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

Effectors

Effector objects offer a way to add collisions to your simulation. These types of objects can be any mesh. To add an effector object, select any mesh. Then, in the Physics panel, select Fluid | Type | Effector.

There are two types of effectors in Mantaflow: Collisions and Guides. We learned about Guides earlier, so let’s select Collision. Let’s go over the four settings:

  • Sample Substeps is very similar to Substeps for the flow object. If you have a fast-moving collision, it’s recommended to turn this value up; otherwise, you might get some inaccuracies.
  • Surface Thickness is the area around the object that will be considered a collision. Higher values will result in fluid colliding further from the surface.
  • Use Effector enables or disables the effector. This can be useful for animating the collisions and turning them off and on.
  • Again, if your effector is non-manifold, then make sure Is Planar is checked. This will help Blender get...