Alexander Court Shows How to Shatter Objects in Blender Using the Explode Modifier.

Tools to Shatter Objects typically fall under procedural generators such as Voronoi. With Blender, you can use the Explode Modifier to shatter any object, too. The Explode Modifier is generally thought of when speaking about particles. That’s because it is a particle modifier. That doesn’t mean that you can’t use it for other instances, such as creating a shatter.

The Explode Modifier is used to alter the mesh geometry by moving and rotating its faces in a way that roughly tracks particles emitted by that object, making it look as if the mesh is exploding or broken apart and pushed outward.

Alexander Court walks through how to shatter objects using the Explode Modifier as a base for the shatter effect. With a few tweaks, you can efficiently use Explode to push apart the polygons of a mesh.