This is a second tutorial in my Forge Dynamics series. I’m building on top of existing knowledge, from introduction to Forge Dynamics. Make sure to read docs about Forge Dynamics Shape, especially the Fields section. This way you will have the latest available knowledge, in case things change.

Think of Fields as forces inside Forge Dynamics. Forge Dynamics is it’s own system inside Cavalry. Whatever “goes” inside Forge, it is controlled by Forge and Fields. This is why if you want to art and motion direct your simulations, you have to use Fields. They will let you influence overall motion, steer it, make it more complex.

In this tutorial I used 2 Fields + one Falloff. Thats it. All the chaos and spinning and collisions were handled by Forge. One tip that I can give you is to start small. Add single field, play with it’s values. See what it does. Then add new field and remove first one. See the difference in motion and behaviour of shapes. Finally, try and combine them both with Falloffs or keyframes.

During initial setup, I used Duplicator with Random distribution and 2x shapes. Ellipse and Rectangle. I did it to limit a number of layers or places I have to modify to achieve my end results. I could have done the same setup with 2X Duplicators. But then, I would have to edit 2x Duplicators (Count, Distribution Size, Position and so on). I prefer to use less layers and get Cavalry “do the math” and make changes for me.

By utilising Index Context in Shape ID and Bodies > Density and Bounce settings, we were able to make a complex system, while reusing existing nodes (layers). This makes it easier to update, reuse the setup and make changes that affect everything all at once. Sometimes it is hard to see what we are affecting with Index Context. Thats why I tried using “contrasting” numbers on Density (50 and 5). It makes it easier to spot what is happening, when Forge is simulation motion all over the composition.

Below you can see differences in the animation, just by modifying the forces that are driving the whole setup. Small changes = big results. All done without keyframes, easy to adapt to different resolutions, shapes and more.