Requirements and installation
What VecFlow runs on, how to install the extension's zip, and how to update or remove it.
What it runs on
| Blender | 5.2 or newer |
| Windows | 64-bit (x64) |
| Linux | 64-bit (x64), with glibc 2.28 or newer: most distributions from 2019 on |
| macOS | Macs with Apple silicon (M1 and newer), macOS 11 or newer. Macs with Intel processors are not supported |
One zip holds VecFlow for all three systems, so the same file installs anywhere.
Baking on a graphics card
Every simulation bakes on the CPU. On Windows and Linux, a bake can also run on an NVIDIA graphics card, which is much faster for big simulations:
- an NVIDIA RTX 20 series card or newer, or a GTX 16 series card;
- with an NVIDIA driver of the 580 series or newer.
A bake gives the same result on the CPU and on the card, so a scene baked on one computer looks the same baked on another. Macs bake on the CPU. Other graphics cards (AMD, Intel) aren't used: those computers bake on the CPU too.
When there is no card VecFlow can use, Bake Settings says why, in words: no NVIDIA card, a card older than the RTX 20 series, or a driver that's too old ("Update the driver, or bake on the CPU"). See Compute: CPU and GPU.
Install
You need the extension's zip file, vecflow-0.1.0.zip.
Open the extensions
In Blender, open EditPreferencesGet Extensions.
Install the zip
Click the ⌄ menu at the top right of the Preferences window and pick Install from Disk…, then choose the zip. You can also drag the zip from your file browser onto the Blender window.
Allow it to write files
Blender lists what the extension asks for. VecFlow asks for one permission, files: "Write baked particle caches to disk". A bake is written to disk, so VecFlow can't work without it.
Find it
VecFlow is on as soon as it's installed. In the 3D Viewport, press N to open the sidebar and pick the VecFlow tab. With nothing selected, it shows New Simulation: the starters, to make your first one. See A tour of the interface for the rest.
NVIDIA Flow comes with it
The Windows and Linux parts include NVIDIA Flow, a second solver for smoke
and fire that you can pick in the Smoke and Fire panel. Its licence is
NVIDIA's, and ships inside the extension (in its nvflow folder).
Update to a new version
Install the new zip the same way: Install from Disk… replaces the old version. Then restart Blender, so the new engine is the one loaded.
Your scenes and bakes are kept. A new version may change what a bake depends on; if a simulation's status says "Changed since the bake" after an update, bake it again.
Remove it
In EditPreferencesGet Extensions, find VecFlow, open its ⌄ menu and pick Uninstall.
Bakes stay where they were written, in each project's vecflow_cache
folder. Delete those folders yourself to free the space. Files you made keep
their particles objects and their settings, so installing VecFlow again picks
them up as they were.
Where it works
Limits
- Intel Macs aren't supported.
- GPU bakes need an NVIDIA card on Windows or Linux; everything else bakes on the CPU.
- NVIDIA Flow runs on Windows and Linux only.
See Limits and known gaps for the rest.