3.3. Natural Simulation

Our knee-jerk reaction is to start at the end of an effect, directly influencing rendered geometry. Doing that eliminates a lot of natural secondary motion. In the end, it forces us to add excessive handles, fields, and expressions to achieve desired results and often results in deliberate anticipated motion.

Natural phenomena are unpredictable. This doesn't mean your simulation has to be at the mercy of your solver; you still control the action, but you do it naturally. Of course, some projects will require every boulder, rock, and pebble to move precisely. Those cases are often best keyframed. True simulation is best left to its own devices, with as little post- or in-simulation influence as possible. You are not giving up control or eliminating cinematic drama. Instead, you control the outcome of the simulation the way nature had intended. For example, if you want to have lava flow past the right side of a tree, design the terrain with grooves, rocks, or mounds of dirt to guide it, instead of using a field or other tool to direct particle flow. The bottom line is to use natural elements to influence the outcome of the simulation. This may seem ridiculous or obvious, given that it's all artificial; but if it doesn't exist naturally, then it shouldn't be included in your simulation.