Giving soft bodies initial velocity, motion blur

Support Basics & Interface
#1

I’m simulating a rubber ball in Blender using soft body physics and I want to give it an initial velocity. So far the only way I’ve been able to do this is by hitting it with a moving object. The problem with that is it’s hard to aim it, and if I change the physics settings at all then it bounces differently and doesn’t go the same way. I know there’s a way to set an initial velocity for rigid bodies using actuators, but it doesn’t do anything in the soft body simulation. Is there a way to specify an initial velocity for a soft body?

I also want to motion blur the ball, but the soft body simulation doesn’t seem to leave any intermediate frames behind that would be used by the motion blur. Is there a better way to make motion blur than rendering extra frames and putting the motion blur in later?

#2

To give the object some initial velocity, add an Empty and give it a Wind Field. Make sure to also set a max distance so that the wind doesn’t effect the object after its initial push. As for the motion blur, I believe someone mentioned that if you free the baking on the soft-body and render the animation then motion blur will work. I have not tried this so I cannot confirm that.