# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Soft Body Animation

|previous=Billboard Animation
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Due to rapid updates in Blender, some menu items may be different from
those mentioned here. If the menus don\'t agree then just do what seems
logical.

Softbody makes each individual vertex its own object that falls
according to gravity and reacts to outside forces like fields. By
adjusting the settings, you change the behaviour of the edges that
connect the vertices. For example, you can make it so edges can stretch
really far (aka elasticity), allowing the vertices to become distant, or
you can make the edge stiff, so the vertices will always stay the same
distance apart.

To put this in perspective, picture two cloths, one elastic and one
cotton. The elastic one has edges that can extend, so if you view them
in wire-frame (with vertices and edges visible) you would see the edges
are more extended than an equal distance. The cotton one would only
stretch a little bit, so the vertices would stay essentially the same
distance apart.

We are going to make a big rubber ball, but not a big bouncy one, a flat
(and somewhat lifeless) one. Start with a sphere. I would use a cube
sphere or an icosphere, UV spheres don\'t deform well as they have too
few vertices. A cube sphere is made by subdividing a cube and doing a
\"To Sphere\" in the Edit window, under Mesh Tools.

Move the sphere up and place a plane below it. Make sure to do this in
the right views so that it is aligned properly. Gravity acts on the
z-axis (sphere should be above the plane relative to the z axis).
![](tut.sb.1.jpg "tut.sb.1.jpg"){width="500"}{{-}} Now for the soft body
select the ball and go to the object tab then the physics subtab or
whatever your version has. Click \"enable softbody\" and then turn up
\'Grav\' to 9.8. Click off use goal. Press the \> arrow key (a few
times) and you should see the ball fall. The center will remain in place
but this is not a problem. If you are on a slow machine you will notice
lag. This is because blender moves it vert by vert, not efficient.

**Note: in Blender 2.49, you must deselect the \"Use Goal\" button to
release the center of the ball. Otherwise, it will just hang there.**

Note: In Blender 2.44, click F7 on keyboard, select the \"Physics
Buttons\" button, select \"Soft Body\".

![](tut.sb.2.jpg "tut.sb.2.jpg"){width="500"}{{-}} When it reaches the
plane it will pass through. To fix this we must make the plane affect
the softbody. To do this make the plane deflect in its physics buttons.

**Noob Note:** *To do this in version 2.49 select the plane, go
to*object buttons -\> physics context -\> collision subcontext\'\' and
select ***Collision**.*The variables you can play with here are under
the \'**\'Soft Body and Cloth Interaction**.

![](tut.sb.3.jpg "tut.sb.3.jpg"){width="500"}{{-}} Now the ball
collapses into a strange quivering wreck after impact. To fix this, you
need to turn on the stiff quad button, but set the edge stiffness down a
bit, so its more bouncy. You can use the bake function to solidify the
settings see below

Noob Note: `<i>`{=html}You might have to turn up the
`<b>`{=html}Rigidity`</b>`{=html} Level to 0.100 (in the Soft Body Tab)
as well in order to prevent the object from collapsing. (I used a
subdivided cube as Object)\
What I recommend to do before rendering as animation: In the
`<b>`{=html}Bake Settings`</b>`{=html} (Soft Body Tab) Set
`<b>`{=html}Interval`</b>`{=html} to 2 or 1, so the object will not
start deforming too early before impact. This will slow down the bake
process - just slightly - but make the object bounce more dynamically.
Then bake again. `</i>`{=html}

`<i>`{=html} Noob note: In blender 2.46 you have to adjust the value of
Be in the soft body tab, I changed it to 0.4 `</i>`{=html}

![](tut.sb.4.jpg "tut.sb.4.jpg"){width="500"}{{-}}

## Explanation of Settings

I invite you to correct and expand these definitions:

### Softbody

-   **Friction**: creates a resistance to movement of the whole object,
    like being submerged in a viscous fluid
-   **Grav**: the rate of velocity change due to gravity. Results in a
    constant -z force.
-   **Mass**: (Force = mass × acceleration) affects everything by making
    the object heavier.
-   **Speed**: tweaks the simulation to *run* faster or slower.
-   **ErrorLimit**: raise it and the simulation will solve faster but
    strange things might happen. Save frequently, as blender might go
    nuts with this or any physic simulation (but less so after 2.4)
-   **Goal**: makes the object try to return to its original position,
    useful at times, in the tutorial you could turn gravity off and key
    the ball falling and use this to keep it a ball.
-   **use Edges**: uses the edges a means of resistance to movement for
    the object. Helps to keep it looking possible

