Animating with Blender

Rigid Bodies

Certain situations arise in an animation that are just too difficult to animate realistically by hand. Imagine a closet full of sports equipment emptying itself into a room, or two hundred bricks falling onto a character’s head. Even simpler, think of a rubber ball thrown into a kitchen, bouncing and spinning until it finally comes to rest. Any of these things could be animated by hand, but the physical movements are so exact that to mimic their behavior realistically with keyframing would take ages.

In these cases, a Rigid Body simulation is called for. Setting up such a simulation is a little more difficult than using the Fluid or Cloth simulators, but the results are usually more predictable and easier to integrate into your finished ...