Is it possible to put an image on a liquid body?

Question

I'm trying to get a melting effect of an image by making a viscous liquid cube but I can't find any way to arrange a UV to the liquid. Is there a way around it?

Does this answer your question? How to attach colors (e.g., gradient color) to fluid particles — Markus von Broady, Mar 09 '21 at 16:52
I think that's obsolete, might be wrong though. I don't see a way to use textures from that information. Anyways: Just in case you didn't get notified, I added a few more tips you could try. — Frederik Steinmetz, Mar 09 '21 at 19:59

Frederik Steinmetz · Answer 1 · 2021-03-09T19:51:18.807

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You can use a UV project modifier. It can make an empty act as projector to beam an image onto an object.

This does the same thing as going into Edit Mode, looking at your object from above and choose Unwrap -> From View. However it does work with objects that don't even have/support a UV map.

EDIT: If you are not dead set on using a fluid animation, I would suggest Dynamic Paint waves. You can combine brushes that paint maps (as mask for your image) and a different brush to make waves. For further information I'd need a reference of what you are trying to achieve.

Also: You can try using a shrinkwrap modifier on a UV-Unwrapped plane that follows your fluid surface.

edited Mar 09 '21 at 19:51

answered Mar 09 '21 at 17:08

Frederik Steinmetz

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I think the user is interested in having the image melt away along with the object deforming as it deforms. UV project doesn't seem to support this, and UVs are unavailable for fluids – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Mar 09 '21 at 17:45
Right didn't think about that. See my edits. – Frederik Steinmetz Mar 09 '21 at 19:49
I think the shrinkwrap can work, I'm going to try it out, thanx – Albert Hofmann Mar 10 '21 at 01:06

james_t · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-09T22:28:34.253

I've not figured out how to map and image directly onto the surface of a liquid domain mesh, but such a mesh could break into pieces and be quite complicated and distorting at times.

The following uses a cube that is subdivided (think of this as a cloth) and shrink-wrapped onto the liquid domain (with mesh enabled). Let me know if this is of interest or what you're thinking. I'm not sure how it will perform if the liquid divides -- probably not very well. The image I chose is of a lilly-pad, which also has some alpha masking (see-through areas). Here is an image: A youtube link to the video of resulting rendering, and example blend file:

I think this is exactly what I need, I'm going to try it out, thanx — Albert Hofmann, Mar 10 '21 at 01:03

Is it possible to put an image on a liquid body?

2 Answers2