In this part of the tutorial series, I'll show you how to create a wall fracture scene using PullDownIt in Maya.

1. Creating Pdi Bodies

Step 1

Open Maya.

Step 2

Go to Create > Polygon Primitives > Cube and create a cube in the perspective view port.

Step 3

With the cube selected, go to PullDownIt menu bar and click on the ShatterIt feature icon.

Step 4

In the ShatterIt feature window, set the values of Shatter Style to Wood Splinters, Num Centers to 150, Main Axis to L(longest) and then click on Shatter It! button. You'll see the cube gets shattered as shown in the following image.

Step 5

Select the indicated upper and lower chunks of the mesh and create a new layer. Rename the layer as StaticChunks.

Step 6

Turn off the visibility of StaticChunks layer. With the rest chunks selected, create a new layer. Rename the layer as DynamicChunks.

Step 7

Go to StaticChunks layer. With the static chunks selected, click on Create Pdi Body icon.

Step 8

In the Create Rigid Body window, select the Type as Static and then click on Mesh option.

Step 9

Go to DynamicChunks layer. With the dynamic chunks selected, click on Create Pdi Body icon.

Step 10

In the Create Rigid Body window, select the Type as Dynamic and then click on Mesh option.

2. Creating Pdi Fracture

Step 1

Create a ball in the perspective viewport. 

Step 2

With the ball selected, click on Create Pdi Body icon. In the Create Rigid Body window, select the Type as Dynamic and then click on Mesh option.

Step 3

With the ball selected, click on Pdi Dynamics Properties icon. In the Pdi Dynamics Properties window, set the Initial Velocity X value to -50.

Step 4

Press the Play button to see the simulation. The ball hits the wall and the dynamic chunks shatter into pieces. 

Step 5

With the dynamic chunks selected, click on Pdi Basic Fractures icon. 

Step 6

In the Pdi Basic Fractures window, click on Create button. It opens Set up Fracture Body sub- window. Here set the name as Wood and then click on Accept button.

Step 7

Increase the value of Clusterize(%) to 100 to get more detailed fracture.

3. Creating Front Wall Fracture

Step 1

Create another wall of the same dimension and keep it at the front.

Step 2

With the front wall selected, go to PullDownIt menu bar and click on the ShatterIt feature icon.

Step 3

In the ShatterIt feature window, set the values of Shatter Style to Uniform, Num Centers to 120 and then click on Shatter It! button. 

You'll see the wall gets shattered as shown in the following image.

Step 4

Select the indicated chunks of the front wall and create a new layer. Rename the layer as WallStaticChunks.

Step 5

Turn off the visibility of WallStaticChunks layer. With the rest chunks selected, create a new layer. Rename the layer as WallDynamicChunks.

Step 6

Go to WallStaticChunks layer. With the static chunks selected, click on Create Pdi Body icon.

Step 7

In the Create Rigid Body window, select the Type as Static and then click on Mesh option.

Step 8

Go to WallDynamicChunks layer. With the dynamic chunks selected, click on Create Pdi Body icon.

Step 9

In the Create Rigid Body window, select the Type as Dynamic and then click on Mesh option.

Step 10

Create another wall at back. Keep it static.

Step 11

Hit the Play button to see the simulation. The ball hits the wall and the dynamic chunks shatter into pieces. 

Conclusion

In the next part of the tutorial, I'll show some more aspects of breaking objects using PDI in Maya.