How I Destroyed the Leaning Tower of Pisa (IT) - Blender Non Tutorial

Full Breakdown of how I destroyed the Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italy - La Torre di Pisa) using mainly Blender vfx simulations!
LINKS:
PATREON
/ raffovfx
(if you are looking to do something like this, just search "pisa tower" in my patreon, there is a post with a list of tutorials useful for this purpose.
RBDLAB ADDON:
blendermarket.com/products/rb...
(using this link is helpful for this channel, I will get a small percentage but the price doesnt change for you)
EMBERGEN
jangafx.com/software/embergen/
PRODUCTION CRATE
www.productioncrate.com/
INSTAGRAM
/ raffo_vfx
TIMESTAMP
00:00 tracking and reconstruction
00:40 cleanplate
1:03 tower model
2:25 fracture
4:00 physics
4:30 constraints
5:30 activators
6:42 particles
8:35 smoke
9:57 additional details
10:27 compositing
10:39 final result

[@RaffoVFX]

PATREON for support and tutorials! www.patreon.com/RaffoVFX

[@pizola3285]

Even though I just use Houdini I like how Blender is caching up with these addons. I used to help the rbdLab guys with some notes regarding constraints. I am glad they are doing good :D

[@RaffoVFX]

thanks for contributing! The work behind the whole constraints system in the addon is just next level ! However, Im always wondering, from where da hell they took inspiration when they created Houdini ? xD

[@pizola3285]

@@RaffoVFX they probably took inspiration from wizards or smth hahahaah

[@LandHooman]

Oh hey

[@pizola3285]

@@LandHooman So long

[@AmberSantana-is3dq]

Blender has surpassed Houdini

[@RedHedDes]

Yoooo yes, amazing video. I love your use of blender as a compositing tool- I think it often goes underutilized how easy it is to mix 2d and 3D, especially with eevee renders.

[@RaffoVFX]

thank you for your feedback :) mixing 2d and 3d elements especially has a lot of potential

[@faustoart]

amazing job, love the result!!

[@RaffoVFX]

Thank you! Should do more of these:)

[@dudagfx]

I recently started learning RDB Lab and i'm constantly amazed at the ammount of control it gives. Videos like this one are super helpful and eye opening!

[@RaffoVFX]

Thank you very much, much appreciated. RBD Lab is loads of fun !

[@user-sl309jd90]

Good work! It's odd at the beginning how the pieces just pop out suddenly. The smoke also comes out too abruptly at the end. It should rather spread much earlier before the crumbling rocks are shown. Another thing could be also the smoke seems to be too fast and heavy in a way that they look like dry ice on a smaller scale like table. I would also remove the mid scale turbulence(or slow down the noise speed) and increase fine scale disturbance a lot. Instead you could art direct big chunks of smoke blooms to prevent them from evenly spreading maybe. Lastly they dissipate too fast in my view

[@ProductionCrate]

absolutely awesome video, packed with so many great tools and workflow tips

[@RaffoVFX]

thank you! You rock!

[@marioCazares]

Great result!

[@RaffoVFX]

much thanks:)

[@user-wf1lc5xg4p]

man you change everything on my mind. what a legend

[@RaffoVFX]

Glad to hear that!:)

[@user-so1wd9cj2y]

amazing tutorial mate

[@RaffoVFX]

Thanks a ton!

[@francescof.3317]

Great job!

[@RaffoVFX]

thank you! 🙏

[@dude3d]

That’s cool my friend ❤️

[@RaffoVFX]

glad you like it!

[@ShivKachiwala]

Wow! Amazing work! Thanks for sharing your workflow!

[@RaffoVFX]

my pleasure!

[@parthchotaliya3468]

awsome!!!! KEEP PUSHING

[@RaffoVFX]

much thanks:) next I want to do some massive destructions lol

[@yuniorfrometa4749]

amazing video

[@RaffoVFX]

Thanks!

[@malorum]

This is amazing! Great work! If it's supposed to be like a drone/helicopter shot I might even slow down the camera a bit and then put a muffled delay on the sound of the tower collapsing maybe just a dull boom. But that's just a sound thing, the VFX are amazing. Blender is amazing!

[@gioeleranallo2524]

Sei fortissimo, grande

[@RaffoVFX]

grazie mille:)

[@09591000]

Just Awesome. 🍻

[@RaffoVFX]

Thanks ✌️

[@tedonieuwenhuis6707]

amazing!

[@RaffoVFX]

much thanks:)

[@FunnyAmped]

This is crazy level stuff, wottt

[@RaffoVFX]

thanks :) this was so fun to make

[@visartema]

Amazing VFX man. If you could have only added car alarms FX after the bang, it would a cherry on the top. Bravo!

[@RaffoVFX]

True that, thank you!

[@dbcontre]

SO COOL!

[@RaffoVFX]

much thanks :)

[@antonios5572]

Bellissimo!

[@RaffoVFX]

grazie mille :)

[@lokosstratos7192]

how cool is that!

[@RaffoVFX]

thank you :)

[@deusmax]

che capata! belllo

[@RaffoVFX]

grazie :)

[@kunemann]

This tutorial is of amazing quality! Thank you very much!

[@RaffoVFX]

thank you, much appreciated:)

[@AneeshArts]

Final Result sure Worth the Work!! Awesome Work!!

[@RaffoVFX]

much thanks:)

[@evansojuka1399]

Amazing❤❤❤

[@RaffoVFX]

thank you!

[@crypt0sFX]

Very nice breakdown!

[@RaffoVFX]

much thanks :)

[@stefanotoneatto9045]

Awesome, great job!

[@RaffoVFX]

much thanks:)

[@AKVisuals]

Damn this is alot of work but the result def was worth it!

[@RaffoVFX]

thanks :) the process is actuallty a lot of fun. The hard part is making a breakdown like this!

[@AKVisuals]

oh yea i can imagine the process of reverse enginerring a bunch of project files haha @@RaffoVFX

[@bUildYT]

Very very cool, do u know a tutorial where every single klick is shown? For example im and ex porting things in out embergen?

[@JHMFX]

Cool!!

[@RaffoVFX]

thanks man!

[@EarthquakeSim]

Interesting video!! I will have to start learning the new version of Blender for my earthquake simulations :) so far I've only been using Blender 2.7 because it is the only version compatible with a code extension I'm working with for BCB and ground shaking accelerations

[@RaffoVFX]

following your interesting work since long time:) I cant wait to see what you get once you finally upgrade to the new Blender version!

[@steelej_fx]

btw the problems with the particles goin in the air can be solved with settings the normal speed to 1m/s, this will follow the direction of the other particles/interactions.

[@RaffoVFX]

lol no. Normal velocity makes the problem worse and the final result weird. I set it always on zero.

[@steelej_fx]

@@RaffoVFXi have had opposite experiences but all good!

[@asrafulalam1025]

Excellent job. Love this vdo. I don't know blender and I want to learn, need your help

[@RayOddname]

Sei veramente un grande! God tier tutorials as always!

[@RaffoVFX]

Haha grazie molte:)

[@durgesha89]

Awsome

[@RaffoVFX]

thanks:)

[@Rizippokharel]

Can you suggest any tutorial for Blender to embergen workflow similar to yours? Cuz I'm having problems with Exporting alembic file, and inside Embergen too !!

[@dannyaustin-lz6jc]

That's totally awesome!!!!!

[@RaffoVFX]

appreciated, thank you:)

[@crovfx44]

Amazing tutorial, really helpful and detailed. I was just wondering can you add the smoke in embergen based on the moving meshes, on their velocity? I so not want embergen right away to start emitting smoke from all parts of the mesh. Thanks in advance for anyone who will answer.

[@RaffoVFX]

Yes, using frozen particles, they are triggered by the speed of every single piece of your alembic! This is exactly what Im experimenting a lot in the last weeks

[@crovfx44]

@@RaffoVFX Thanks a lot for the answer, I will try and experiment with frozen particles :)

[@StarkRaveness]

Excellent content. I reckon you should render it out with a close-up, all that hard work cant really see the results. :)

[@RaffoVFX]

Thank you:) Well making this work for a decent close up would mean investing 2x the time and computer source unfortunatly

[@gamingnewshacks3652]

awsome

[@RaffoVFX]

thanks:)

[@SumNumber]

Noooo ! I just learned it is not Pizza but Pisa and now you destroy it ! Well....thanks . :O)

[@RaffoVFX]

TORRE DI PIZZA xD omg 🤣

[@SumNumber]

@@RaffoVFX Si ! Monte Bello ! :O)

[@sdhpCH]

Cool result. One suggestion: To add even further realism never forget about the delay with sound that distance creates. You SEE the demolition first, the sound comes a bit later to your ears. So it would be even more realistic if you add a delay to when the sound starts.

[@RaffoVFX]

thanks mmm didnt I put the sound already delayed ?

[@sdhpCH]

@@RaffoVFX Yes you did. At least with the bassy crash sound. Sound travels 333 meters a second. Not too sure that delay is enough though? Nevermind. Awesome job anyways, this is just nitpicking from my side. Don't worry too much about it.

[@RaffoVFX]

@@sdhpCH oh I actually appreciate to hear point of views! Maybe the big impact is correct, and instead the initial small debris falling is just coming too early lol

[@LuBre]

La nuvola di polvere alla fine del crollo è notevole, aggiunge un sacco di realismo

[@MouseGoat]

I mean you work of art is amazing but it also really highlights how hard it is to get CG to look real.

[@RaffoVFX]

so true, cant imagine how many iterations they do in big budget movies (and they still look mostly CGI tbh)

[@itellyouforfree7238]

This is awesome! The speed of the collapse is maybe a bit too fast, but I understand that it helps reduce the render time :D

[@RaffoVFX]

haha its always very tricky to guess a realistic speed for a big scale simulation

[@itellyouforfree7238]

@@RaffoVFX Setting the scale of the simulation right should help. The tower is approximately 57 meters high. If the gravity is also set correctly, then the falling speed should be somehow reasonable i guess

[@RaffoVFX]

@@itellyouforfree7238 here is something curious : 3d simulations of buildings with real life scale in Blender always look too much slow xD so I always tweak a lot the scale togheter with the rigid body world speed, is tricky xD

[@xiarno3373]

What is your node graph for Embergen?

[@alimkotwal5876]

Bro what is your pc specifications 💯

[@ExplorerOfTheGalaxy]

Great! But I think the dust is a lot faster than it should be..

[@RaffoVFX]

true that!

[@lipumohanty3775]

@Raffoo vfx bro do you have a full tutorial on blnder which covers in patreon?

[@RaffoVFX]

What do you mean exactly? my Patreon is full of tutorials, check them out. Mainly about the vfx stuff that I do usually

[@mamunurrashidnahid1007]

can you please provide the footage link?

[@TheFunDimension]

WTF is an “embergen” and the other new stuff. How did you get rid of the smoke with the empty? So many questions!

[@ruisun4729]

💯

[@rajendrameena150]

How you add sound.

[@tobymdev]

Once the fracture is applied i cant find a way to retry another pattern. How do you undo the frature operation?

[@RaffoVFX]

what I do usually is to save a backup file before starting the fracture, is the easiest and most painless way to go back quickly. However, if you need to reuse the original object, you can find a backup in the "originals" collection of rbdlab

[@ocdvfx]

You can sometimes remesh by converting to a volume (VDB) and then converting back to mesh from volume! Great tutorial

[@RaffoVFX]

Thanks:) I didnt say it in the video just to cut the unnecessary, but the thing is: all these solutions with remesh / converting to volume /decimating / retopologyzing and similar techniques... with an object like this would just end up taking too much time, too many vertices, too much different result compared to the original mesh, and so on ( I tried some of them)... not worthy if the problem is just to work faster. So I decided to just fracturing the original geometry, just a bit decimated lol

[@1zymn1]

@@RaffoVFX I just discovered a free program called Instant Meshes that seems to be absolute magic at cleaning up meshes.

[@aleshkovalev]

BOSS

[@RaffoVFX]

thanks :)

[@mohits773]

create combination of rbdlabs and embergen tutorial

[@xhastinlunaj]

Bros ab to be exiled when the Italian government sees this.

[@nathanielrobite3573]

This work is amazing! It is just not for Pisani to see their beloved landmark destroyed...hehe.

[@RaffoVFX]

lol thannks xD

[@aeedits8815]

Really nice workflow! I would suggest to texture the collision objects (with projection mapping) though, to then use them as a reflection. The smoke for example seems a bit out of place, as the grass does not make it appear greenish. If you did that, the VFX would blend in a whole lot better. Alternatively you can always just color grade it in a third party program, but it will not look as good in my opinion.

[@RaffoVFX]

Yeah I always project the footage in my collision objects / shadow catchers / holdouts :) In this case is not really noticeable tho

[@user-eo6rs8tm2q]

I'm subscribing, but I'm new to Blender. where can I see "the world blender"?

[@RaffoVFX]

Just search for "PISA TOWER TUTORIALS LIST" in youtube membership, and read the description. Everytime I upload a tutorial on Patreon it will be posted also on Join Membership in the same day :)

[@red4666]

why doesn't rbd simulation use your gpu?

[@RaffoVFX]

All softwares in the world unfortunatly use the CPU for rigid bodies simulations ... which is very annoying. (Embergen is gpu based, but it doesnt do rigid bodies simulations). Hopefully its now a good time to make a GPU based destructiongen software from scratches, anybody ?

[@rajendrameena150]

How much it took from scratch to finish

[@RaffoVFX]

mmm difficult to say, since I worked on it on spare time

[@arnosti1615]

wow wowowowowowowowwowowowowwowowowowo brrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbravvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvoooo. That is so amazing, i know blender is able to do all

[@RaffoVFX]

haha thanks very much :)

[@GamePlay_452]

Какая у тебя видеокарта

[@vuxanov]

Great work, too bad its barely visible.

[@RaffoVFX]

I agree, infact also I wanted a closer angle... Unfortunatly all the others stock footages available online would have problems with the light, or the camera movement, or duration...so this was the best compromise xD

[@SHTALKS]

Have you a paid Course?

[@RaffoVFX]

hi, tutorials are available in my patreon, check it out!

[@cardboardstudio9684]

Do a tutorial on nuke simulation in ember gen there isn't a good and easy tutorial about it on internet please do it brother liked your video of doing nuke simulation in blender😊

[@MerlinOfAtlantis]

not so trendy now, pisa pushers

[@thai_le_foto]

ugh, I don't understand why it's working fine with you and a kabillion vertices, but mine with less and even some structures with VERY basic set up, keep getting warped with giant chunks or small bubbly chunks all over the place making it unusable and the auto fix doesn't repair them =(

[@RaffoVFX]

thats what I explain in detail in the patreon tutorial!

[@meme_tunnel]

ßlender is getting out hands now😂

[@RaffoVFX]

lol

[@sdados3725]

really cool result!! If I may make a comment, I think the speed of the collapse is a bit too high and this doesn't sit well with the size of the tower. Rest is top notch, well done! A tip: embergen also works veeeeery well as a renderer. You can export the camera from blender and use the mesh as a mask and shadowcaster on the smoke. Works extremely well, the visual results are often better than cycles IMO, and is real time.

[@RaffoVFX]

yeah making compositing / renders in Embergen directly is something that I am studying exactly in this period ! Its a big game changer, but for this time I just didnt feel confident enough so I made it as usual in Blender:) Especially the way fire / emissive maskings look in Embergen has no comparison with Cycles, and not to mention the render times :)

[@rajendrameena150]

Can the rdb lab pluggin simulate the destruction of rcc beam which has steel in it. I mean does it have function to add tensile strength in material.

[@He-Is-One-and-Only]

Wow that's very easy 😂😂😂😂

[@RaffoVFX]

well I would say that is hard only if a person never used Blender

[@Renevas]

people from Livorno like this video

[@RaffoVFX]

l'eterna diatriba!😆

[@danielvanderkaaden8502]

This is awesome!! Btw you can skip the step of realigning the VDB back in blender by connecting the transform input pin on the exportVDB node to the transform output pin on the Import node in Embergen. Then It should bake the transformations you did on the import node into the VDB file.

[@RaffoVFX]

Really! Thats interesting, will try it, thanks!

[@pxrposewithnopurpose5801]

Me who lives in italy 😨

[@RaffoVFX]

hopefully not near the tower xD

[@Vfx-user]

new 9/11

[@fredberhernandez3516]

mmmm buy RBDLAB or eat...

[@veruzzzz]

Great job except the sound design. The sound needs some mastering. It basically ruins (no pun intended) your animation now.

[@RaffoVFX]

If I destroy it for real I get better sound ? :D

[@galaxymind2001]

It's seems almost perfect but I guess that there's a bit of artificiency because of material of the tower. It looks like it's made of plastic or metal. A little too much of metallic sheen from it, I guess. But the work itself is brilliant without a question.

[@RaffoVFX]

true that! the shader would deserve more roughness specific maps something:)

[@leodwivedi]

There is a way to enhance your geometry using AI technology. 🤖 You can utilize a drone 🚁 to capture videos 📹 and pictures 📷 of the area and then convert them through Luma AI. 🌟 This method is simple and saves a considerable amount of time. ⏰

[@RaffoVFX]

Its not that easy to do a drone shot by myself in Pisa, one of the most touristic places of Italy xD but yeah Luma AI is cool

[@grahamthomas9319]

It needs tiny people running away

[@RaffoVFX]

true that, would be fun to add them!

[@magvar]

Architects for 9/11 Truth prove that the two towers wtc1 and 2 couldn't have collapsed without the help of additional energy (explosives). wtc 7 is even more mysterious...could you do this simulation again? With and without explosives?

[@RaffoVFX]

mmm I dont think I will make simulations about the 9/11, but I know that Kostack was working on it since a long time, check their youtube channel

[@yourSPON]

We only call it the "tower of Pisa" it is known that it is leaning, it is like calling for example "the radioactive atomic bomb" it is known that it is radioactive, but it is not called that way 😃

[@hubblefilms4652]

Absolutely no one calls it that, it is very well know as the ‘leaning tower of Pisa’ local or not

[@nokiaairtel5311]

This is not how you promote patreon sir. The bait and switch method no longer works

[@RaffoVFX]

Giving a full breakdown like this completely for free in public is definitly not clickbait. You probably dont even imagine the big effort that there is behind 1 single video like this. Promoting Patreon in the middle is just informing there are more tutorials available for people that are interested in learning what I do. In addition, you probably dont understand that promoting a Patreon is just about getting a small financial support for an enormous work that doesnt have support from any sponsors or similar. Go to tell that in some scam-advertising clickbait for trash android videogames, not here.

[@nokiaairtel5311]

I've never said you to publish anything for free. If you wanna learn how to promote paid content, watch channels like default cube, josh gambrell, cg cookie etc. Your video was like "I'll teach you this cooking recipe, but all the Ingredient Quanity list will be paid", makes no sense to watch the video right. I gave you a feedback and you in turn jump on me. Good luck sir 👍

[@RaffoVFX]

@@nokiaairtel5311 Except, in this video I never said " I will teach you this". This video is clearly just me NARRATING HOW I DID this scene. As this is not enough, is not clear in the title that this is not a tutorial??? LOL 🤣 have a nice day!