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

Flow objects

Flow objects are used to either add smoke/fluid to the simulation or remove it, and they must be within the domain bounding box to work properly. To add a flow object to the simulation, just select any mesh. Then, in the Physics panel, select Fluid | Type | Flow.

Let’s go through the settings for the flow object and learn about each one:

  • There are four Flow Types we can add:
    • Smoke will only emit smoke into the domain.
    • Smoke + Fire will emit both smoke and fire into the domain.
    • Fire will only emit fire. Keep in mind that a little bit of smoke will be emitted from the burnt fuel. If you only want fire, set Flame Smoke in the domain to 0.
    • Liquid, of course, will emit fluid into the domain.
  • Flow Behavior controls how the flow will interact with the simulation:
    • Inflow will constantly add fluid/smoke to the simulation.
    • Outflow will remove any fluid/smoke it touches from the simulation. This can be useful for creating a drain or vacuum or to prevent the entire...