Using rigid body physics to set objects' initial positions

Question

I have a problem where I used physics to position a bunch of meshes in Blender and when I try to set the current frame to 0 it resets the position of the meshes that have been positioned with the use of physics.

Here is the blend file.

Here is what the positioning looks like (Frame 300):

enter image description here

Here is what the positioning looks like after I try to set to frame 0 (Frame 0):

enter image description here

Many people use http://www.pasteall.org/ and I use https://drive.google.com. — Thom Blair III, Mar 30 '14 at 02:08
Here you go http://www.pasteall.org/blend/28020 please try and figure out what the problem is. — Dima, Mar 30 '14 at 02:16
Ok, so just to make sure I understand correctly: you want the bunch of meshes to be all down in the box at frame 1? — Thom Blair III, Mar 30 '14 at 02:19
Also, do you need them to be separate objects or can they all be joined into one object? — Thom Blair III, Mar 30 '14 at 02:20
Yes I wan them to be all separate and down in the box at frame 0 rather than one, because I want to make a object fall into the box into the meshes — Dima, Mar 30 '14 at 02:23
Ok, I think I have an answer, I just need to figure out exactly how to explain it. — Thom Blair III, Mar 30 '14 at 02:27
It looks like we'll have to wait until more of the Blender experts come back...I can't figure this one out yet. — Thom Blair III, Mar 30 '14 at 02:46
Whoa! Awesome answer by Garrett! I had no idea how to do that. That's the benefit of having lots of Blender experts around! :) — Thom Blair III, Mar 30 '14 at 13:37
Don't forget to select his answer as working for you by clicking the checkmark so he get's credit for solving your problem. :) — Thom Blair III, Mar 30 '14 at 13:38

score 22 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 10 '20 at 12:57

22

Apply Visual Transform

Another way to solve this problem without the need to bake is to use Apply Visual Transform like this:

Go to frame 300 and select all the mesh pieces
CTRLA -> Visual Transform

Applying Visual Transform will set the Location, Rotation and Scale of all the selected objects to what they are on frame 300.

With this method, you don't need to bake the simulation and you also don't loose the rigid body settings.

Credit for this answer goes to sergof here on StackExchange.

edited Jun 10 '20 at 12:57

Community

1

answered Mar 31 '14 at 01:03

Thom Blair III

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I tried this in Blender 2.8 and does nothing, while the bake to keyframes works – Lumis Mar 19 '19 at 17:38
In 2.8 this still works. Just remember to Remove the Rigid Body from the objects after you Apply Visual Transform. – Keith Pinson Apr 23 '20 at 14:19
This didn't work for me either, in v2.9. The Rigid Body > Apply Transformation answer in the linked question DID, however – smashuu Jun 27 '23 at 14:36

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 30 '14 at 04:01

6

The objects' positions get reset because, by clicking on frame 0, you are "going back in time" to the beginning of the animation.

To use the rigid body physics to set the initial positions to be what they are at frame 300, here's one method:

Select all of the objects involved in the rigid body physics simulation
Bake to Keyframes (in 3D View window, hit T, then select Physics > Bake to Keyframes)
Still with all the objects selected, open the Graph Editor
All the keyframes should be selected already. If not, hit A.
Move keyframes back 300 frames (Gx-300).
Erase all keyframes (DeleteEnter).

answered Mar 30 '14 at 04:01

Garrett

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Thank you so much!! Exactly what I needed! Cannot thank you enough, my hero :) – Dima Mar 30 '14 at 07:20
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Thanks! In Blender 2.8 one clicks on Object menu then Rigid body > Bake to keyframes.. – Lumis Mar 19 '19 at 17:40

Using rigid body physics to set objects' initial positions

2 Answers2

Apply Visual Transform

Linked