When Reactor Becomes a Chaos of Collections
Mixing Rigid Bodies, Cloth, and Soft Bodies in Reactor can quickly turn into an indigestible physical soup. 🍲 Here's your guide to staying in control when simulations rebel.
Professional Workflow
Simulation by Stages (Recommended)
- First Pass: Simulate only rigid objects (Rigid Body)
- Freeze Animation: Use "Create Animation" and make them static
- Second Pass: Add cloths (Cloth) or soft bodies
- Third Pass (Optional): Secondary elements like chains
Key Settings for Combined Simulations
- Steps substeps: Increase to 10-20 for greater precision
- Collision Tolerance: Reduce to 0.1-0.3 for better contact
- Mass ratios: Maintain realistic proportions between objects
Reactor works best as a chef of one dish at a time rather than a cook for a massive banquet.
Common Problems and Solutions
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Objects passing through cloths | Increase substeps and collision tolerance |
| Rigid movement altered | Simulate separately and then combine |
| Extremely slow simulation | Reduce colliding geometry with proxies |
Veteran Tricks
- Use Display as Box during tests for greater speed
- Save separate versions by simulation type
- Try MassFX for more modern simulations
Crucial Tip: 90% of problems are solved by separating simulations. The remaining 10% requires patience, coffee, and maybe reconsidering your physics engine choice. ☕
Now you can create complex scenes without Reactor deciding your ball should float like a balloon or your cloth behave like steel. And when that simulation finally works, you'll know the effort was worth it.
Bonus Tip: For critical interactions between collections, test first with simplified geometry (cubes/spheres) before using detailed models.