Tip: Creating Quick Explosions

by Jonathan Williamson

In this quick tip for Blender 2.60 we look at how you use the “Quick Effects” to set up quick explosions on most any object. This effects makes use of a Particle System and Explode Modifier to blow up up the mesh, which can then be combined with a smoke and fire simulation to create a stunning effect.

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Discussion

31 Responses to “Tip: Creating Quick Explosions”
  1. jeanpierre nenuphar
    Posts: 12

    yo! I won the comment contest!

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    1
     Dec 2, 2011 at 8:44 am
  2. alexis
    Posts: 5

    sos un crack

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    2
     Dec 2, 2011 at 8:44 am
  3. Chris Skinner
    Posts: 40

    Thanks for the tip Jonathan.

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    3
     Dec 2, 2011 at 8:44 am
  4. Tadd Mencer
    Posts: 14

    Funny enough this is something I was thinking about this morning. Maybe the next “quick tip” could be how to make it into a fiery ball of flame .. ;)

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    4
     Dec 2, 2011 at 9:12 am
  5. Tadd Mencer
    Posts: 14

    Oh and thanks for the awesome tutorial!

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    5
     Dec 2, 2011 at 9:12 am
  6. Matthew Muldoon
    Posts: 19

    Nice, didn’t even know there where quick effects, I’ve been setting this stuff up by hand, this will definitely save me some time, by have a one click basic setup. Thanks guys.

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    6
     Dec 2, 2011 at 9:33 am
  7. oldman44
    Posts: 43

    Thanks Jonathan,

    Very useful tip. Especially liked some of your ideas on how to improve/modify the basic affect.

    -OldMan44

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    7
     Dec 2, 2011 at 10:11 am
  8. Graham Wiebe
    Posts: 13

    it it possible to control how the particles emit? for example, would it be possible to get an explosion from left to right?

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    8
     Dec 2, 2011 at 2:19 pm
    • Chris Alexander
      Posts: 62

      You can probably just change the world gravity for directional explosions like you’re talking.

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      8.1
       Dec 2, 2011 at 4:39 pm
  9. holyenigma74
    Posts: 25

    Also check out the blenderguru.com grenade tutorial.
    he also goes into detail about the explode modifier.

    http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/make-a-hand-grenade-explode-part-1-or-2

    http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/how-to-make-a-hand-grenade-part-2-of-2

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    9
     Dec 2, 2011 at 3:51 pm
  10. holyenigma
    Posts: 25

    we aren’t allowed to post links to blenderguru ?
    sad…

    he has a great 2 part grenade tutorial that covers the explode modifier pretty well.

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    10
     Dec 2, 2011 at 8:38 pm
  11. Derek Jones
    Posts: 1

    That’s really cool !!! I’m just barely starting to get into blender and I love your site! I really love the “Dim Lights” effect. : )

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    11
     Dec 2, 2011 at 9:20 pm
  12. alexds
    Posts: 39

    Jonathan, i notices that the pieces of explosion goes at times a little bit inside of the collision objects, and that looks extremely weird.
    Do you have any idea how to make the pieces not go through the collision object not even a little bit ?

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    12
     Dec 3, 2011 at 3:36 am
    • Thomas Sørensen
      Posts: 12

      It’s got to do with the way the particle physics works in blender. They’re not exact collisions.
      You can go into the particle settings tab, and then under physics tick the “Size deflect” box, then change the “Size” of the particles to something where they no longer stick through the collision object :)

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      12.1
       Dec 3, 2011 at 8:18 am
      • alexds
        Posts: 39

        thanks so much, Ninjinx, but the problem is the pieces remain vertical, and do not fall onto the floor.
        some of the pieces stay practically on air, when they should lay flat on the floor.
        so still it is unnatural

        here is before Size Deflect http://imageshack.us/f/827/capturefhy.png/

        here is after Size Deflect activated:
        http://imageshack.us/f/31/capture2nc.png/

        is it possible to make the pieces fall onto the floor, like in a natural way?
        here is what i want to accomplish, but the physics are unrealistic http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PYuBcOXhQfU

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        12.1.1
         Dec 4, 2011 at 6:28 am
      • John D Smith II
        Posts: 234

        Alex, are you actually running a simulation in the Game Engine or just hitting play? I’m surprised you can get any result at all without running a sim. And nobody has mentioned it so, Jonathan, I think what you were looking for was the Edge-split Modifier. Cool enough, I had not noticed these yet.

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        12.1.2
         Dec 4, 2011 at 7:26 pm
      • alexds
        Posts: 39

        yes, John D Smith ii, i had entered in Game Engine, selected the object and gave it Rigid with Collision bound, and the plane – static.
        I have recorded the animation, went back to blender render, and still pieces would pass the plane.

        i don;t know how to resolve this :|

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        12.1.3
         Dec 5, 2011 at 6:29 am
  13. mario vallini
    Posts: 2

    Very useful, and perfectly done. Thank you Jonathan, moreover, this is a Blender feature I did not even knew.

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    13
     Dec 4, 2011 at 3:19 am
  14. Tom LAREDO
    Posts: 1

    Thank you Jonathan for this great tip =)
    Now we’re expecting for a smoke/fire tutorial for our explosion ;-)

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    14
     Dec 4, 2011 at 12:46 pm
  15. Nick
    Posts: 1

    the particle didn’t appear because the quick effect turned them off. you have to turn them on under display to see them in the viewport

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    15
     Dec 4, 2011 at 11:13 pm
  16. Arthur Jr Fontanilla
    Posts: 1

    nice and very cool tutorial :)

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    16
     Dec 5, 2011 at 7:25 am
  17. Maia
    Posts: 10

    You did a balloon tutorial, now you should do a balloon being popped tutorial!

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    17
     Dec 6, 2011 at 12:58 pm
  18. Enrique Keykens
    Posts: 10

    Awesome tip Jonathan! Happy to see such a short tip saving so much time :)

    I do not usually make further questions about the tutorials… but I was doing some tests to figure out if there is any way to “spawn” a bone at each particle position in order to record the particles movement with the bones…

    The goal is to record the “exploding” animation using a single object/mesh so it can be exported. Maybe I’m asking too much :P

    Any suggestions?

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    18
     Dec 13, 2011 at 12:41 am
  19. Andre Isidro
    Posts: 3

    I’m relatively new to blender and I was wondering how I would change the controls because my middle mouse is bound to the widgets function on my mac. Does anyone know how to either change this on my os or on blender? I would really appreciate the help!!

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    19
     Jan 2, 2012 at 7:24 pm
    • VG
      Posts: 1

      i know this is an old question, but if it helps anyone reading the comments that has to do with you mac preferences. go to the apple icon > system preferences then go to expose or spaces or whatever is being called and disable the mouse button!

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      19.1
       Feb 21, 2013 at 5:16 pm
  20. Widgeonnn
    Posts: 3

    Great Tip! :)

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    20
     Jan 7, 2012 at 8:46 am
  21. Rtgholson
    Posts: 4

    Thanks for the tip Jonathan! Great stuff

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    21
     Jan 17, 2012 at 9:37 am
  22. Ryan
    Posts: 1

    Hey Jonathan I have a question if i were to put a plane underneath the object
    how could i make it so that when it hits the plain it breaks into even smaller peices

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    22
     Mar 22, 2012 at 10:07 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2971

      Hi Ryan,

      Unfortunately I don’t believe there’s any way to do this current because we don’t have Reactor particles. Hopefully these will be readded in the near future.

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      22.1
       Mar 22, 2012 at 10:51 am
  23. snowconesolid
    Posts: 23

    Love this tutorial. I wonder if there is a way to use this to create easy explosions in unity? Unitys particle system is already pretty good though.

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    23
     Jan 28, 2013 at 2:36 pm

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