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

Animating the brush

To get started with this tutorial, make sure to download the Paint Brush Startup.blend file. You can find a link to this in the Technical requirements section. This file includes a basic model of a paintbrush and an HDR for lighting.

Figure 13.1 – Paintbrush model

Figure 13.1 – Paintbrush model

The first step is to add a curve object. This is going to be the path for the brush to follow while it paints on the canvas! Let’s go ahead and get started:

  1. Press Shift + A, go to Curve, and select Bezier Curve. You can also press F2 and rename this curve so that it’s easier to find later!
  2. Go to the Edit mode with the curve selected. From here, you will be able to select the points on either end of the curve and rotate, scale, and move them however you like. You can also press E to extrude, and this will add more points to the curve. Feel free to customize this path however you like! But also, make sure that the curve is not floating above...