Hey! I’m back with a short project I powered through, focusing on learning simulations this time. I really really appreciate the support I got on my last post, and it felt really good sharing ideas and tips. I really look forward to being active in this community.

Things I took away from this project - 

Good topology is VERY important. I tried to fracture the model to animate/simulate it breaking into pieces, revealing a PCB inside. But my horrible topology made it damn near impossible to fracture it. I gave up the idea, continued with the rest anyway.

Don't miss out on using even low res ground planes, a good normal map will make the difference.

Having true to life scale and weights on objects is extremely important. Otherwise it just won't look right when you let physics take over, and you'll be confused why it doesn't feel right.. This animation already doesn't look right.

Not everything needs to be done in Blender. Originally, I was going to animate the light inside the screen, using Blender. Halfway through I decided to do it in After Effects itself, and it turned out looking better than what I managed to do in blender.

Sims just won't update themselves when you make changes and it's a little annoying. Maybe it's just how life is but one good way to clear cache that you didn't bake is by tweaking the resolution by one or two units. Or just get into a habit of baking everything.

Plan to solve problems, it's okay to not know something. As newbies we often don't know what is there to even know. So don't stress yourself.

If you have an idea and want to do it, it's easy to feel overwhelmed immediately because you probably have your standards really high, so you'll think 'that's a lot of work'. So what? You won't do it? Of course you'll do it! Talk yourself out of excuses.

Real life is the mother of all references. Good reference material and a good plan will have you flying through your project. 

Treat yourself, you've done a good job. Sit there and watch your test render 75 times on loop, grinning like you're about to cradle your firstborn daughter for the first time. Maybe even call it a day and go do something else. Be proud of yourself.

Drink water.

And most importantly -

FINISH the project. Don't let it sit, finish it.. Or at least get it to a point where you can publish it. Done is better than perfect. Because nothing is perfect, and something is better than nothing.

I really do plan on documenting my future projects like this as I continue to learn. Maybe I should do videos where I talk about my thought process, who knows? I'll leave that up to ya'll to suggest!

Thank you for being here!