Falling Leaf Physics

Hey everyone,

Just curious if anyone has had any luck with creating semi-realistic, falling leaf physics. Having a small, leaf-shaped object with a rigidbody attached looks somewhat passable, but you don’t get that kind of back-and-forth sway that you see when watching leaves fall in Autumn.

Is this even something that you would handle on a scripting level or is there some other way of going about this? I’ve been searching for tutorials, assets, guides, or even other projects that may have this implemented but have come up empty.

Any pointers or suggestions?

Thanks for your time!

BlacKatFever

You mean something like this http://www.gamedesign.ro/portfolio/fallingleaves.html ?

First you need a leaf shaped gameobject with rigidbody, some mass, zero drag. To this object add a child rigidbody with no visible mesh with the same mass (disable gravity for it). Invisible one should have a big drag (1-10). Place the invisible one above the leaf’s plane like a few leaf lengths above. Connect these two with a fixed joint. Add a script that applies a sinusoidal force.
It should fall like a leaf.
It is possible to do a more realistic one with some more scripting too.

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