In this tutorial I will show you how to use soft body physics to make real-time animations in Blender.
Scene Set Up
The soft body simulation works for any objects that have vertices or control points
I will add a plane under the cube so the cube has something to interact with during the simulation
Under the physics tab, I will add a collision to the plane so the cube doesn’t just pass right through it
In edit mode, I will subdivide the cube a few times
In object mode, I move the cube above the plane and give it some rotation
I select the cube and add a soft body physics to it
When I play the animation, the cube simply bounces in the air
I need to make some changes to the options in order to have the full effect of the soft body physics simulation
Simulation Options
I won’t be going over each of the options in detail because it would make the tutorial too long and needlessly technical
I have given you the link to the Blender manual if you are interested in learning more
The collision collection is a collection that can be used to act as the colliders
The object panel allows you to control the friction, mass, and control points for the object
The simulation panel allows you to control the speed of the simulation
The cache allows you to control the caching of the simulation
Goal gives you the options for setting the stiffness of the object
Edges are the options for controlling how the edges of a mesh act like springs
Self-collision prevents the soft body object from intersecting with itself
The solver panel determines the accuracy of the simulation
Field weights refers to external forces acting upon the soft body physics
Simulation 1
I am going to change my end frame to 90 – I also need to change the simulation end frame to 90 under the cache panel
I will change the cache step to 5 – this is the number of frames between each of the cached frames
I will also activate self-collision and deactivate the goal
Now, when I run the simulation, I see the cube crumple and bounce when it falls onto the plane
Under the edges panel, I change the bending to 0.5 – this controls the connections between a vertex and connected vertices
When I run the simulation, I now see a bouncy cube that looks like Jello
If I change the bending to 5, I now have a less bouncy cube
Simulation 2
I will select the plane and add a collision
I select the first UV sphere and give it a soft body physics
If I run the simulation, notice that the sphere bounces up-and-down in a narrow range
This is due to the goal being activated which is essentially pinning the sphere to the space within the scene
If I turn off the goal and turn on self-collision, when I run the simulation notice that the sphere drops and shatters or acts like cloth once it hits the plane
Under the edges panel, I make some changes to the options
Using these particular options, when I run the simulation notice that the sphere bounces on the plane like a hard rubber ball
Simulation 3
For the second sphere, I turn off the goal option
Under the edges panel, I make some changes to the options
Using these particular options, when I run the simulation notice that the sphere drops and is dented on the bottom where it collides with the plane like a basketball that is losing air
Simulation 4
For the third sphere, I turn off the goal option
Under the edges panel, I make some changes to the options
Using these particular options, when I run the simulation notice that the sphere drops and is dented on the bottom where it collides with the plane like a marshmallow
Simulation 5
For the fourth sphere, I turn off the goal option
Under the edges panel, I make some changes to the options
Using these particular options, when I run the simulation notice that the sphere drops, it becomes almost flattened and turns inside-out like a dropped souffle