Fire simulation: Audiences feel the heat from realistic fire

Yes. Various fire simulation programs—such as Autodesk Maya—can simulate fire for entertainment media without the cost, labor, risk, and physical damage of filming real fires.

The building industry also uses realistic fire simulation software. Architects, safety engineers, and other professionals simulate fire to analyze its impact on buildings and infrastructure. For example, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s software programs FDS and Smokeview use fire dynamics simulators to help predict fire spread patterns and formulate evacuation plans.

You can simulate fire in animation with specialized 3D animation software to re-create the behavior of smoke, gases, and fire.

For fire simulation, artists input variables such as the flame shape and size, density, intensity, color, flame radius, spread angle, speed, temperature, turbulence, and lifespan. The fire simulation also accounts for the fire’s surroundings, such as the temperature and movement of the surrounding air. Artists can also combine the fire with other corresponding effects like smoke, sparks, and explosive destruction.