Blender Simulation Nodes: Collision & Attraction Forces
Playing w/ Simulation Nodes in Blender as a way to render particle fields w/ collision & attraction forces ⚛️
Simulation Nodes are (currently) an upcoming feature being developed in Blender, and one of their infinitely many potential use cases is the creation of particle force fields with dynamic collision and attraction controls.
Separating the simulation into its own set of geometry nodes can also help with capturing attributes of the current state and reusing them elsewhere -- for example, in separate material shaders in order to give particles a dynamic color, glow intensity, etc.
Reusing Nodes
The node group containing the simulation can also be reused. This is a great opportunity to let it take an object -- or a collection of objects -- as input for use as the rendered "particle".
Instead of spheres, we can use Suzanne...
Or a rock collection...
