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

Using brushes

Now that we have covered the canvas, let’s discuss the brush and all the ways to customize how it behaves in the simulation!

Settings

Let’s start by looking at the Settings tab:

Figure 12.54 – The Brush settings

Figure 12.54 – The Brush settings

  • Paint Color obviously allows you to change what color is being painted on the canvas. This color can also be animated to create a cool effect, as you saw in Figure 12.27.
  • Alpha controls the transparency of the paint. The lower this value, the more transparent the paint will be:
Figure 12.55 – An example of the Alpha option in action

Figure 12.55 – An example of the Alpha option in action

When using the Weight surface type, this value now controls the weight the brush will paint.

  • Wetness sets how wet the brush will be. You can see the values in the following figure:
Figure 12.56 – An example of the Wetness setting in action

Figure 12.56 – An example of the Wetness setting in action

  • Absolute Alpha deals with transparent...