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In my "free time" I do some pro-bono graphic design work for a small non-for profit theatre company in town. For an upcoming show (2 months away) they would like a graphic with a big "splash" of water. Day to day all I ever do is architectural visualization so I have no experience with fluid simulators and don't anticipate ever using one again. Still it seams like it could be fun to try, and every other piece I've done for them has taught me something new.

So what should I learn and use:

Trial Version of Real Flow. Do it and never look back, risk falling in love and buying something that I won't use again.
Blender. Maybe this would be a good time to download it and learn some new tricks, free and I hear it has a good fluid sim.
Max. Learn to work with particle flow and maybe gain a skill that I can use again, since I use Max often and particles can be used for lots of things.

The gaol is a photoreal splash of water landing on 3D text.

If you use max often and particles can be used for many things, and it could be beneficial for you in the future then sounds like you've already answered your question.

Except that I don't know if particles can create something photoreal and if the learning curve is short enough for one month of after hours time. I was hoping that someone here had used all 3 and could compare.

RealFlow [and rendered in Maxwell] is for sure the best route to a quality image IMHO.............that said, the RF demo is 'not for commercial use' but if you're doing the job for free you might be ok. I'd run an email past Victor just to be sure.

I've dabbled with Blender's fluid sim, looks great but isn't quite in the same league as RF.........not so easy to get ahandle on either if your new to this kind of thing.

Good luck.

Glu3D for 3dsmax is also a fluidsim thingy which could do the job, but if it's only a one-timer then it might not be wise to spend pennies on it if you never have any use of it again..

/ Max