstek]

I used it to make a few potential changes to the race car. Looks like it would help to get you on the right track.

Stefan

[capnbass91]

This is so awesome! I know it's not perfect, but according to it a downward sloped spoiler that extends about 1/2 of a foot past the end of my car would decrease the enormous vacuum I got going on right now immensely.

[deathtrain]

screen shots guys !!!!

[CigaR007]

Here are some screenshots ! Been having fun for the past hour or so.

[ChazInMT]

Here is a screen shot of my Civic, no mods. I used the settings 120 and 44 because it makes the flow look how I think it should for my car. Notice the flow becomes detached at the top of my rear window, and then skips off the back of my trunk lid.

This is what I am 95% sure is what is happening, so these settings approximate what air really does. I recommend you use these settings when you want to have an idea of how your vehicle will behave as well.

My image size is 600 X 300.

You'll notice as well that I have the body of the car at its apprx height off the ground with no wheels. This simulates in 2D, so keeping the wheels on will only lets you see how the air would flow under your car if it had 5 foot wide tires like a steam roller. You really want to depict the centerline of your car, so that's why I have the little axle bumps there.

The interaction of the air going under the car with the air going over the top is important. As well, the air going over the top behaves very differently depending on where it is in relationship to the ground. The solid black line across the bottom is my ground plane which I added on there to act as the "street". Not sure if the program recognizes the bottom of the screen as a "ground" so that's why I do it.

I also put the car forward in the frame to see what the air is doing in the wake, I really don't care about the front. This is what I think you should try and replicate if you want a reasonably meaningful look at how your project will affect airflow.

Here is a stock 4dr Echo with the same "treatment" and settings.

[Sven7]

Oh man oh man I'm so psyched about this!

Do you think one could accurately model plan view flow as well? I don't see why not, and it could help illustrate the need for wheel covers and skirts.