Realistic building destruction effects in blender

Timestamps:
00:00 - intro
00:33 - building the apartment
04:36 - fracturing
08:13 - adding physics
09:58 - simulating
10:43 - adding particles
13:25 - outro

[@DJChappie001]

You can tell this is a pro Blender tutorial by deleting the cube first to immediately spawn a new cube.

[@AlbinThorburn]

;)

[@thekaiser4333]

@@AlbinThorburn - Why do you want building destruction?! Are you mentally ill?

[@fash604]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@CoreRealm]

BRUH, WHY IS THIS EVERYONE? 😂😂😂

[@RoyalDog214]

Step 1: Delete Cube Step 2: Add New Cube

[@Ben-st5si]

Damn that video was soo good! I have not really done much Blender work but I will definetely do that one in the next couple of days! Keep up the work!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! Good luck with your blender journey

[@theleagueofwhitekidswither8472]

Prob one of the best blender tutorials I have ever seen

[@muffo1965]

Wonderful, tutorial. Thank you very much!

[@muslim9189]

WOW 🥺 waiting for this type of tutorial for a long and you made it Thank you Sir.

[@Domzdream]

This looks SMASHING!

[@cc.creationz]

Very easy to understand and learn please keep doing these tutorials!!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you!

[@jordanwright5795]

Really good tutorial! After 20 years of C4D I finally moved over to Houdini but also have been dabbling with Blender because of the wide variety of low cost add on’s that make Blender a pretty good source of additional tools for almost any pipeline. The beauty of this tutorial is that the techniques you demonstrated can be applied to almost any DCC as long as it has basic fracturing and rigid body dynamics. Excellent stuff! Subscribed!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! What I like most about blender is that a lot of young people get into 3d because its so available :D

[@saatvikjha4035]

@@AlbinThorburn I am 9 years old (°~°) :)

[@monish929]

Woah!!! Thanks for the video , loved it

[@AlbinThorburn]

Glad you liked it!:)

[@sadness212]

Man, literally, I'm currently working on the same thing 💚 thx theses type of videos always helpful 💚

[@AlbinThorburn]

Epic! Glad you liked the video:)

[@3dmonkeybizz]

Wow! What an awesome video. Totally hypnotizing. I spent so long in C4D paying for FX like this and now you show us how easy it is in Blender........ for FREE! 😮 Many thanks, Liked and Sub'd.

[@vlodgoral8258]

Amazing! will try this out in my next project

[@migrantmemoirs]

amazing bro, thanks for this

[@boerbol9422]

amazing content. thank you so much

[@keithws2779]

Great stuff man. I want to try this out

[@ShaNa101]

Wow! 1 of best blender tutorial channel on KZbin! keep up with the good work! Cheers!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you man! That means a lot.

[@rogerramjet2656]

Very cool. Thank you

[@michaelwerkov3438]

this looks really, really good.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thanks!

[@kevinthomas3669]

Really cool.

[@f0kxi]

That was dope man, thank you for the awesome tutorial!

[@SourceAwareness]

Excellent, thanks my Brother!!

[@itsjxomusic]

This looks so good omg!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you!

[@itsjxomusic]

@@AlbinThorburn If you want to create a destroyed building but not animated, can this method be used using the last frame as the object render or would you have to destroy the building by vertices?

[@VORONETIC]

Woah,Nice one👍👍

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thanks!

[@gamerzstencils6266]

WOW pretty awesome

[@michaelwerkov3438]

i would love to see a version of this that uses some geonodes to build up a pseudo frame (i.e. wood or metal frame, "drywall" layer, "concrete" exterior), and then either a geonode or python enhanced selection (or driven by impact from a particle or geometry), that then convert the selection into fracture patterns characteristic of the underlying material. the geonodes could automatically solidify the geometry that would be exposed, and then in magic world fracture each of the layers into characteristic sizes and patterns (even cooler if based on the size and speed of the collider). EVEN cooler would be some automatic "small particle debris", micro chunk debris, and dust layers, each created at the source of the fracture, inheriting some element of color or something. wild to think blender might actually be able to do this.

[@AlbinThorburn]

That sounds really cool! I havet looked into geometry nodes just yet, but I've heard that it's pretty powerful. Thanks for the ideas!

[@Mitroiul]

I mean you're pretty much asking for a complete AAA solution for RB destructions. Don't get me wrong, I'd kill for a course like that on such a complete topic, but don't expect to see something like that up on youtube. Also, I think Houdini is much more suitable for what you're looking for. Even though it would be a complete new software to get into if you don't already use it, Houdini offers a ton of built-in tools that make stuff like this so much easier, rather than building all the fundamental blocks yourself through the geometry nodes system.

[@michaelwerkov3438]

@@AlbinThorburn oops, just commented almost the same thing on your other video not noticing it was still you lol! I might play around and see if I can get the general principle to work... then maybe pass it off to someone with more quality lol

[@michaelwerkov3438]

@@AlbinThorburn also... have you tried the rbd labs addon? I wonder if it would be of any benefit to you

[@RealGaryGibson]

I love this effect! I'm going to try to make a wrecking ball hitting it to see how that works.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Sounds fun!

[@scottlee38]

Nice! We need more like this!

[@Franky4795]

Bro you the one who made my dream tutorial. I left blender just because when I c tutorials it's always confusing. But I watched you and you know what I can now get back in to blender :) thank you please do more tutorial like that

[@AlbinThorburn]

That's wonderful to hear! Keep doing stuff in blender and you'll get really good in no time. I will upload more don't worry ;)

[@picvs_]

salamaleykum oka

[@Franky4795]

@@picvs_ Valeykum Assalom ✊

[@Ayogenius67]

@@picvs_ Waliykum salamu

[@Ohotina]

Thank you 🙏

[@onechance1073]

Very nice subscribed 👍

[@CmanXP]

Excellent video, my friend. Subbed 👍

[@AlbinThorburn]

Awesome, thank you:)

[@ianmcglasham]

Good stuff!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thanks!

[@localfriendlycloud7720]

Deleting evrything on the viewport and adding another default cube is the most sadistic thing ive ever seen Stand for default cube ✊

[@AlbinThorburn]

It has to be done :( many people don't know it but if you don't delete default cube scene crash all the time :(:(:(

[@thomasqu9063]

Thanks for the genuinly great tutorial. When you apply the solidify modifier at 7:30 to the fractured section how do you stop the balcony bars from becoming bigger too?

[@matejivi]

nice technique!

[@epiccgi7475]

thanks for the tutorial for this.

[@kingvfxstudio]

you are great bro

[@seanwilson9630]

This is amazing dude! It shows that you don't need to invest in hudini to create realistic effects. Great tutorial and easy to understand👍

[@AlbinThorburn]

I was actually inspired to make this video when I saw a Houdini tutorial covering the same effect:):) Glad you liked it!

[@edh615]

This is nowhere near realistic but ok

[@AlbinThorburn]

@@edh615 It's just a buzzword for the algorithm ;)

[@edh615]

@Ops Blac you can use all Houdini features to learn for free and the indie license is cheaper than Netflix around 399$ for two years...

[@user-qi4td7tj1i]

very nice

[@DrZotac]

ty so much

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you!

[@apeiron24vfx]

You are a genius and I really appreciate this tutorial. Please do a car explosion tutorial. Much love from Nigeria

[@AlbinThorburn]

Good idea! Greetings from Sweden

[@AlbinThorburn]

Hi! I just uploaded a car destruction tutorial, you may like it :D

[@bcgames92]

thank you

[@Firmansyah_official]

Amazing

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thanks!

[@spearcy]

If you change your mind later on and decide you want the explosion to start at frame 50, how would you access the control for that after you already applied the modifier?

[@SumNumber]

What an easy way to make buildings . :O)

[@austinbentley9599]

Great video! How can I control when the explosion begins? Like, if I wanted to do a camera move first, then explosion, etc.

[@jeshuagomeznoriega7241]

Love it

[@AlbinThorburn]

That's awesome. :)

[@jameslee9639]

Amazing! A suggestion, I would say another destruction but with metals. Like you know Sc-fi building are mostly made of steel and I wonder how you can pull of a steel wall destruction. I assume some would bend and I do not know how to do that. Thank you!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Good idea! I think you could achieve an effect like that by using other kinds of constraints. I will definitely look into that. Thanks for the feedback!

[@jameslee9639]

@@AlbinThorburn thank you for you time!

[@StanleyKubick1]

steel tears apart pretty easily from heat, tension and pressure

[@AndrewPankow]

Building destruction always forgets the rebar and plumbing... While the detail is visually stimulating and it's fantastic to see this broken down in Blender, I'm always looking for realism in these VFX tutorials.

[@Mash-NL]

So apply what you just learned and add in plumbing and what ever you want. You just need to learn the basic and then go do it yourself.

[@Carofason_]

hey I need help when I try to separate by loose parts during 6:48 instead of getting the fractured parts of the building I just separate all the parts of the fence that I joined together at 3:30

[@_karapitek_]

++

[@DeputyChiefWhip]

Nice, is it possible to just save out the last frame as a model? I need a destroyed area for a game scene, nit a full anim.

[@yrop6188]

thanks

[@SB-Boi]

If you convert the faces to triangles you don’t need to worry about making the edges look good

[@AlbinThorburn]

Eyyy good idea

[@user-bb7zy8pf3h]

Hi,amazing toutorial and very good step by step explenation of what's on the screen. I have an issue though, when i'm done and i want to render the animation as soon as i hit the F12 key the Icosphere pops out and ruins the final product. How can i hide it effectively so it won't show while rendering? Thanks!!!!

[@smography6131]

Best tutorial

[@AlbinThorburn]

Thank you! :D

[@TheMarwin123]

hey. Can I keyframe all the objects to be dynamic at the same time? later than fram 1 that is, whitout having to keyframe each one

[@akshay_xolo]

Thnku ❤

[@Turgineer]

Cool.

[@FazedIMusic]

Hey ! It looks aswesome ! Can I do this and somehow save the mesh in the final state of the explosion as the static default mesh ? I would like to try make building like this and import them in unreal with the destruction done. Is it viable to do so ?

[@xaviergouyer5371]

Thanks for that nice and clear tutorial, I have a question : Why didn't you use the Cell fracture to get all the pieces of the center of the building ?

[@AlbinThorburn]

Great question! Mostly because cell fracture is really picky when it comes to how you make the geometry, if I would just cell fracture this building it would leave loads of ugly artifacts. Allso because this method is faster, and it gives uneven edges! :)

[@lolilulelagaming3213]

Epic

[@a-indefinite6804]

I didn’t even know this was a tutorial at first, this is amazing!

[@backtobefore4074]

thank you for tutorial

[@AlbinThorburn]

You're welcome!

[@westernzendara2029]

How long can this tutorial take to render ??

[@isaacmiro]

A suggestion, make the rest of the building a passive rigid body

[@akshay_xolo]

New subscribers

[@RealSamuelApostol]

Hey, could you do a tutorial on how you did the bullet hits in Caliber, also the blood from the throat on the knife kill at the end

[@AlbinThorburn]

100% that would have been super fun. The knife thing was just some after effects compositing, but the headshots were made in blender

[@lagunaciteko6134]

cool

[@patthevisionary]

Having trouble getting loose parts to be properly separated. It doesn’t select all of my mesh object after hiding the building and focusing on the small wall part

[@user-qi4td7tj1i]

good work but two add dust at explosion thank you very much

[@maybuchacho2426]

Good job but how can I hide my cracks from the wall before the explosion for good rander

[@hondenbraaksel]

Easy to follow, great work! Although, impossible to render it seems. Instantly crashes on first render frame. Any tips? VRAM isn't an issue.

[@spearcy]

Were you in Eevee or Cycles? Rendering as a video or as png sequence? Rendering in 4k or 1080p? How many samples, etc.? Lots of things could have made a difference.

[@exhausted_james1492]

Love your video! I am doing similar things in the future with a new computer so may I know what CPU and how much RAM you need to do this fluently? Thanks!

[@AlbinThorburn]

I'm not sure, but if you run into problems, you can always lower the amount of pieces :)

[@wild-.]

i5 16gb ram will do fine

[@itsparth7634]

can you please provide this blender file, blown away by your work.

[@xpausergaming]

🔥

[@apeiron24vfx]

After applying the solidify modifier to one piece, I used the copy attribute, and I got some weird geometry collapse especially wall that for the + sign. Any idea what I'm getting wrong?

[@AlbinThorburn]

Hi! Make sure to copy the modifiers to all of the pieces first, then apply visual geometry to mesh (on the "ctrl A" popup menu)

[@novanvfx]

i have a problem while clicking on animate button in physics tab i hold alt button add select mesh it is not adding tick mark

[@Andreivideo1]

What version of Blender do you work In 2.9 or 3.1 ?. Thanks for the lesson.

[@AlbinThorburn]

3.1

[@imvisuals215]

when u inset the two faces for the door how do u prevent the middle edge from separating the two faces?

[@RealRetrost]

I'm late to this comment, but while insetting, click "i" again to turn off individuals.

[@madslundbek6847]

this tutorial is fantastic, but I'm not very experianced with texturing, so it'd be wonderful with a part 2

[@AlbinThorburn]

I'll definitely cover texturing in future videos, but on this one I wanted to keep it simple. You can check out my wall destruction video, I do some texturing in that one!

[@spearcy]

​@@AlbinThorburn I saw the wall destruction video and the texturing part, but I can't apply textures using that example in this building destruction scenario. If I add a building facade texture, the faces of the fragments end up with a different scale as the part of the building that remains standing. Also, I think we'd want the inner sections that get exposed after the explosion to look different than the exterior. I'm thinking that, unlike in the wall destruction case, for this case it might be better to texture the whole building before applying the quick explode effect. But I wondered if you'd use a different approach.

[@renaissancemedia4208]

When I go to render, even though I set emitter to be hidden during render, it still shows up. Please help?

[@AlbinThorburn]

Hmm, that's wierd. I don't know why you got that problem ;/

[@Maple38]

Two questions, firstly why alt click to enable animated? And why not just change from active to passive? Talking about 8:48 btw.

[@AlbinThorburn]

Alt is to apply it to all of the selected objects :) passive would work just as well

[@yahyagholampoor8776]

Hi thank for tutorial. We can send real time destruction to unreal?

[@ShijuEdits]

everytime i add a subdivision surface it crashes is there a way to fix it

[@mlgmemes]

Just buy a better gpu

[@ShijuEdits]

@@mlgmemes i have a 3070

[@duedecimal6622]

i love how youtube recommended me this after i watch war news

[@AlbinThorburn]

:/

[@federicosgarbi6871]

I NEED HELP After I apply the Array Modifier on both X and Y and the subdivision when I go on Edit Mode I can only select the orginal Flat and not the others

[@AlbinThorburn]

If you select all of them in object mode you can hit Ctrl J to joint them into one object.:)

[@gav1685]

I'm stuck at fracturing, I pressed c but I don't know how to select,

[@darkmallet7233]

But are the separated piece's noticeable before the the destruction or does it blend seamlessly

[@AlbinThorburn]

They blend in nicely :) but as soon as you start the simulation they kinda explode out because they collide with each other.

[@darkmallet7233]

@@AlbinThorburn So it might best to make like two separate simulation or to have like a copy and at the point where the simulation starts you swap them out

[@5ar2n]

if i render this in my laptop will explode like the building?

[@AlbinThorburn]

It might xD

[@autumnnights4042]

Great video! It was very helpful! I noticed that in 3:35 the Cube.001 and Cube.002 are suddenly not seen and only Cube object is present in the Outliner. I followed the steps up until then. It doesn't seem to have disappeared for me as shown in video and all three Cubes are there for me. :( Plz do help me if I had done anything wrong in my part. I'm really new to blender. 😓

[@AlbinThorburn]

Select all of them, then hit crtl J to join them to one object. Hope this helps!

[@autumnnights4042]

@@AlbinThorburn Yes it worked! thank u so much^^ :D

[@elissitdesign]

This tutorial video thumbnail was buried between a bunch of news channels covering the Ukraine/Russia war showing the destruction, I found it strange 😞 I have a old coworker that has since moved on to work at a studio in Canada that does VFX for the Marvel universe. His specialty is in destruction and their industry the houses primarily use Cebas Thinking Particles and Houdini for stuff that needs custom Python scripting tools. One thing I noticed that would really help with the sell of destruction is having splintering lumbar layered in your geo where your fractures are essentially stretched in the long direction. Checkout the video example on his website and you'll see what I mean. Sick tutorial nonetheless!

[@AlbinThorburn]

Hey, thanks for the tip! That's wierd that youtube would bundle it together like that. I love making effects like this for short films but it's absolutely devastating seeing stuff like this in real life.

[@dylanwilliams1879]

When i make the particle system the dots and later the debris don't show up when im changing the values. why?

[@relumedyope5439]

in 8:32, blender stop reconizing the edges when i do this. either it blows away too when animated or the animation don´t even happen. why? is it a version problem (i´m using 3.2)? or is it something else?

[@AlbinThorburn]

It's probably not a version problem, these features have stayed the same for quite some time. I really don't know what your problem is here ;(

[@PowerWildMetal]

It looks great but some parts are going through the building while falling and one is stuck and glitched

[@simongravel7407]

I wish Blender was good for this type of stuff but I always notice jank.

[@BlueprintScience]

Great tutorial; very helpful... But maybe blowing up apartment buildings is in pretty poor taste given recent events

[@AlbinThorburn]

Yeah I thought about that aswell :/ I hope it's not too bad...

[@saada.4839]

How did you separate loose parts and it all divided into small pieces, need help?

[@spearcy]

In edit mode hit P and click on loose parts.

[@shadow443]

Change the explosion in the shape of a hand and you can recreate the scene from "Kung Fu Hustle."

[@AlbinThorburn]

xD

[@fruitninja7681]

Instructions unclear, laptop on fire.

[@sahilmakrani4856]

What is your pc info ?

[@sorceryi]

any update for this video ?