Dynamic Sloshing Liquid Rig. Making It Look Like a Simulation With Nothing but the Awesome Power of Math. Part 1: The Basic Rig
Check this out:
Looks delicious, doesn't it?
What you see here is not a result of a fluid simulation. It's a combination of Linear Algebra and some neat mesh manipulation tricks to make the surface deform and behave as if it were a small body of water in a container reacting to being thrown around a scene, sloshing and splashing back and fourth.
This is what you call a rig. A "sloshing liquid rig" as I decided to name it. Intended to be used in a couple of scenes of the animated short film I'm working on.
This bad boy will save me so much time when I get to animating liquids for background objects.
Let's now dive in and see what's happening under the hood. There's some math involved, but be not afraid: as always, I will try to make it as entertaining as possible and visualize everything along the way.