Rigid body simulation in Blender: Set up falling and connected objects

What you’ll learn in this guide

Rigid body simulation in Blender calculates changes in the position and orientation of solid objects without deforming their shapes. This makes it suitable for scenes with falling or colliding objects, or connected parts. In this guide, we’ll cover how to set up basic physics objects, understand the difference between active and passive bodies, link two objects with a constraint, and bake the simulation.

Here’s the key distinction: the simulation calculates the position and orientation of dynamic rigid bodies; it doesn’t directly change the objects’ own location and rotation values. When you need to apply transforms to an object, you can use Blender’s Apply Object Transform operator. Rigid body physics also works with the animation system, so objects can be used with animation and parent-child relationships.

Requirements and preparing the scene

The source documentation includes an introduction to rigid bodies for Blender 3.3 and a constraints section for Blender 5.2 LTS; other related documents are from the current pages of the Blender manual. These documents don’t specify any account or paid-license requirements. Since interface details can vary by version, check the labels here against those in your installed version of Blender.

Only mesh objects can take part in the simulation. Choose the parts that will move and the surfaces that will stay still in your scene accordingly. For example, falling pieces could be active bodies, while a floor that needs to stay in place during collisions could be a passive body. This is a general example of how to assign objects their roles in the simulation, not a requirement for a particular scene setup.

To add a rigid body in Blender, use the Rigid Body button in the Physics tab under Properties, or the Add Active and Add Passive options in the Object > Rigid Body menu. An active body is simulated dynamically. A passive body remains stationary. Both types can be controlled by the animation system using the Animated option.

Step-by-step simulation setup

1. Identify the objects that will move. Add active rigid bodies to mesh objects that are expected to move in the simulation. Use the passive type for mesh objects that need to stay still. When rigid body physics is added to an object, Blender creates a group called RigidBodyWorld by default and places physics-enabled objects in it.

2. Check the world collection. In the Rigid Body World panel under Scene Properties, you select the collection containing the bodies that will take part in the simulation. Objects and constraints that aren’t in the collection shown in the panel’s Collection field won’t be considered by the simulation. You can create multiple Rigid Body World collections and sort bodies into them using the Collections panel. So when investigating an unexpected result, one of the first things to check is whether the correct collection is selected.

3. Adjust the simulation behavior. Rigid Body World settings include options for speed, collisions, and solving. Speed can be used to speed up or slow down the simulation. Split Impulse is an option intended to reduce excess speed that can occur during collisions; since it can somewhat reduce simulation stability, enable it only when needed.

   Substeps Per Frame sets the number of simulation steps taken per frame, while Solver Iterations sets the number of constraint solver iterations per simulation step. According to the manual, higher values can improve accuracy and slow down calculations. More iterations can make constraints and stacked objects more stable. Increasing these settings doesn’t automatically produce better results in every scene; evaluate the result and calculation time together.

4. Connect two objects with a constraint. According to the Blender manual, the quick method is to select two objects and click Connect under Object > Rigid Body. This creates an Empty with a physics constraint that points to the two selected objects. Alternatively, you can create a constraint using the Rigid Body Constraint button in the Physics tab of one of the two objects; this method doesn’t create a separate Empty. The position and rotation of the object the constraint is attached to affect the constraint’s location.

   In the constraint properties, First and Second specify the objects to connect. Enabled controls whether the constraint is active in the simulation, while Disable Collisions controls whether the constrained objects are allowed to pass through each other. Breakable and Threshold settings relate to whether the constraint can break during the simulation and the impact strength required to break it. These options aren’t needed in every scene; use them according to the purpose of the constraint.

5. Calculate the result and bake the cache. In the Cache subpanel of Rigid Body World, you can set the simulation’s start and end frames. Bake calculates the simulation and preserves the cache; you must be in Object Mode to do this. Save your Blender file after creating the simulation cache: if the file hasn’t been saved yet, the cache may be kept in memory and lost when the file is closed. If needed, use Delete Bake to clear the active cache or use the other cache options.

Common mistakes

Objects not moving isn’t always caused by the physics settings themselves. First, confirm that you’re using mesh objects only and that the correct type of rigid body has been added to the necessary objects. Then check the collection in the Rigid Body World panel; the bodies and constraints that need to take part in the simulation must be in the selected collection.

If the constraint isn’t connecting the expected objects, check the First and Second fields. When using an Empty, the constraint’s location is related to the Empty’s position and axes; according to the manual, connection points are calculated at the start of the animation and remain fixed in the objects’ local coordinate systems throughout the animation. Also, don’t enable Split Impulse indiscriminately: it can help reduce the impact of collisions, but may also reduce stability.

Finally, if the cache hasn’t been baked or the file hasn’t been saved, the calculated simulation may not persist. Review the frame range before baking, make sure you’re in Object Mode, and save your work.

Where it fits in architectural and visualization workflows

Rigid body simulation can be useful for teams that want to show the motion of falling, colliding, or connected solid parts in architectural presentations or interior visualizations. The distinction between active and passive bodies lets you treat objects that move differently from scene elements that remain stationary. Constraints also let you define the movement of two related parts within the simulation.

Before you begin, check that the objects are meshes, that they’re in the correct collection, and that you understand how the selected settings may affect simulation stability. Higher substep or solver iteration values can improve accuracy, but the manual notes that they may also affect calculation time. The sources don’t provide hardware requirements, performance benchmarks, or compatibility information for specific render engines, so you’ll need to test in your own scene. The sources also don’t specify any paid-license requirements, so no conclusions about licensing costs should be drawn here.

Next steps

Start by testing the active-passive distinction and collision behavior with a small number of objects. Then, if needed, create a constraint between two objects and observe how Enabled, collision, and breakability options affect the scene. Once the simulation is stable, set the appropriate frame range, bake the cache, and save the Blender file. For more detailed physics requirements, consult the relevant sections on Rigid Body World settings and constraint options in the Blender manual.

Sources and license

This guide is adapted into Turkish based on the Rigid Body World, Rigid Body Constraints introduction page, and Rigid Body introduction page in the official Blender manual. The source pages are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.