Active Nematic Fluids on Riemannian 2-Manifolds

This repository contains the implementation for the paper:

Active Nematic Fluids on Riemannian 2-Manifolds

Cuncheng Zhu, David Saintillan, and Albert Chern

Installation of Houdini

The implementation is created using SideFX Houdini, utilizing its VEX and Python programming capabilities.

• VEX: A C-like shader language in Houdini that operates in a vectorized and multithreaded manner.
• Python: We use numpy and scipy within Houdini’s Python module to access standard numerical linear algebra tools.

Getting Started

Houdini is freely accessible through its Apprentice license. For Houdini installation details and tutorials, please refer to the following resources:

• Houdini Download
• Introduction to Houdini
• Scipy installation

Running the Project

1. Launch nematic.hipnc in Houdini (ensure digial asset nematic.hdanc is available in the same directory).
2. Toggle a visualization node.
3. Press play ▶ to start the simulation.

Attribution

If you use this code in your academic projects, please cite our paper:

@article{zhu2024active,
  title={Active nematic fluids on Riemannian 2-manifolds},
  author={Zhu, Cuncheng and Saintillan, David and Chern, Albert},
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.06044},
  year={2024}
}