Bounce, Tumble, and Splash! : Simulating the Physical World with Blender 3D

by Mullen, Tony; Coumans, Erwin

• ISBN13: 9780470192801
• ISBN10: 0470192801
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-30
• Publisher: Sybex

Summary

With more than 2 million downloads in a year, Blender is the premier free, open source 3D software that allows artists to create oceans, flames, cloth, hair, and other physical attributes from the real world No other title offers step-by-step instructions on Blender's more complex features while showcasing the unique objects and characters that can be created in Blender The friendly but professional tone focuses on visual examples in full color and provides clear, in-depth explanations of how each specific step was taken and why each choice was made Serious practitioners of CG who are interested in learning more advanced skills will be pleasantly surprised by the sophisticated coverage of Blender's fluid simulation system and all of its latest features Reviews the Bullet physics engine, which handles a variety of physics simulations such as rigid body dynamics and rag doll physics

Author Biography

Tony Mullen, PhD, teaches at Tsuda College, Tokyo, where his courses include modeling and animation with Blender as well as the Python programming language. Mullen has been a cartoonist and an illustrator and has a broad background in CG-related work. His screen credits include writer, codirector, or lead animator on several short films, including the award-winning Gustav Braüstache shorts. He is also the author of Introducing Character Animation with Blender (Sybex).

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Re-creating the World: An Overview

Re-creating the Physical World with Blender

Blender's Physical Simulation Functionality

The Science of Simulation

Nonsimulation Tools and Techniques

Using Materials and Textures

Hot Lava with Material Nodes

Transparency and Subsurface Scattering

Sky Maps

Faking Physics with General Tools

Modeling Bodies of Water by Using Modifiers and Textures

Faking a Cloth Flag by Using a Displacement Modifier

Creating a Poseable Spring by Using an Array Modifier, Shape Keys, and PyDrivers

The Nitty-Gritty on Particles

Introducing Particles

Setting Particle Parameters

Using the Physics Tab

Setting Visualization Options

Using the Extras Tab

Using Force Fields and Deflection

Working with Dynamic Particles

Creating Fire and Smoke

The BB vs. the Crystal Ball: Using the Explode Modifier

Boids!Setting Up the Boids System

Working with Goals and Predators

Creating a Simple Flying Bird

Getting Flexible with Soft Bodies and Cloth

Getting the Hard Facts on Soft Bodies

Understanding Soft Body Basics

Baking

Animating a Spring with Soft Bodies

Using Force Fields and Collision

Working with Soft Bodies and Curves

Using Stress-Mapped Textures for Rubbery Surfaces

Getting Jiggly with Lattices

Simulating Cloth and Clothing

Putting Some Clothes on Mancandy

Learning More about Cloth

Demolition!

Hair Essentials: The Long and Short of Strand Particles

Introducing Blender Hair

Setting Up a Hair Simulation

Creating Clumping, Roughness, and Kink

Texture Mapping

Lighting and Rendering

A Trip to the Beauty Salon

Preparing the Mesh

Editing Hair Particles

Releasing Your Inner Hairdresser

More Tips and Tricks for Controlling Hair

Soft Bodies and Hair

Other Uses for "Hair" Particles

Making a Splash with Fluids

Using the Blender Fluid Simulator

Getting Started with Fluids

Inflow and Outflow

Time, Size, and Resolution

Particles

Obstacles and Animation

Animated Obstacles

Getting the Shot

Strawberries and Milk

Bottle of Pop

Rushing Creek

Delving Further into Fluids

Ipo Animation

Scripts and Exporting

Exploring Further Resources

Bullet Physics and the Blender Game Engine

The Blender Game Engine

Getting Started with BGE.Using Ipos and Actions in BGE.Rigid Body Simulation and Ipos

Baking Game Ipos

Frame Rate and Simulation Speed

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+P.Actor Parameters, Boundaries, and Hull Types

General Tips on Working with Bullet

Joints, Ragdolls, and Robots

Using Rigid Body Joint Constraints

Using Generic (6DoF) Joints

Setting Up a Ragdoll Armature

Controlling an Armature

A Passive-Walking Robot

Further Resources

Imitation of Life: Simulating Trees and Plants

The Blender Greenhouse: Creating Foliage with L-Systems and ngPlant

L-Systems.ngPlant

Other Software

An Open Source Ivy Generator

A Few More Points to Mention

Tips for Creating an Outdoor Scene

The Importance of Observation

Appendix About the Companion CD.What You'll Find on the CD

Blender l2.46 Software

System Requirements

Using the CD.Troubleshooting

Customer Care

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.