GAIA Hydrodynamics research
GAIA is the solver behind new Cloth neXt installations. Separately from the released product, PolyWorks is researching cloth that responds to water: FLIP Fluids simulations pushing fabric through forces computed natively on the GPU.
Status Experimental researchCoupling One-way, fluid to clothIn the current release No
How fluid data reaches the cloth
The fluid simulation is an input. GAIA reads it where the water meets the cloth, turns what it finds into forces, and hands those forces to the cloth solve. Nothing flows back into the fluid.
Research areas
Forces inside the solver
Hydrodynamic forces are computed as part of GAIA rather than approximated with wind or force fields in the Blender scene.
The fluid leads
An existing FLIP Fluids simulation provides the water. Cloth reacts to how that water moves through and around it.
Velocity and wet area
GAIA samples fluid velocity and which regions of the cloth are wet, so only the parts actually in the water are driven.
CUDA alongside the cloth
The force computation runs on the GPU next to the cloth solve, using CUDA on NVIDIA hardware.
Current limitations and open work
GAIA Hydrodynamics is experimental research, not a production feature. Core parts are still unfinished, and the scope may change before anything ships.
| Capability | Research scope |
|---|---|
| Fluid moves cloth (one-way coupling) | In development |
| Surface reconstruction | Not complete |
| Full middle-sequence validation | Not complete |
| Cloth affects the fluid (two-way coupling) | Not supported |
| Hydrostatic pressure | Not supported |
| Buoyancy | Not supported |
| Water absorption and wet fabric weight | Not supported |
| Availability in Cloth neXt releases | Not released; no date announced |