Preview
1. Creating Path Based Shatter
Step 1
Open Maya.

Step 2
Create a cube polygon mesh in the perspective view port.

Step 3
Create another cube mesh
but slight bigger than the first one and then place it beneath the first cube
mesh as shown in the following image.

Step 4
Go to Create >
Bezier Curve Tool and draw a curve as shown in the following image.

Step 5
With the upper cube selected, click on the ShatterIt feature icon.

Step 6
In the ShatterIt feature window, set the values of Num Shards to 120 and Shatter Style to Path Based. Click on Select Path and then select the Bezier curve. Finally, click on Shatter It! Button.

Step 7
Select all indicated chunks one by one as shown in the following image.

Step 8
With the chunks selected, click on Create a new layer and assign selected objects icon. This creates a new layer1 with all the selected chunks.

Step 9
Double click on the layer1.
It opens Edit Layer window. Rename the layer as Static.

Step 10
Turn off the visibility
of the Static layer to hide the layer objects.

Step 11
With the rest broken
chunks selected, click on Create a new layer and assign selected objects
icon. This creates a new layer1 with all the selected chunks.

Step 12
Double click on the layer1.
It opens Edit Layer window. Rename the layer as Dynamic.

Step 13
With the dynamic chunks
selected, click on Create Pdi Body icon. In the Create Rigid Body
window, set Type as Dynamic and turn on Mesh option. Close
the window.

2. Applying Force Field
Step 1
Jump in the Dynamics
mode.

Step 2
Go to Fields > Air.
It creates air field in the view port.

Step 3
With the air field
selected, open Attribute Editor. Go to Distance tab and turn off Use
Max Distance option.

Step 4
Go to Volume Control
Attributes tab and set the Volume Shape to Sphere.

Step 5
Scale up the size of air
field’s gizmo as shown in the following image.

Step 6
With the chunks
selected, click on Set Pdi Dynamics Properties icon. In the Pdi
Dynamics properties window, turn on affected by Force Fields
option and then click on Include/ Exclude button.

Step 7
It further opens a sub-window. Select airField1 and click on Accept.

Step 8
Delete the cracker object as shown in the following image.

Step 9
Animate the Transform property of the air field gizmo along the Bezier path.

Step 10
Under Air Field Attributes, increase the value of Magnitude to 400.

Step 11
With the chunks
selected, click on Set Pdi Dynamics Properties icon. In the Pdi
Dynamics properties window, set the value of Mass to 20.

Step 12
Hit the Play
button to simulate the scene. You can see the chunks start dispersing due to
the air field.

Conclusion
In the next part of the tutorial, I'll demonstrate some more exciting and dynamic ways to destruct the elements.
Subscribe below and we’ll send you a weekly email summary of all new 3D & Motion Graphics tutorials. Never miss out on learning about the next big thing.
Update me weeklyEnvato Tuts+ tutorials are translated into other languages by our community members—you can be involved too!
Translate this post