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

Setting up the scene

First, make sure to download the Raindrop Effect Startup.blend file. You can find the link in the Technical requirements section. This .blend file includes a couple of rocks with nice textures, an HDR for lighting, and a bit of camera animation. Open the file and let’s get started:

  1. Press Shift + A to add a plane object. This is going to be the canvas in our simulation.
  2. We need to scale this plane up so that it fits the scene a bit better. With it selected, you can open the Properties panel and set Dimensions for X and Y to 13 meters. Doing this causes the Scale numbers to change, so let’s press Ctrl/Command + A and click Scale. This will bring those numbers back down to 1.000.
Figure 14.1 – The plane dimensions

Figure 14.1 – The plane dimensions

Setting the scale

When working with dynamic paint, it’s always important to apply scale to your objects, especially if you are working with the displace or waves surface type. When...