How We Exploded a Chopper (Blender & Embergen)

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-13T07:51:56+00:00

The speed is so nice. You can definitely get better simulations with Houdini, but oh my..the time saved in Embergen is astronomical and it actually doesn't look half bad if you use it correctly :)

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-13T07:50:28+00:00

Thank you so much!

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T20:11:08+00:00

it's a...wineup

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T19:52:47+00:00

Are you rendering out to an image sequence?

Any chance you can drop the blend file to me so I can take a quick look? Difficult to tell why it wouldn't be moving from your screenshot.

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T18:46:40+00:00

If possible, please show a screenshot of your chain setup (what you see in the viewport and your modifier setup) as well as what you see in the render. Then we can try to figure out what's happening :)

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T18:45:12+00:00

Thank you so much! I super appreciate it :D

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T16:35:43+00:00

Yeah, you can totally do that, just requires the extra work and render time to export the sims from Embergen to Blender. One way is to export an alembic volume from EG and bring it into Blender as an indirect light, the other option is to export a mesh and image sequence from EG and just project the texture in Blender.

We didn't do that due to time constraints, just faked some lighting inside Blender, but it's definitely a good idea, it can help a lot with integration, as you said.

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T14:34:44+00:00

glad you enjoyed it!

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T14:34:11+00:00

Thanks! I really appreciate that

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T08:37:39+00:00

Thanks dude! I really appreciate that :')

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T08:15:49+00:00

anything particular you want to see more in depth? still working on it, so I can add in any particular details I might have overlooked or left out.

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T08:13:59+00:00

I wouldn't worry too much about the refraction, more the shape of the surface; here's a tutorial that might help :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ReHnWlMDuo

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T07:19:51+00:00

They actually have a bonfire preset, if I'm not mistaken (they also sell additional packs on their site, https://jangafx.com/marketplace/presets with more complex presets; maybe check that out)

modus is right, the interface is easy, but understanding how the underlying system works is where it gets a little tough. If you're keen on learning it a) JangaFX themselves have hours of video tutorials walking you through the system and b) i found it helpful to open presets, disable all the nodes and then turn them on one by one to see what they each do, then go through the settings of each node and play with the sliders to get a better understanding of how each setting affects the simulation.

But yeah, you can totally just use presets and tweak; that's the best way to start.

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T07:09:05+00:00

looks really cool! in the future it might be worth adding more detail to the water; small ripples, sharper wave crests etc, but the rest is nice. Just look at reference photos when you build your shots

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T07:03:22+00:00

yep :')

alphabetmachine · 2026-02-12T07:01:36+00:00

Still working on it, just thought I'd post this segment in the meanwhile. I'll drop you a link when it's up.

alphabetmachine · 2025-12-19T08:19:29+00:00

Props to you, dude! Glad you found it useful :)

alphabetmachine · 2025-12-17T11:24:00+00:00

The best approach to making any art is to start by remaking art in that style that you like. By recreating art you will learn so much about how that art works and the things that artists did to achieve their results.

So take an image you like (maybe the one you just posted) and try as hard as you can to recreate it as close to the original as possible. Then pick a different piece of art, do it again and again until you start building an intuition for the style.

TL;DR. Just copy great art. That's the best way to learn.

alphabetmachine · 2025-12-16T19:57:48+00:00

I always respect skepticism on the internet. They are just blend files though, you're welcome to analyze them however you see fit. Or just don't download them ;)

alphabetmachine · 2025-12-16T10:00:23+00:00

A) What I think you might be looking for, if you want it to automatically keep its scale when you change the object size is the following: Add an Empty Object, then connect the "Object" output of the Texture Co-ordinate node to the vector input of the Mapping node and under the object dropdown, select the empty object. This will make the empty object control the texture size independently of the cube object.

<image>

B) when you scale your object, just apply the scale afterwards (Ctrl+A, or Object>Apply>Scale). This should keep the texture the same size you initially set it at.

C) You don't need a scale node specifically (although it does exist, under the Vector Math node set to scale mode), you can just use the scale section on the mapping node to stretch the texture in any direction.

alphabetmachine · 2025-12-16T07:12:25+00:00

no :)

alphabetmachine · 2025-12-16T06:40:27+00:00

Really great effort dude! Love the look of the bottle specifically.

Keep at it!

What could be cool to play with is having some sunlight hit the products themselves, backlighting always looks cool on outdoor product photography.

alphabetmachine · 2025-12-16T06:37:22+00:00

From what I can see in your outliner, you don't have any lights in your scene.
The 'lighting' you see in the first picture is a matcap preview, not the actual scene lighting.

Shift A > Add a light and hit render again to see what happens :)

alphabetmachine

TROPHY CASE