If you don’t invest enough time in it, you could have the best Pyro simulation setup in the history of computer graphics, but it won’t work if timing and quality of emission are not right. Having a good animation and a good workflow for your Pyro emission usually solves most issues with your sim. This leads to higher efficiency by having faster sims, less I/O, faster render times and less storage needed. An artist should spend more time trying to extract as much detail as possible from a simulation and write only necessary data on disk by optimizing the number and precision of fields needed. Within a production environment, creating such huge files can increase I/O and slow down everyone’s productivity. I often see users write out billions of voxels, hoping to get amazing simulations by just increasing the division size. However, they don't realize that I am just writing simple math, the one that people normally use when they go shopping or when splitting the bill at the restaurant.
When I teach Houdini and Pyro, or when I show my techniques to my colleagues, they often tell me that my code, tools, and micro-solvers are too complicated and that my VEX/VOP skills are too advanced. The second issue is “data pollution” and the third is the emission phase. Firstly, some artists are afraid to experiment and push boundaries.
In my experience, there are 3 main issues in Pyro Simulations.