Blend Sub-Mesh Position. That’s about it 🙂

OK, to further explain this a bit better. Blend Sub-Mesh Position allows us to blend mesh positions. From A to B. By stacking it together, we can easily blend positions from A to B to C and back to A. You can easily create complex animations, by splitting the main setup in smaller “pieces”.

For example, I could have tried and use only 1 Duplicator + 1 Forge Dynamics setup. And then tried to somehow setup distribution mix-blend, inside one Duplicator. I’m pretty sure it’s possible. However, it is quite confusing and difficult to mange, if you have complex layers, or specific setups in mind. This is why I decided to use 2x Duplicators to make my life easier.

This is pretty important. Ideally, you want to have the same amount of shapes between Duplicators A and B. This will make easy transition. If the count does not match, then you will have to create work-around for workaround. For example, use another Duplicator B v2, that has the same distribution and Dup B v1, but different count number.

It can get pretty confusing and difficult to manage on more complex projects. It’s easier if the shape count matches in the first place.

This one gave me a little bit of a trouble, initially. For a seamless blend, it is easier if you finish transition from Dup A to Dup B to Forge, before all your in-between keyframes stop moving. For example, in the tutorial, I added extra spin animation on Dup B. I transition to Forge, before Dup B finished moving.

In the end, you want to create an illusion of moving shapes that transform from one place to another. You may have to play with keyframes a bit, before it feels “right”.

I didn’t want to get into this during the tutorial. I covered this already in this one. Forge Dynamics Simulation Start time matters. When you put something inside Forge, Forge takes over. If you want to specify, when Forge takes over, use Start Frame. Neat little trick or setup that you can do, is to link a Marker to Forge. Then you can easily move the marker around and Start Frame will update at the same time, too.