Noodle physics simulation – Blender and Bullet Physics

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By Phymec.

Phymec writes:

Quick noodle rigid body dynamics test using real-world relative scale. Details…: Pasta / spaghetti relative dimensions: 2.5mm dia., 250mm length, rigid bodies’ mass (and centers of) calculated based on material densities, gravity: 9.8m/s. Physics are to scale, but unfortunately my movements (external forces) in the virtual world were too fast relative to the scale (and impatience due to simulation running slow ;) this was made obvious after rendering the frames and playing them back at real-time speed. Therefore movements and playback speed are not quite to scale. That’s what tests are for… to learn from. The bizarre movements (using mouse): after dropping the fork in the glass I threw the glass, then threw the bowl, played with a noodle, then dragged the fork and threw it as well.

Fork, bowl and glass are compounded HACD convex decompositions. Noodles are capsule strings (no longer sticking with full radius as margin).

Step by step, we are slowly getting closer; one day we’ll be able to easily simulate real-world physics using any arbitrary rigid body shapes… one day…

Environment lighting was created by Vlad “SATtva” Miller.

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    46 thoughts on “Noodle physics simulation – Blender and Bullet Physics”

    4. I admit to laughing. Especially when the fork went into “spaz out” mode. Made me think of a child throwing a fit, and would have been perfect if the wine glass was a plastic cup.

      Nice work, however. Very nice.

    15. The noodles could have a little more friction, as the starch would make them stickier. Still impressive! Wouldn’t have thought of trying that… :D

      • I agree there should be more stickiness and more friction.  As it is the noodles don’t quite settle down in the bowl and seem to act more like worms when picked up by the fork.  It is like the noodles need to absorb some of the fork’s energy before moving.  The movement should start at the fork and then slowly spread into the rest of the bowl as the fork’s energy increases.

    20. Awesome things!
      One thing is strange… Every time I saw a falling glass that was a feeling “it will be broken now!” But it’s like a bulletproof :)
      So… the render looks very nice. I’m Cycles’ fan… but I guess it’s Octane.

    26. Guys, you all get excited about this feature but it seems it will not be shared with community, it’s probably a build designed for some kind of a lab or something.

      • I see nothing in the post that would indicate that this is not out-of-the-box standard Blender, apart from using SmallLux for rendering.

        • Phymec has been developing his own little utilities that take advantage of different things in Bullet Physics. Right now, it doesn’t look like any of them have user interface utilities, and he actually controls/sets up the simulation using a python console and the game engine.

          That was dealing with shatter effects though – I don’t know if these noodles are raw Blender, or if he’s developing noodle physics utilities as well.

    27. I don’t understend how it is done, but technically its is awesome. Of course the performance itself turned out to be something humorous (the more so for me, as an Italian), but I realize that this is beyond the original intention.
      Very good render, by the way.

    28. this made me laugh a lot because it is hard to believe this is really CG – the physics are just mind blowing complex and well working. Extreme respect! 

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