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 simulation

Before we get started creating a simulation, make sure to download the Waterfall Setup.blend file. This file includes a basic waterfall model with rock material, a sky texture, and some render settings already in place. If you want to create your own waterfall model, feel free to do that as well!

We will first start out by adding a domain object and setting up all the fluid settings to get the best simulation result! Go ahead and open up the Waterfall Setup.blend file and let’s get started. We’ll follow these next steps:

  1. We have created a couple of simulations already in this book, and the process is pretty similar. The first thing we need to add is a domain to fit the waterfall model. Press Shift + A and add a Cube object. Remember to make the domain just big enough to fit the waterfall model. The following screenshot shows the side view of the domain object:
Figure 4.1 – Side view of domain

Figure 4.1 – Side view of domain

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