Mikael Pettersén Shows How to Animate Constraints to Break Apart Objects in a Simulation.

Looking for a way to gradually break apart an object within a rigid body simulation? There are a few ways that you can do this. One such method is to animate constraints. That is the topic of Mikael Pettersén latest “Short and Sweet” tutorial. Pettersén is a Lead Crowd Technical Director at MPC and works with a range of tools, including Houdini.

A constraint system is a critical tool when working with dynamic simulations. Within Houdini, the Constraints network uses geometry as a template to establish relationships between things. These can be Glue, Spring, or Pin Constraints. Animating constraints are an easy way to control how you want objects to break apart in a simulation.