Hello all! I’d appreciate some advice as I’m clearly making a very elementary oversight…
My intention is to have a large amount of text with the letters falling as individual objects.
My process: Add text. Convert text to mesh. Extrude (to give the letters thickness). Select all text. Make Rigid Body. Separate by loose parts.
Now I come a cropper. What I’m trying to do is give each letter its own origin, as seen here (youtu.be/UgIoy9Wt_2g?t=214).
However, when I select all of the letter objects and Set origin> Origin to centre of mass (volume), all of the letter objects go to the 3D cursor.
What simple thing am I doing wrong, please? It seems to be something to do with the letter objects being Rigid Bodies, but there are too many of them to make them all Rigid Bodies and give them all Origins individually. How should I go about this?
Immediately, that brings one question to my mind: is the location of the text object animated with keyframes? If yes, the keyframes would be in cause, not the rigid bodies.
If you don’t have keyframes, then try applying the visual transform before they snap into place (that causes the current position an object appears in to becomes its true position).
Also, there is a menu that allows working with multiple rigid bodies:
There are no keyframes set, and the steps applied are the ones I list above. I Apply All Transforms before I Separate By Loose Parts, so the resulting workflow is:
Add Text. Convert Text To Mesh. Rotate and move into position. Extrude (to give the letters thickness). Select all text. Apply All Transforms. Make Rigid Body. Separate By Loose Parts. Select All.
If I now Set Origin > Origin To Centre Of Mass (Volume), the letter objects will all be moved to the 3D cursor, when I want them to each have their own individual origin (as if I’d Set Origin > Origin To Geometry for them all individually).
If I don’t make the letter objects Rigid Bodies then indeed the Set Origin > Origin To Centre Of Mass (Volume) process works correctly. However, that leaves me with the problem of how to make the individual letters all Rigid Bodies without having to do it one-by-one.
I’m afraid I don’t see how your example image connects to a menu for working with multiple Rigid Bodies.
What you you recommend? I remain very grateful for any advice.
I’m not using keyframes and I have been Applying All Transforms.
If I don’t make the letters rigid bodies before Separate By Loose Parts then the Set Origin to Centre Of Mass (Volume) works normally. But then my problem is that I’d have to make each letter a rigid body individually, and there are far too many.
I’m afraid I don’t see how the image illustrates a menu for working with multiple rigid bodies.
Again, I appreciate any advice you can offer. I am doing the same process as is done on the video example I gave above.
An alternative solution might be to make the letter objects rigid bodies after the Separate By Loose Parts and Set Origin functions are complete. Is there a way of making multiple objects (a few hundred) all rigid bodies with one process?
Thank you, etn249. It does seem to correct the issue. I’ll plough away at this and see if I can get the letter objects to behave themselves, but the main problem seems to have been solved. Thank you both very much!
I did manage to make rigid bodies snap together: it happens when I set their origin when I’m not at the first frame of the simulation. In my case, returning to the beginning fixes the problem.
Well, what I’m trying to do is have a huge body of text fall over time with each letter as a separate object. My plan was to animate the Dynamic property, so that I could create the letters above the scene, and then keyframe each block of letters going from Dynamic = off to Dynamic = on, so they’d fall on cue. However, this is what’s currently not behaving. However, you’ve been very helpful in getting me on the right path - thanks!
