What This Video Covers
- How to create a Smoke Man / Smoke Character simulation
- Importing a character and animation into the simulation setup
- Adjusting domain, emitter, forces, gravity, and rendering settings
- Finalizing the look of a smoke-based character in Blender (or your simulation tool)
Project Setup
- Starting a new project
- Deleting all default nodes from the simulation workspace
- Using Import Node to load the character file
- Resetting the simulation after import
- Scaling the character to 300% and rotating it 90°
- Adjusting domain size to:
- 200 × 200 × 150
Character Animation Setup
- The imported animation loads correctly inside the simulation
- Running the animation backward for better smoke dynamics
Emitter Settings
- Opening the emitter section
- Setting Volume Emit
- Connecting Geometry → Shape
- Adjusting thickness maps:
- Thickness image: 0.03
- Thickness collision: 0.03
- Turning off unnecessary maps:
- Fire image → No Image
- Setting emission value to 400
Fixing Smoke Direction
- Smoke was rising upward — adjusted forces to fix it.
- Inside Simulation → Forces:
- “Buoyancy” set to 0
- Smoke weight set to negative (for smoke to fall downward)
- Gravity is also set to negative.
- Result: Smoke settles and behaves correctly around the character
Combustion & Quality Settings
- Changing combustion settings to 40–50, which is enough for this effect
Scene Setup & Rendering
- Adjusting the camera position
- Turning off the Skybox
- Editing the Ground material/settings
- Showing only the smoke, not the character:
- In Import settings → uncheck Render All.
- Result: Only smoke is visible, creating the Smoke Man effect
Final Adjustments
- Increasing or decreasing smoke density using emitter values
- The Smoke Man is fully ready
- Optional customization can be added based on preference