Book Image

Learn Blender Simulations the Right Way

By : Stephen Pearson
2 (2)
Book Image

Learn Blender Simulations the Right Way

2 (2)
By: Stephen Pearson

Overview of this book

Blender is a free, open source 3D software that allows you to create stunning visual graphics, animation, VFX, and much more! This book is an in-depth guide to creating realistic and eye-catching simulations, understanding the various settings and options around their creation, and learning how to troubleshoot solutions to your own Blender problems. In addition, this book can also be used to simulate the behavior of certain physics effects, such as fire, fluid, soft bodies, and rigid bodies. You’ll learn how to use Mantaflow, an open source framework within Blender software, to create fire, smoke, and fluid simulations. As you progress, you’ll understand how to easily produce satisfying rigid and soft body simulations, along with cloth simulations. Finally, you’ll use Dynamic Paint, Blender’s modifier, and the physics system to create eye-catching animations. By the end of this Blender book, you’ll have created a number of animations on your own, such as a campfire, waterfalls, and explosions. You’ll also have gained a deeper understanding of all the simulation options in Blender, which you can use to create portfolio-ready animations.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1: Using Mantaflow for Fire, Smoke, and Fluids
7
Part 2: Simulating Physics with Soft Bodies and Cloth
12
Part 3: Diving into Rigid Bodies
15
Part 4: Understanding Dynamic Paint in Blender

Adding the objects

The first thing we need to decide is how big we want the flag to be. The size of the flag also depends on the height of the flagpole. For example, a pole that is 6 meters or 20 feet would have a flag that is about 91 x 152 centimeters or 3 x 5 feet. The taller the flagpole, the bigger the flag should be. With that in mind, let’s go ahead and get started with this tutorial.

Creating the flag

For this tutorial, we are going to be creating a flag that is 91 cm x 152 cm. So, to create it, follow these steps:

  1. Open a new scene in Blender. You can also go ahead and delete the default cube; we won’t need that for this scene.
  2. Press Shift + A and add in a plane object. Next, set the dimensions by opening the Properties panel by pressing N and then setting Dimensions to 1.52 m for the X axis and 0.91 m for the Y axis.
Figure 9.2 – Flag dimensions

Figure 9.2 – Flag dimensions

  1. Let’s also rotate this plane by 90 degrees so...