Getting started

Current package

Carnage Grains runs on Windows with Blender 5.1 or later. You’ll need an NVIDIA GPU to run your simulations.

Installation

1. Drag the downloaded ZIP file into Blender’s viewport and follow the installation prompts. Alternatively, go to Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions, open the menu at the top right, and choose Install from Disk.
2. In the 3D Viewport, press N to open the sidebar. Select the Carnage Grains tab and open its main panel.

Optional: in the addon’s preferences, choose a Temporary Cache Folder for simulation playback. Leave it blank to use Blender’s temporary storage.

Your first simulation

1. Start with a cube and move it above the ground grid. Set the timeline to frame 1.
2. In Carnage Grains, choose the cube as your Fill Volume. This is the shape that will be filled with grains.
3. Leave the other settings at their defaults and click Start. The grains will fall and settle on the ground.

   The very first start can take a while to initialize. After that, simulations will usually start much faster.

4. Pause the timeline to inspect the result. Click Reset when you want to start again.

Save the result

1. In Cache, choose a Cache File and short Start/End range. Relative paths beginning // are resolved beside the saved .blend.
2. Click Write Cache to write the simulation to disk. Keep the frame files, metadata, and sidecars together.
3. Use Load Point Cache for saved-cache playback or Post Processing.
4. Open Meshing and choose Carnage Meshing for a surface, or Geometry Nodes for points/instances/meshed output. Both require a saved point cache.

For individual grains, Geometry Nodes → Points uses native points in Cycles; enable Instance on Points for EEVEE. Assign Material in the output panel. For portable baked output, see Alembic export.

Where to go next

Grains controls the source packing. Constraints adds cohesion and attachment. Activation controls release, and Point Deform makes inactive grains follow an animated source.

The sidebar follows the current addon panel order. Use Animation & keyframes before animating simulation settings, and Troubleshooting for common setup issues.