--- title: Use these 5 Chaos Phoenix expert tips to make your archviz scenes amazing description: Chaos’ fluid dynamics simulator can be used for more than just VFX. Phoenix product specialist Georgi Zhekov shares how it can bring archviz projects to life. image: https://blog.chaos.com/hubfs/3D%20rendering%20of%20a%20modern%20beachfront%20resort%20with%20multiple%20pools%2c%20sun%20loungers%2c%20palm%20trees%2c%20and%20shaded%20cabanas.jpg --- [Chaos Logo](https://blog.chaos.com/) - Products - [Enscape](https://www.chaos.com/enscape) - [V-Ray](https://www.chaos.com/vray) - [Corona](https://www.chaos.com/corona) - [Veras](https://chaos.com/veras) - [Cloud](https://chaos.com/credits) - [V-Ray Blender](https://www.chaos.com/vray/blender) - [Arena](https://www.chaos.com/arena) - Industry solutions - [Education](https://www.chaos.com/education/educational-hub) - [Student](https://www.chaos.com/students) - [Educator](https://www.chaos.com/educators) - [Institutions](https://www.chaos.com/educational-institutions) - [Architectural design](https://www.chaos.com/architecture) - [Architectural visualization](https://www.chaos.com/architectural-visualization) - 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Phoenix fluid dynamics simulator enhances archviz by creating realistic fire, water, and smoke effects, adding depth and ambiance to projects. - Fire effects, like candle flames or fireplaces, can be easily created using Phoenix presets and tutorials, enhancing scene warmth and realism. - Kitchen and bathroom scenes benefit from Phoenix's ability to simulate liquids and steam, adding dynamic details like running water or steam. - Fountains and pools are made simple with Phoenix, using particle shaders and ocean textures to create realistic water surfaces and effects. - Beach and ocean scenes come to life with Phoenix's wave simulation and ocean rendering, providing stunning animated water environments.   Want to add a lick of fire to a gas stove? Or give your luxury apartment an infinity pool that rolls out onto the Pacific? [Chaos Phoenix](https://www.chaos.com/phoenix) can help. While it’s made its mark in visual effects for *Hidden Figures,* *Game of Thrones*, and *The Orville,* this fluid dynamics simulator is equally at home in archviz environments. With Phoenix for 3ds Max and Phoenix for Maya, it’s easy to create and control flowing liquids, foams, gasses, flames, and smoke clouds that realistically interact with anything around them. The possibilities for Phoenix in archviz are endless, but here we’ll give you some ideas of how to put it to use. ## 1. Create ambiance using fire Phoenix is great at creating all types of fire — from a candle flame that illuminates the scene, to a cozy fireplace that will add a sense of warmth and comfort to your renders. ### **Use the presets** Making a candle is as easy as selecting an object, applying a [candle simulation preset](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Quick+Simulation+Setup#QuickSimulationSetup-Candle) to it, and running the simulation. ### **Explore the tutorials and example scenes** To add a fireplace to your project, you can take a look at our example scene [here](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Example+Scenes#ExampleScenes-Fireplace). Or, you can follow our fire trails tutorial [here](https://phoenixfd.blogspot.com/2019/07/making-of-fire-trails.html) where we go over the steps of creating a growing fire, based on an animated mask. ## 2. Make your kitchen shine Bringing your kitchen renders to life is all about the little details. Add some liquid to your sink using the [tap water simulation preset](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Quick+Simulation+Setup#QuickSimulationSetup-TapWater) or check our sink example scene [here](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Example+Scenes#ExampleScenes-Sink), which shows how you can make a sink that won’t overflow. ### **Add some details** Light your kitchen stove on fire using the [jet engine simulation preset](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Quick+Simulation+Setup#QuickSimulationSetup-JetEngine), or add some steam to your cookware via the hot steam template scene [here](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Template+Scenes#TemplateScenes-Hotsteam) which shows how to emit wispy smoke from Particle flow particles. ## 3. Upgrade your bathrooms Check out our [example shower scene](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Example+Scenes#ExampleScenes-Shower) to find out how to make a shower and randomize the flow of your liquid. ### **Make it loop** When creating flowing and repeated effects such as water in fountains, hot tubs, or boiling liquid, you can save a pretty significant amount of simulation time by rendering a short looped sequence. In our [Looped bubbles example scene](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Example+Scenes#ExampleScenes-Loopedbubbles) we show you how you can create a looped bubbling liquid. ## 4. Fountains and pools Phoenix is all about making things easy but giving you creative control when needed. In our fountain example scene, we show how you can easily create fountains by emitting liquid from a geometry object and then emulating a whitewater effect by shading the liquid through the [Phoenix Particle Shader](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Particle+Shader+%7C+PHXFoam), which allows you to render particles as bubbles, points, or fog. ### **Use it without simulation** Creating pools can be as easy as applying a [Phoenix Ocean Texture](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Ocean+Texture+%7C+PhoenixFDOceanTex) over a simple plane geometry via the [V-Ray Displacement modifier](https://docs.chaos.com/display/VMAX/VRayDisplacementMod). Then just add a water material over it and you have a procedurally animated water surface. If you wish to bring your pools up a notch, you can make use of our [Active Bodies](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Active+Bodies+Guide) guide and add a few floating beach balls or a boat over the liquid surface. ## 5. Beach and oceans When creating beachside outdoor scenes, sometimes you can get away with a texture for your background. But if you’re making an animation sequence or you want to get the image exactly as you imagine it, having a real beach with waves and foam or a vast ocean surface can produce stunning results. © Polymachine ### **Add some waves and particles** In our [beach waves example scene](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Example+Scenes#ExampleScenes-Beachwaves)you can explore how the [Wave force](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Wave+Force+%7C+WaveForce) can be used to create real simulated waves, which produce foam and splashes. Need a calm ocean in the background? ### **Infinite ocean** Just create a Phoenix liquid simulator, enable the Show mesh option in the [Preview rollout](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Liquid+Preview) so that you can see the mesh in the viewport, then go to the Rendering rollout, change the rendering mode to [Ocean](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Liquid+Rendering#LiquidRendering-Ocean), and enable the Pure Ocean checkbox - this will create a flat ocean surface up to the Ocean Level height. The Pure Ocean mode does not need loaded caches, which makes changing frames and generating an ocean surface very fast. Finally, add a [Phoenix Ocean Texture](https://docs.chaos.com/display/PHX4MAX/Ocean+Texture+%7C+PhoenixFDOceanTex) as a displacement map in the Rendering rollout, and you’re good to go. ### **Go with the flow** We hope you found these tips helpful, and that they will serve as a useful starting point to supercharge your archviz scenes with all that Phoenix has to offer. While we covered several key functionalities like creating fire and smoke, liquids, foam, splashes, and oceans, there are still many more features to discover. Are there any Phoenix workflows you use to make your archviz scenes better? Let us know in the comments below, on the [Chaos Forums](https://forums.chaos.com/forum/phoenix-fd), or via the [Chaos Phoenix Facebook community](https://www.facebook.com/groups/233735903483447), and we’d be happy to include them in our next tips and tricks article. ### Ready to try Chaos products? Start your free trial today and explore all features. [Start Free Trial](https://www.chaos.com/free-trial) Share [mailto:?subject=Use%20these%205%20Chaos%20Phoenix%20expert%20tips%20to%20make%20your%20archviz%20scenes%20amazing&body=Use%20these%205%20Chaos%20Phoenix%20expert%20tips%20to%20make%20your%20archviz%20scenes%20amazing%20https://blog.chaos.com/use-these-5-chaos-phoenix-expert-tips-to-make-your-archviz-scenes-amazing](mailto:?subject=Use%20these%205%20Chaos%20Phoenix%20expert%20tips%20to%20make%20your%20archviz%20scenes%20amazing&body=Use%20these%205%20Chaos%20Phoenix%20expert%20tips%20to%20make%20your%20archviz%20scenes%20amazing%20https://blog.chaos.com/use-these-5-chaos-phoenix-expert-tips-to-make-your-archviz-scenes-amazing) [Architecture](https://blog.chaos.com/tag/architecture) [V-Ray](https://blog.chaos.com/tag/v-ray) [Corona](https://blog.chaos.com/tag/corona) [fluid](https://blog.chaos.com/tag/fluid) [Phoenix](https://blog.chaos.com/tag/phoenix) [ArchViz](https://blog.chaos.com/tag/archviz) Georgi Zhekov Georgi is a CG professional with more than 10 years of experience in the field of fluid simulations and visual effects. Georgi joined the Chaos team in 2013 and since then he’s focused on helping companies and professionals get the best out of Phoenix and the V-Ray rendering engine. ## Related Articles ### [October 6, 2026 Rendering Software for Architects: The Subscription Checklist Zornitsa Meshkova  •  9 min read Read more](https://blog.chaos.com/rendering-software-for-architects-subscription-checklist?hsLang=en) ### [September 29, 2026 From idea to editable model: Veras adds GPT-6 Astra & Claude Opus 5.5 Anna Markova  •  4 min read Read more](https://blog.chaos.com/veras-adds-gpt-6-astra-and-claude-opus-5.5?hsLang=en) ### [September 28, 2026 What 3D Software Should Architecture Students Learn First? A Career-Honest Answer Ana Savova  •  11 min read Read more](https://blog.chaos.com/best-3d-software-architecture-students?hsLang=en) [Visit the blog for more articles](https://blog.chaos.com) ## Subscribe to Our Blog Get the best tips and articles delivered straight to your inbox! 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