Simulating a huge battle scene in blender

[@thetommyshades5347]

This is such a masterclass in combining complex techniques with messy shortcuts. You know exactly where to put your time and where you need to save it. Well done man, well done.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man! I really appreciate that! I agree, and I think that is what makes it so much fun to make stuff like this :)

[@kazielbonn]

This looks really amazing. I bet I'm not the only one that would greatly appreciate a more in depth tutorial on the technical parts of the particle system and how you setup the nodes. Pretty please.

[@Mr_sibo828]

yeah it would be nice

[@max-uc5do]

It almost looks like a high budget movie scene.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man! It would be cool to do a scene with real extras and do the background soldiers like this. I think it might work!

[@Justin_Black]

@@AlbinThorburn Ohh that's a good idea!

[@rato_yes]

@@AlbinThorburn Hey, could you make a more in-depth video on the geometry nodes you used?

[@CGDive]

This is by far the most advanced large scale crowd sim I've seen done in Blender! Amazing job figuring out how to create interactions between the actors. I wish I was that clever. I did not even notice the glitches you mentioned. The one thing that did bother me was that nobody gets hurt in the whole sim haha But regardless, awesome work there!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! Yeah it took some thinking to make it work... I don't really understand blender geo nodes so I just had to guess my way to it...

[@nikkmitchell]

I predict this channel going to a million subscribers in just a couple more epic projects like this.

[@LivingVoxelAmbience]

I tried that with the different animations too and gave up, thinking it was impossible. This is really the most advanced Blender crowd simulation i´ve ever seen.

[@AlbinThorburn]

I gave up many times too haha! Glad I had the help of a friend of mine who understand geo nodes better than me.

[@IamSH1VA]

This crazy guy made crowd simulation inside Blender using GN 🤯🤯 13:30 Archers & foot soldiers look super realistic. Only because of speed, horse-riders looks bit off. But in final render due to motion blur + smoke/dust it isn't that much noticeable.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man! Yeah you’re right about the horses. But yeh you come a long way by just hiding mistakes 😂👍

[@cabriocat]

you constantly hitting the save file shortcut.. I feel you :D

[@ironmaiden795]

This is awesome! Something that might make it look more realistic/exciting is adding some dying animations to each character. A rider getting thrown off a horse, orcs dying in fights, and just bodies on the ground will make it look cool

[@AlbinThorburn]

Yeah that would be brutal! Really wanted to do this, but I couldn't figure out how to "trigger" an animation when a particle died :(

[@millie2079]

This entire video is fantastic. The bit that really made me grin was the archers! you prove in this video that it's the artist with the vision and the tool helps realise that. You are up there with the likes of Cartesian Caramel as a Blender demigod 🙏🏻 you two should combine talents and make some mad alien inspired battle scene.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Man you are too kind. I'll have to check his channel out! Thank you for the beautiful comment

[@JohnnyDavila]

One of the best i've ever seen on KZbin! Congrats!! I'd love the watch a indepth tutorial on blending the animations

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man! Glad you liked it :D

[@FoundAndExplained]

Another amazing video!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man!

[@SudinJoseph]

Jesus Christ that looks amazing

[@AlbinThorburn]

Cheers man thank you!

[@jesusfreak2017]

The distant shots are the best. To improve it you’d have to randomize the run cycles so they’re not all in perfect sync. Horses are definitely the most noticeable with their run cycle and being out of sync with their speed. Really good proof of concept though 🙂

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! I'm glad you see potential in the concept and those are some great points to work on :)

[@adacskipper]

Amazing job!! Funnily enough what stuck out the most to me was the yelling; it was very obvious it was the same yell played over and over again. Just goes to show how important sound is to sell the effect!

[@BenMartinBox]

Nice job! Blender particle system is full of problems but you did get a very nice result. Awesome!

[@FunnyAmprsar]

Damn dude! You've improved a lot.. Like a lotta lot. Legit looks like a scene from a movie. That's soo good.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man! I wouldn't say it would cut it for a feature film or something... But maybe for an indie short film it could be killer!

[@ericluna_]

Actually one of the best results I’ve seen on KZbin and I watch tutorials everyday

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man! Glad you liked the final result :)

[@DECODEDVFX]

So cool. Using geo-nodes to blend the animations was a great idea.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! I’m glad you found it interesting 😊

[@BlenderDaily]

amazing work! love it! 👏🏻

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@ericluna_]

results are insaneee. If you dropped a course on this I’d buy it. Super interested in learning this

[@cleanvisuals]

i love this video!!!!!!!!!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Well thank you! I'm glad to hear that :)

[@mattl7117]

This look amazing! Thank you for sharing your workflow.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you!

[@AgustinCaniglia1992]

the final scene could use some swords sound fx, but other than that, amazing work.

[@FlickDeep]

Nice work! 👍👍👍

[@Mr_sibo828]

wow this is amazing i cant believe that the final render was 3d

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! I really appreciate that

[@Shaadwz]

The only thing that seems to be missing from the scene is a death idle animation when a character has been hit several times, otherwise bravo for the models/textures. I don't know if it's possible with the nodes system tho Good idea to add dust!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Dude yeah, that would have added so much! The problem was that I couldn't figure out how to get the animation to "play" on death, since it's an instance so the falling animation wouldn't line up... Might find some sneaky workaround in the future!

[@MCCROSB]

Genius usage of GN!

[@digicinematic]

Wow. Just... WOW!!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you :D

[@VisualPixelsCG]

It looks super good

[@M.I.F..]

Very nice looking!

[@GaryParris]

think you did a good job, we as artists chastise ourselves too much nothing is perfect, and yes you can spend forever tweaking etc. but that is a lot done on a single computer, i remember when one moving charachter for a short clip on a screen took a Silicon Graphics workstation months to do! blender and a gaming pc is pretty powerful now!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man! Like you touched on I think it's better to finish a project, and then move on, and not fixate too much on it being perfect. You take all the stuff you learned into the next one, and with time it gets slightly better!

[@vinodpeiris8212]

I'm watching "The last kingdom" these days and seeing this video made me really happy!!! Just brilliant mate!!! Appreciate all the hard work you have done!!! ❤❤

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man! I see you've been subbed for two years, thank you so much for the support! Real OG

[@vinodpeiris8212]

@@AlbinThorburn Always Brother!!! That's exactly when I dropped out from university to become a freelancer xD learned a lot from you since then!! keep up the good work!!!

[@AlbinThorburn]

@@vinodpeiris8212 That's awesome man! I hope you're doing great!

[@realblenderassassin]

I love your videos keep it up, man ❤

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! I really appreciate it :)

[@OttomaniaGaming]

I get my place before the video blows up!

[@bUildYT]

yea, wish this was a crypto coin lol

[@OttomaniaGaming]

@@bUildYT lol

[@AlbinThorburn]

Hahah thank you man, I like your positivity!

[@Malindu-dazz]

This is excellent. But I personally thinks whet it comes to real movie or animation, It must need manually animated unique animations for closeup shots.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Yeah man! In the movies they had real extras for the closest like 80 soldiers. It would be cool to try putting more detailed animated characters in the foreground to get a similar effect!

[@IworkatHERE]

When You have money, and add inset the real shot of real people a few scenes! this will make it like a High budget movie.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Damn I want to make a fantasy short film now... I actually made some medieval armor stuff when I was younger, it's a blast. Maybe I should try it again and combine with vfx.

[@IworkatHERE]

@@AlbinThorburn Yes bro! You should do, send me some short for animation part, I am happy to help!

[@videopro__]

This is amazinggg !! Except that no one is dying but this still looks too good !!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Ey you know I gotta keep it pg13! Just kidding, I just couldn't figure out how to do it haha

[@videopro__]

@ still looks amazing regardless!!

[@BenjaminWick-n6s]

damn bro tis is Amazing

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man! I appreciate it :)

[@orcanimal]

This is a great overview!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! Glad you liked it :)

[@dawerchaudhary9682]

Great work! can you please share your pc specifications ?

[@AdrianAdajar]

Yooo how long did this take?

[@AdrianAdajar]

And is it ok to not use those hand thingies? The smart glove ones?

[@AlbinThorburn]

Took maybe 20 hours to do the final scene but a lot longer to figure out the geo nodes setup:)

[@AlbinThorburn]

You mean using only the suit? Yeah of course!

[@AdrianAdajar]

@@AlbinThorburn ok ty

[@AdrianAdajar]

@@AlbinThorburn but if no gadgets at all, only pc it's ok? Or is it harder?

[@thecompletegraphics]

Marvellous 👏👏👏

[@Artemon-lu7mw]

cool battle, not a single participant was injured))😁.... but seriously, my respect, then my computer starts to freeze when there are more than five participants... and here

[@AlbinThorburn]

No 3d people were harmed in the making of this video ;)

[@sierrafoxtrot1331]

You could probably achieve some nice results with Unreal's PCG now that we can use Nanite on skeletal mesh as well

[@AlbinThorburn]

You can!?? Damn I have to look into that

[@sierrafoxtrot1331]

@@AlbinThorburn Indeed. Also check out the new Mutable sample for generating characters in mass! I am exploring it today myself and it is a gem. Regardless, great work keep it up.

[@neillpretorius]

Thank you so much for this look into your process, I am busy with a similar task but with Wilderbeast crossing the Serengeti hense how I found your video :) Is there any chance you could elaborate on the following as it would really make things clearer for me to be able to implement a similar system. 1. Setting up the Boid Particle system. (I have this 90% working using a Separate, Avoid Collision, and Goal, the boids seem to do waves of motion moving forward so not smoothly all moving as a group) 2. Please could you elaborate on your use of the "Particle instance modifier" I am assuming that this is to give the Geonodes something to act on as it wont calculate the particle system directly? 3. Please could you dive deeper into your Geonode system that you created using simulation nodes 4. and finally...just to elaborate how you managed to create a smoke sim using per particle. (I tried to make out what was in your outliner, but alas some finer details werent visible) Thank you, apologies for the long post :)

[@AlbinThorburn]

Shoot me your email and I'll send over the blend file and a short instruction video!

[@neillpretorius]

@@AlbinThorburn I am so grateful thank you Albin!

[@boltzstudio7136]

Really great test for this scene...please make a detaild tutorial.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! I might make a more in-depth tutorial in the future :)

[@aagamjeejain]

It was first time watching you and you are inspiring, hey can you help me, im tring to reproduce the setup you did from day one of this video And i didn't understood how you made the soldier to automatically switch animation when they are close to enemy or standing individually after instancing on points? And did you calculated the velocity or how you used the data from particles if used?

[@AlbinThorburn]

Pivoting to making more entertaining videos on this channel to drive higher retention rates. But I can make more in depth content on my discord channel :) I’ll let you know when I publish it if you’re interested in joining.

[@aagamjeejain]

@@AlbinThorburn i would love to join, but i believe it's paid and im a student short on you know hope you understand, well i would be grateful to you if you could help me with just hint of node setup or the logic of it to achieve the auto switch between animation, or if you could provide any material, or video reference, i would be thankful🙏🏻

[@AlbinThorburn]

@@aagamjeejain I got you bro, send an email to [e-mail] and I'll send some the blend file over.

[@reginamndii]

Please make blender course, I want to learn it from you.

[@reginamndii]

ofc a payed one

[@RealGaryGibson]

Amazing!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man!

[@comebackguy8892]

Please let them actually be fighting... Please let them be fighting 🤞

[@comebackguy8892]

They did fight 🙂

[@AlbinThorburn]

Hahaha yeah kinda! :)

[@Amzodt]

can you pls share your blender 3d models?

[@lonewolf-vw9wf]

can you give the blend file pls

[@karthikditya4297]

Amazing

[@ShyamChaniyara]

Ur PC is cooked💀

[@leoulouchlamperz1055]

ok, I subscribed

[@AlbinThorburn]

Awesome thank you!

[@cihatfg]

Awesome

[@emb_music_official]

Loks pretty cool. Do you think you could approach the same way for space battles like some scifi stuff?

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! Yeah man, totally! You could probably do like a starwars dogfight scene with the flying boids.

[@cg.man_aka_kevin]

Bro, if you render that at slower framerate like 24, THAT IS BETTER AND FAR MORE PHOTOREALISTIC!!!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man that's a great tip! I totally overlooked that.

[@cg.man_aka_kevin]

Btw, I'm also quite shocked that you have color blindness?!

[@AlbinThorburn]

@@cg.man_aka_kevin yeah man its rough 😭 I always have to rely on other people for the colouring when doing professional projects 😫

[@cg.man_aka_kevin]

@@AlbinThorburn Keep it up, you're amazing! We need to collaborate maybe in the future is possible...

[@AlbinThorburn]

Dude yeah! That would be awesome 🙌

[@vipul3571]

The animation is very good, but need some money shots

[@AlbinThorburn]

Dude, yeah! Your comment made me realize, it's not the huge amount of soldiers, it's the feeling of the individual characters in relation to the size of the battlefield that is meaningful.

[@vipul3571]

@AlbinThorburn yes, you have a spirit of making huge war scene, try harder, try better, I am also 3d artist, I wil try this with your help🫡

[@AlbinThorburn]

@@vipul3571 imagine a 3d short film with a huge battle in it… like you said if you would animate the individual main characters fighting it would be sooo cool

[@vipul3571]

@AlbinThorburn very impressive, I want to see, also want to make my own series 😉, but I am not capable now, currently, but story is already in my mind, one day I will...

[@eshwarvikist5395]

how long it takes to render in blender ?

[@AlbinThorburn]

I think it took like 8 hours or so... Not sure tho since I like to render overnight. Cheers!

[@_jsonV]

Sick video! I learned quite a few cool techniques. The end result isn't perfect, especially if you focus on specific orcs fighting, but I'm certain this technique can be paired with additional characters fighting in the foreground where the viewers attention can be drawn instead. How long did the scene take to render and with what hardware?

[@AlbinThorburn]

Not sure how long the render times was but I rendered overnight two times. Using an rtx 3070. But render times can be improved so much if you play around with certain settings.

[@davidthorburn7127]

It’s truly amazing to see what you’re able to create! This project is huge and you make it look easy!!! Beautiful result all in all! ❤ I’m very proud of you dear son!

[@AlbinThorburn]

THANKS

[@s.patterson5698]

What's your computer specs?

[@DannyshRosli]

AH MAN ! I WISH IT WAS 24 FPS !

[@AlbinThorburn]

Hhaaha I overlooked the fact that it was 30 fps so hard. I think it automatically changed when I imported the mocap data, and since I always leave it on 24 I have no habit of checking it.

[@mauddip3Ds]

This not a battle, just npc run)

[@AlbinThorburn]

Next time I’ll add in some attack animations 🥲 maybe even archers firing arrows

[@RuhCay]

amazing work man

[@alexsweatman3565]

CG geek inspired?

[@AlbinThorburn]

Yessir 😊

[@JW4NE]

well done buddy

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you!

[@polymir9053]

Great video and I love your channel, but given how similar this video is to CGGeek's, I feel like you should have at least mentioned that as an inspiration. I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't rewatching the same video...

[@AlbinThorburn]

I’m flattered that you thought it might be a cg geek video ❤️ he has obviously figured out this KZbin thing!

[@polymir9053]

Yikes... ​@@AlbinThorburn

[@AlbinThorburn]

@@polymir9053 bro it’s not that similar get over it 👍

[@msreality6718]

Wild!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you!

[@S9universe]

💪💪💪💪💪

[@lonewolf-vw9wf]

plese make it again but slow, too fast for beginer

[@moustachecat1658]

otimo video :)

[@kart43]

I think the final animation is too smooth because you render in 30fps but your animation is too realistic😊

[@AlbinThorburn]

Great point, but how did you know my framerate???xD

[@kart43]

@AlbinThorburn because in ending video part showing clearly 30fps set

[@henrykrinkle9703]

I'd be interested to see a version without those letterboxed black bars. Fullscreen can be cinematic too! even 4:3

[@AlbinThorburn]

True true true I just did it to hide some of the weird stuff, like the feet sliding

[@higuys6523]

Watched this and sighed man I ain’t talented for jack

[@OfficialYoutubeAlgorithm]

You should exchange subs with CG Geek, I think your content is more passionate and high cuality, I think you should have many more subs, I just have find your channel, going to eat all your videos, keep the good stuff🙏❤

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! I think he's great and deserves every single subscriber he has! Super happy you like my videos so far

[@OfficialYoutubeAlgorithm]

@AlbinThorburn Maybe I'm just jealous of him having more subs than you, I think your stuff is excelent, I see you at WETA or ILM in a few years hahak♥️

[@RLCDECALS]

Bro you just copied CG Geek idea and script too! be creative.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Why wouldn’t I be inspired by him? He’s great!

[@RLCDECALS]

@ inspiration is a thing, this is a theift.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Alright bro 👍

[@BasheerShaik-yh5bx]

​@@RLCDECALSbruh you are too harsh