Shatter

Shatter breaks an object into pieces. Cracks spread along a front and glow just before a piece lets go, then the object comes apart into rigid chunks that spin, fly outward from its centre, fall under gravity and shrink away. Reversed, the shards fly back and the surface seals.

How it works

The object is split into cells around points scattered over its surface, so it breaks into real chunks rather than dust, and each chunk turns on its own random axis about its own centre. By default the break starts at the centre and moves out; it can also open in scattered patches or sweep up, down, left or right. Trigger it on a click, run it from an action, or keep it on the object as its exit.

Settings

- Pieces: how many chunks, from 8 big slabs to 400 small fragments. 90 by default. - Crack colour: the glow in the cracks before they open. Ice blue by default. - Force: how hard the shards are thrown outward. - Gravity: how fast they fall. At 0 the shards drift off as if in space. - Crack pattern and Direction: where the cracks run and in which order the pieces let go. - Duration: 2.4 seconds.

Use it for

Impact moments, a glass product breaking on click, game-like reveals, a title that bursts apart before the next scene. Leave breaking copies behind a moving object with the Shatter trail, or give the object a glass material for a crystal-clear break.