Blender Rigid Body Text - #19 Subdivision Surface Modelling in Blender

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A quick break from subdivision surface modelling to show you how I create the falling text in the titles of my videos. Using and controlling rigid bodies in blender is really useful anytime you need something to fall exactly in place. A flipping coin or a rolling dice that needs to end in a very specific place; this tutorial covers the technique you need.
I will put a box up to allow fast forwarding for the repetitive section as soon as I work out how to do that!
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[@Jez2008UK]

You sir are the best. There's nothing more to say, or add. I've watched your other video (about cylinders) and I've seen 'enough'. I've concluded. You're the best. Period. :) (now, to go watch all your videos. Please don't stop creating this content, you are helping 1000's around the world, and please model the Knight chess piece :) ) :)

[@CortVermin]

that felt a little like watching someone over the shoulder. very nice explained!

[@devanshutak25]

To change the size of all the empties together you can select all of them and change the size of one of them while holding Alt. Blender changes the same value in all the selected objects. It works on other properties too!

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you Devanshu Tak. Works perfectly. Great stuff.

[@dvl973]

This is such a useful tip! Thank you

[@manart6506]

I think I knew this but I forgot it.

[@gordonbrinkmann]

And if you want to enter a value by keyboard instead of using the slider, you just have to press Alt when clicking the field of the value, then you can release the Alt key and type in the value. Works in almost all fields.

[@joshhockey9]

For location and rotation you can move the other object(s) to the active object by right clicking on location, rotation, or scale fields and selecting copy all to selected (or single if you just want one). The real advantage of align tools is in the advanced menu, where you can copy dimensions. I'm glad you're showing people a way to quickly align objects like that, this kind of thing is painful and tedious when you're starting out. Before finding align tools I was adding and applying constraints, which was faster than copying individual fields but still very slow. Only learned about the copy all to selected option after I showed align tools to a more experienced friend. Since I avoided the 3D cursor most of the time, I didn't even realize you can press shift+s and pick selection to active until recently.

[@ianmcglasham]

Yes Josh. I did the same for many years. I do still often use the 3d cursor out of habit but the align tools are great.

[@edherdman9973]

Not just a clever trick but a nice introduction to animations in Blender. Even with a vague idea how you were doing this, I needed to see the steps. Thank you!

[@ianmcglasham]

I always love watching someone go through all of the steps myself. Really solidifies even the obvious stuff. Many thanks.

[@sarahb4906]

Wow. Mind blown. I learn so much from these tutorials! Thank you!

[@fabriziolorito]

Great technique.. And you are the Master of the Tutorial makers!

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers Fabrizio!

[@easyblendertuts]

as soon as you said use an empty, the penny dropped, ..... or letter! lol great styuff

[@jerome_guigue]

Pretty simple but amazing... Bravo !

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks Jerome.

[@markokovacevic3225]

My favorite blender teacher! Always great seeing your uploads! :) Thank you for sharing sir Ian!

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you Marko!

[@manart6506]

I enjoy this videos a lot. I see them more than once even if I remember the teaching.

[@dvl973]

I'm looking forward to these as if my life depended on it lol. One thing that blows my mind every time is the speed and accuracy at which you can work on all those steps, seemingly without any cuts, you both do it, talk about it and don't make a mistake at the same time at lightspeed! I can barely think that fast!!! :D

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks S/\LT!! I can't do it that quickly unless I am saying everything I do as I go. If I'm not talking out loud it takes me ages. Really annoying for anyone who has to work beside me.

[@rigotux]

Hello, Thank you for all these great videos. Another way to modify the empties size: in blender 3.3.2, select all empties, right click, in the menu, select Adjust Empty Display Size, move the mouse horizontally, done!

[@ianmcglasham]

Oh nice! Thank you. Great tip.

[@aliensoup2420]

To align the Rigid Body animation to the final desired resting position it would be useful to have a scripted command "Offset Animation to Deltas". This would eliminate the need for a 2nd copy of the object. Before creating the Rigid Body simulation, Apply the final position to the Delta Transforms. After the simulation is baked into animation curves, a simple script could offset the animation curves to the Delta positions, and zero the delta values. This can be done manually without a script, by offsetting each animation curve using "G Y (delta value - final value). Or even simpler - copy the final transform value in the Object Properties Transforms, then in each Delta type after the Delta value "- (paste value)". This will offset each transform channel back to their original position.

[@ianmcglasham]

Hmmmm. Yes! This sounds great. Can you write it? I think this would be a really useful add-on. I have a process to do this for soft body and cloth animations too(which is a MUCH more complicated process) and I think your idea would be useful within that too! Love it.

[@aliensoup2420]

@@ianmcglasham I could probably script it, but I don't know how to create an AddOn. Reread my original comment, I just added a simpler alternative for offsetting the animation curves, which might be easy enough without the script.

[@aliensoup2420]

@@ianmcglasham I tried to make a quick script that seems to work. After you bake the simulation to keyframes, go to the final resting frame of the animation. Copy/Paste this script into a New document in the script editor. Select the object then run the script. This assumes, of course, you have properly set the Transforms to Delta before creating the Rigid Body simulation. This must be done individually for each object. It could be scripted to loop through all the objects in one go, but I'm too lazy to do that. Keep in mind, this script does not modify the animation keyframes - it only adjusts the Delta Transforms that reposition the animation. If you exported the animation as is, it probably would not look correct. import bpy bpy.context.object.delta_location[0] = bpy.context.object.delta_location[0] - bpy.context.object.location[0] bpy.context.object.delta_location[1] = bpy.context.object.delta_location[1] - bpy.context.object.location[1] bpy.context.object.delta_location[2] = bpy.context.object.delta_location[2] - bpy.context.object.location[2] bpy.context.object.delta_rotation_euler[0] = bpy.context.object.delta_rotation_euler[0] - bpy.context.object.rotation_euler[0] bpy.context.object.delta_rotation_euler[1] = bpy.context.object.delta_rotation_euler[1] - bpy.context.object.rotation_euler[1] bpy.context.object.delta_rotation_euler[2] = bpy.context.object.delta_rotation_euler[2] - bpy.context.object.rotation_euler[2]

[@ianmcglasham]

@@aliensoup2420 I really like it. I would probably use it under in conjunction with the parent empties to add an additional layer of complexity and control. Im going to have a solid play with your technique. Many thanks.

[@tjc7815]

Many thanks for another fantastic tutorial Ian. It`s so interesting and informative to watch you do what you do. I wondered myself how you did the intro to your videos so this is so good to see. Re the chess pieces... I`ve now done several different models and one very different set (not including the Knight as I don`t know how to model the horse yet.) Several different Rooks, Queens and Pawns. Some very different from the usual chess piece types but all done following your tutorials. I just need to know how to add nice materials to them now. Really enjoying learning how to do this and, following your instructions, the models look really good. Very much looking forward to more from you. Cheers. 👍

[@ianmcglasham]

Fantastic! I am delighted to hear that you have made the chess pieces so far! Not long now to the knight! just get the King out of the way which is pretty simple. I will cover materials after that!

[@tjc7815]

@@ianmcglasham Looking forward to it all. 👍

[@Chronolich]

Brilliant video as always! You can change the size of all the empties at once by selecting them all, going into the empty properties, select size and add a value, then hold down the ALT key and pressing enter. The ALT key is used to translate the value being edited across all objects.

[@ianmcglasham]

Fantastic Chronolich. Great tip. Many thanks.

[@dazecm]

Wow. I've just added this entire subd playlist to my library as THE place to refer to as the best explanation of the benefits of subd surfaces and modelling on the KZbins so far. I had lots of 'aha' moments that have really improved my understanding. Ian does a fabulous job justifying the need for great topology and clearly presenting the Blender tools you need to achieve it. Thanks for sharing Ian. I get the impression Ian has years of experience and deep technical knowledge of subd surfaces and good topology. Keep this up and you should see your subscriber count rising quickly. I also have a new-found respect for the Inset and Outset tools :)

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you so much Darren. I do worry that I bang on about topology too much sometimes! I am obsessed!

[@manart6506]

Great. I also was wondering how to do this. This is very useful animation… explanation and process are Pro and simple as usual. Great x 2.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks Man art! Good to see you here.

[@pragashtrincomalee934]

thank you

[@redratpetrax]

Perfect with reapiting get in the head nice

[@gordonbrinkmann]

Unfortunately there's not a really good way of getting rid of the black lines from the lights. You can either disable Viewport Overlays > Objects > Extras, but this will also hide the camera and the empties although the origins will still be shown if you select them in the outliner and you can still move them around etc., or go to the Object Types Visibility dropdown menu and disable Lights. Then they are completely invisible and cannot be moved in the viewport, but you still see their light in Rendered View. This might be helpful if you have many lights in the scene and want to disable their overlay visibility (and selectability) all at once.

[@kmansourkhaled3408]

select all the empty and in change size field press and hold ALT put any Number and it will change it for all

[@fullyleaded]

WOOHOO! FIRST COMMENT! I was just about to log off for the day as well. What a pleasant surprise! Thank you. :)

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers Fully Leaded! A bit of a break from modelling. Not a subdivision surface in sight!

[@sudipto30]

Beautiful tutorial , loved it

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you so much sudipto. It really means a lot to hear it.

[@mhc19881010]

thanks forsharing

[@vallphol]

When i align the empty with the second D it doesn't stick to the animation, it continues in the same place but with a line between both of them. How can i solve this?

[@ianmcglasham]

Hi Badluck abuser. At which point in the video are you having this problem? It is probably the order you are selecting things when you are parenting to the empty. That is one of the tricky parts! things have to be selected in a very specific order to keep it all working.

[@pvdl11]

Great video again. RE text, it would also be interesting to learn how best to engrave text on 3D objects (for example a logo on a ring etc.).

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you Paul. Engraving text into a 3d object can be absurdly complex or really simple depending on your needs. I will look into a good all purpose solution and make a video on that at some point!

[@pvdl11]

@@ianmcglasham Hi Ian, my problem is that I need to engrave a sharp font (word written in capital letters) on the outside of a smooth rounded cylinder (the font style has to stay exactly the same). And subdivision modifier needs to work with it. My question on stackexchange is entitled: "How can I retopologize engraved text (or object with engraved text), so that a subdivision modifier can be applied?". Is this just a really annoying retoplogy work? Or am I missing something obvious? See question for details. Would be grateful for any hints you can give.

[@ianmcglasham]

@@pvdl11 Hi Paul. It is going to be a tricky retopology job. Cylinders are really difficult to work with. What I would try first is to cut the text out of a flat shape like a flattened cube. Do any retopology I needed on this surface - much simpler when it is not curved - Then I would roll the flat surface up into a cylinder shape. The important thing is that the loops running around the cross section be even. That is the main challenge. Certainly possible though!

[@pvdl11]

@@ianmcglasham Thanks a lot for your answer. One quick follow up: What is the best way to get the engraving onto the cube? Problem is that its hard to apply loop cuts once you knife profect it onto the cube.

[@ianmcglasham]

@@pvdl11 Hi Paul. If I was doing it properly, i would create the text a little like I did in my "Text retopology" video ( I would actually use a more advanced method but I haven't made a video on that yet! - coming soon!). Then - rather than cutting it out of a cube - I would build the cube around the letters using the edges ( i would make the edges of the letters in exactly the same way I descried making the "patch" in my "Boolean" video)! Starting to sound a bit complicated I feel. It is a fair bit of work but not that complicated! I would only use these methods if I needed really slow camera moves running really, really close to the engraved text. I've not done this exact thing before and now that I think about it i have never really seen a good example of it! It is definitely possible though!

[@NPObousai]

I love you(〃ﾟ3ﾟ〃)Thankyou sooo much

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you Ke S. Glad you like it!🌹It was your question that made me make this!

[@blender_tommy]

First thank you for this tutorial, great tips. Now for some reason when I align the arrow to the final position and run the animation, the baked one doesn't fall as intended, instead it's moved randomly in space, sometimes under the floor. I've tried applying the Scale/Rotation/Location to the letter before I start doing the whole thing and it doesn't work, tried doing it without applying it and still goes to wherever it wants, not to the original starting point at the top out of camera view. DK how many times I've watched this video, followed and paused on each step to see if I'm missing something and still don't get the proper result. Thanks in advance to help me clarify the issue. BTW I've tried moving the pivot point to Center Mass(Volume), Center Mass (Surface) and still nothing seems to work

[@ianmcglasham]

Hi blender_tommy1441. It is hard to say without seeing your blend file. You could send it to me at [e-mail] or post a video but the problem is most likely to be the order you are selecting things when moving and parenting them. It is essential that things are selected in a very exact order and I often have to undo a few steps myself when i am going too quickly and select the wrong things in the wrong order! if you want me to take a look at your blend file- I will be happy to.

[@blender_tommy]

@@ianmcglasham thanks for your reply, let me setup something similar to the project I'm trying to get the "droppage" to work as it's a logo for a friend and I don't have the permission to show or share it yet, and I will send it to you. Cheers

[@joe_fabricator]

Odd thing happening. Tried a couple letters but after going thru the steps and I hit play, they don't drop from above....they come in from the side.....Thoughts?

[@ianmcglasham]

Hmm. Hi Joe. I can't repeat the problem but I can imagine it might be something to do with applying rotation or something really arcane like the 3d cursor being rotated unusually. If you are still interested you can send me a blend file.and I'll have a good look at it!

[@joe_fabricator]

@@ianmcglasham Hi Ian. Thanks for the reply. I'll try it again and let you know how it goes. If it does the same thing, I'll send you the file. Hope you're well.

[@Quran_3113]

i want saund effetes pls

[@ianmcglasham]

Hi W.P.I LAETH. Unfortunately I don't have the rights to share the sound effects!