Reactor Experiments

[IceAged]

Hi

I'm trying out a few things with reactor in some of my interior scenes, such as dropping throws onto beds and chairs, with varying degrees of success. I’m also trying to get a load of cushions to flop down onto a sofa to give it a more natural look – so far so good, but still needs more work.

Sometimes the simulations work quite well, other times the cloths sort of slides off and rolls around uncontrollably. I was wondering if anyone knew of some good reactor tutorials on the Internet, or perhaps any good books that offer an introduction on the subject? I can see it being quite useful, but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of information on the subject.

Is anyone here using reactor for anything? Any good/bad experiences you would like to share?

[robkar97]

Reactor can do cool things, have a look at something I just finished

 

http://www.i2studios.com/basketboll.mov

(simulation 30-60 seconds, rendering 3-4 hours)

 

However, if you want to simulate draping cloths, consider using the Cloth modifier. That can do things like this

 

http://www.i2studios.com/duk.mov

(simulation 60-120 seconds, rendering, 2-3 hours)

 

This is how I did it:

 

1) Create a rectangle, appx 2000x2000 mm large (scale is important!)

2) Convert it to an editable spline.

3) Go into vertex mode, select all vertices and make them "corner" then "break" all (this will prevent the cloth from becoming round in the corners later)

4) Apply the "garment maker" modifier

5) Go easy on the mesh density... Tight faces will take longer to simulate

6) Apply the "cloth" modifier to the garment maker plane

7) Create a collision object, like a cylinder (keep it simple, you can add complex geometry later when the simulation is finished)

8) Select the garment maker object, under "cloth" click the top button "object properties" or something like that (can't look right now)

9) Click "add object" and select the collision object (cylinder) then set it to "collision object" at the bottom (you might fool around with depth and offset later)

10) In the same dialogue window, select the garment maker plane and set it to "cloth object" and select a suitable preset (I normally use cotton)

11) Position the garment maker plane above the cylinder, where you want it to drop

12) Click "simulate local" or "simulare local damped" to view the animation, then cancel it when you like the result (the simulate button will create an animation with keyframes)

 

Once you start playing with these things you're hooked...

 

Also, best results with cloth simulation is obtained when using "delauney" triangulation that is irregular, which is what garment maker creates. A plane with 30x30 faces will crease very symmetrically, which is not always what you want.

 

Have fun!

 

PS If reactor simulations are going crazy and things start flying all over the place, try increasing the simulation substeps (or what it is called) to 30 or more (I think 10 is the default). Also, check the linear and angular drag - this will sort of make things calmer.

 

Robert

[IceAged]

Thank you very much Robert!

I enjoyed your video of the cans, reminded me of my student days ;-) You can almost hear the sound of the cans collapsing. I agree it's quite a fun program to use, once you've got over the initial hurdles of the objects flying around, etc. The cloth modifier isn't something that I've looked into yet, so I'd like to give it a go as soon as possible - thanks for your walkthrough!