Animating trails with simulation nodes
this tutorial breaks down how to make the above effect with simulation nodes.
first part – geometry nodes screenshot
- the first part, distribute some points on faces
- turn those points to vertices
- and feed them to the simulation zone
- Extrude the vertices using the extrude node, make sure the type is set to vertices
- to make sure the simulation does not extrude every vertex in the mesh including the previously extruded vertices, create a selection of vertices by connecting the top output of the extrude node to the simulation output node
- this will ensure only the top or tip of the lines are extruded
- to complete the selection set, connected the top output of the simulation input into the selection input of the extrude node
- make sure to tick the top input so we have some initial selection for the extrude
- this selection can also be used in the set position
checkout: Blender physics based cars:
wrapping the lines onto the mesh.
- get the nearest face/surface to each extruded point using the sample nearest surface node
- sample the normal, we can use the cross product of the normal and a vector pointing up, to have the points extruded in a circular rotation wrapping onto the mesh.
second part – screenshot
- to reveal the mesh, we can use the proximity node to create a mask of each line on the mesh
- you can store the mask into a named attribute to be used in the shader editor
project files:
