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

Creating the campfire simulation

To get a head start on this chapter, we have already created a 3D model of a campfire called Campfire Setup.blend for you to download. This .blend file includes some logs, rocks, and materials already in place; that way, we can jump straight into creating the simulation.

When you open the Campfire Setup.blend file, you will notice that the campfire is very large. The reason for that is because Blender doesn’t simulate very well at a small scale and can cause you problems. We’ve had problems where the fire fills up the entire domain, then the fire looks very noisy and the bake will take a super long time. In general, it’s usually a good idea to simulate at a large scale.

What if you already created a scene at a small scale? Well, a solution for that would be to create a simulation in another blend file, then import that simulation as a volume object. At that point, you will be able to scale down the fire and move it anywhere...