Make Balloons Float and Pop in Blender

Have you ever wanted to make a balloon rise, drift gently through the air, and then burst into pieces—all inside Blender? In this project, you’ll learn how to create a simple but eye-catching floating balloon pop animation using Blender’s built-in tools.

You’ll start by modeling a basic balloon, give it a natural floating motion, then “pop” it using Blender’s Quick Explosion or Cell Fracture tools. We’ll finish by adding a sky background, materials, and a simple camera animation so the final result looks clean and, hopefully, cinematic!

By the end, you’ll have a complete animation you can render and share—even if you’re brand new to Blender. No add-ons required, no complicated simulations—just fun, satisfying steps that build into a great visual effect.

Background on myself: Student finishing up last year of school. Non-artsy background and picked up Blender rather recently. I wanted to test out some new ideas, and here we are! Hopefully, you'll learn a few basic ideas that you can use in developing your own scenes or animations!

(I'd upload blend files each step of the way for you, but at time of writing blend files are not supported on Instructables.com.)

1. Blender 4.0 or newer
2. A computer
3. A mouse and keyboard

When Blender opens, you will see a cube, a camera, and a light in the center of the workspace.

1. Left-click the cube to select it.
2. Press X on your keyboard, then click Delete.

We remove the cube because it is only a placeholder. Starting with an empty scene helps you stay organized as you build your own objects. (Blender has a culture of deleting the default cube regardless of what the next step is.)

You should now see only a camera and a light left in your 3D Viewport.

Now you’ll model a balloon. This is a simple shape that we'll use this later on. The steps will show you what to do in either Solid or Wireframe view (and possibly X-Ray mode), however it's up to you what viewport shading mode you'll use when modeling!

1. Press Shift + A → Mesh → UV Sphere.
2. In the N-Panel (press N if you don't see it open), change the dimensions to 30cm (or choose the balloon dimension you'd like).
3. It's important to get your dimensions right since we'll be using simulation nodes later on and we want the balloons to behave correctly.
4. Generally, it's good practice to make your models to scale!
5. Select the sphere and press Tab to go into Edit Mode.
6. Press O to turn on Proportional Editing.
7. Select the bottom faces, then press G, then Z, then type .1, and press Enter.
8. This stretches the sphere vertically (to 40cm tall), giving it an oval balloon shape.
9. Press I to inset the faces, then move the mouse slightly inward.
10. Press O to turn off Proportional Editing.
11. Press E to turn on extrude, then type .05, and press Enter.
12. Now we are starting to form the tie at the base of the balloon.
13. Press S to scale and scale the base up slightly.
14. Press I to inset the faces, then move the mouse slightly inward.
15. Press E to turn on extrude, then type .05 then -, and press Enter.
16. Feel free to adjust the balloon's shape to your liking! I went back and added a lip (where the band at the lip of the balloon) and a neck (leading up to the lip).
17. Press Tab to exit Edit Mode.
18. Go to the modifier panel, and add a Subdivision Surface modifier.
19. To make it smooth, go to Object → Shade Smooth.
20. In the Outliner panel (top right), double-click the sphere’s name and rename it Balloon.
21. Press CTRL + A and click Apply Transforms
22. Take the balloon's current position, rotation, and scale and make those the new defaults (the new zero point or 1x scale).
23. This makes sure that when we include it in our Geometry Nodes further on that the balloons don't come in larger than expected (or some other transform).

You now have the main balloon body. It is smooth, simple, and efficient for animation.

Next, you’ll add a string hanging below the balloon. Using a curve makes it easy to adjust later.

1. Select the balloon and press Tab to go into Edit Mode.
2. Select the edges around the neck of the balloon and press CTRL + D.
3. This will duplicate the edges and will represent the top off the string.
4. Press S to scale and scale the top of the string up slightly.
5. Press P to and click "Selection" to separate the string from the rest of the balloon.
6. Press A to select all, then press E and right click.
7. This will cancel moving the mesh you've just extruded.
8. Press S to scale and scale the string up slightly.
9. This extrudes the base of the string and creates faces. We need these faces later on for our simulation.
10. I've included an image with X-Ray mode turned off so you can see what it will look like.
11. Now, select one edge and press E and extrude it a bit.
12. Repeat step 9 and form a basic shape of the string.
13. I just extruded out and then down (as you can see in the image)
14. Alternatively, extrude the full length of the string and then press CTRL + R to add an edge loop. Before you left click, scroll the mouse wheel to add more edge loops. Once you have the amount you'd like, left click. In retrospect, I'd recommend this approach over the first!
15. Press Tab to exit Edit Mode.

Now you have both parts of the balloon: the main shape and the string. You can adjust their position later if needed.

Note: There are better ways to do this, but it really depends on the scene you are trying to make. For instance, nobody is every going to see the loop around the balloon, so we don't really need to include it (unless you'll be showing that in the animation like I have here).

To make your balloons look realistic and visually appealing, we’ll add colors and simple materials. I'll just add a simple material here, but feel free to make your own or use one of the many resources/tutorials online on this (e.g., procedural balloon material and Latex Rubber Balloon).

1. Select the Balloon.
2. Go to the Material Properties tab (red sphere icon).
3. Click New to create a material.
4. Set the Base Color to a bright color of your choice (red, blue, yellow, etc.).
5. Optional: Increase Specular to around 0.5–0.8 to give the balloon a shiny surface.
6. Optional: Increase Roughness slightly (0.2–0.3) to avoid a mirror-like reflection.

Why: Balloons are glossy and colorful in real life. A simple shader with bright color and slight shine makes them instantly recognizable without complex nodes.

Tip: For multiple balloons, you can create several materials and assign them randomly to each balloon to add variety.

To make the balloon explode into pieces, there are a few different routes. You can use the Quick Explosion or the Cell Fracture Add-On. Here are instructions on how to use the add-on, however I'll only include pictures of using Quick Explosion.

By Default, Cell Fracture isn't activated in Blender. So, you'll need to add the Add-On.

1. Go to Edit → Preferences.
2. Click on the Get Extensions tab.
3. In the search bar, type "Cell Fracture".
4. Click Install
5. Click on the Add-ons tab.
6. Make sure that the box is checked next to Object: Cell Fracture so that it is enabled.
7. Close the preferences window.

We’ll make the balloon rise using keyframes. You can also add a slight wobble to make the balloon drift naturally.

Animate the Vertical Rise

1. Select your Balloon object.
2. Move the timeline to Frame 1.
3. Press I → Location to save the balloon’s starting position.
4. Move the timeline to Frame 200 (or however long you want the balloon to float).
5. Press G → Z and move the balloon upward.
6. Press I → Location again to save the new position.

Expected Result: Press Spacebar to play the animation. The balloon should rise smoothly from the starting position to the higher position.

Optional: Add a Small Drift

To make the balloon feel more natural, you can add slight horizontal movement:

1. Open the Graph Editor (found in the top-left corner of a viewport panel).
2. Open the Balloon Transformations, and select the lock icon
3. Select the X or Y location curves of the balloon.
4. Right-click → Add F-Curve Modifier → Noise.
5. Adjust Scale (how quickly it drifts) and Strength (how far it moves sideways).
6. Since the balloon will explode at the 200th frame, I added used the Restrict Frame Range to prevent the noise from
7. Press Spacebar to preview.
8. Expected Result: The balloon rises while drifting gently left and right. You can skip this step if you prefer a perfectly straight rise — it’s optional.
9. Optional: Add noise to the Rotation if you'd like add some more realism!

Now we’ll make the balloon pop! This step involves four parts which are all linked together:

1. Duplicate the Balloon for the Pop
2. We'll need a version of the balloon that will break apart while keeping the original balloon for the floating animation. This lets us swap the visible object at the right moment for a smooth pop.
3. Move the timeline to the frame where you want the pop to happen (e.g., Frame 200).
4. Select your rising balloon and press Shift + D → Right Click to duplicate it in place.
5. Rename the duplicate to Balloon Pop.
6. Since I put this step after the animation step, you'll have to delete the animation!
7. To do this, just delete the keyframes! (Select the keyframe and press X.)
8. Shatter the Balloon
9. Using Quick Effects
10. With Balloon Pop selected, go to Object → Quick Effects → Quick Explode
11. Set Source Limit to around 50–100 to control the number of pieces.
12. Animate the force to create a quick explosion by setting the velocity and starting/ending frames of the explosion.
13. Click anywhere outside of the window
14. Using Cell Fracture:
15. Cell Fracture breaks the balloon into shards that can be animated independently. More shards give a realistic explosion effect, but too many can slow your computer.
16. With Balloon Pop selected, go to Object → Quick Effects → Cell Fracture.
17. Set Source Limit to around 50–100 to control the number of pieces.
18. Click OK.
19. Add Physics for the Pop (Cell Fracture Only, Not Pictured Above)
20. Without physics, the shards would fall in place or remain stationary. The force field simulates the sudden outward push of a balloon popping, making the explosion realistic.
21. Select all the shards (right-click the new collection → Select Objects).
22. Go to Physics Properties → Rigid Body.
23. With all shards still selected, go to Object → Rigid Body → Copy from Active so every shard behaves the same.
24. Add a Force Field inside the balloon shards: Shift + A → Force Field → Force.
25. Animate the force to create a quick explosion:
26. Frame 199 → Strength = 0 → press I to keyframe
27. Frame 200 → Strength = 1000 → press I
28. Frame 201 → Strength = 0 → press I
29. Swap Visibility Between Balloon and Shards
30. This “visibility swap” is the trick that makes it look like the balloon pops instantly, instead of fading or overlapping with shards. It keeps the animation clean and believable.
31. You'll see similar tricks in animated movies!
32. We need the intact balloon visible until the pop, and the shards visible right at the pop frame:
33. Hide the shards initially: Frame 199 → toggle Eye/Camera icons off for the shards collection → I to keyframe. Frame 200 → toggle Eye/Camera on → I keyframe.
34. Hide the intact balloon at the pop: Frame 199 → visible → I keyframe. Frame 200 → toggle off → I keyframe.

Expected Result:

1. You should now see the balloon rise.
2. At the pop frame, the intact balloon disappears and is replaced by shards that explode outward realistically.
3. The timing, shard count, and force strength can all be adjusted to get the pop effect you want.

Tip: For multiple balloons, duplicate the entire setup (float + pop). Offset the keyframes slightly so each balloon pops at a different time, making the scene feel dynamic and alive.

Tip: At this point, you may notice that the shards are rigid (Quick Explosion). To prevent this instructable from getting too much longer, I'll leave it up to the enterprising learner to figure out the next step!

This part is really up to you. So, here are some basic instructions.

Note that a subtle camera movement makes the scene more dynamic.

1. Select the Camera.
2. Move the timeline to Frame 1.
3. Press I → Location & Rotation to keyframe the starting position.
4. Move to the last frame (after the pop).
5. Move or rotate the camera slightly to follow the rising balloon or reveal more of the scene.
6. Press I → Location & Rotation again.

I had the balloon float begin and then once it entered the camera frame, the camera moved with the balloon until it exploded. I've included a picture of the keyframes I used for you to see!

Tip: Use Shift + ~ (fly navigation) in Camera view to find a natural angle and then set your keyframes.

You can make any background that you'd like, though to be careful with your choices so that you can make your balloons stand out. You may want to choose a simple background keeps the focus on your balloons. A light blue sky gives the impression of floating outdoors, while a neutral background is cleaner.

1. Go to the World Properties tab (globe icon).
2. Click Color → choose a soft color (light blue for sky, or white for neutral).
3. Optional: Add a Plane beneath the balloons for a floor. Scale it up so it fills the scene.
4. Optional: Add subtle lighting: Shift + A → Light → Area or Sun, adjust intensity and angle.

Don't forget to be creative! Add clouds, birds or anything else that you think might be a nice addition!

Note that in my case, my clouds require Cycles to render properly! So, be careful of the material choices you make.

Now, what you do here will depend on the render engine you choose. I would use EEVEE to minimize render time, however since the cloud material I chose requires Cycles I'll be using that render engine.

1. Go to Output Properties (printer icon).
2. Set Frame Start/End to match your animation.
3. Choose File Format, the encoding, and set a save location.
4. Go to Render → Render Animation (Ctrl + F12).

Rendering produces the final video. Blender will combine your floating balloons, pop explosion, camera movement, and materials into one animation ready for your video.

Tip: Start with low sample count for quick previews, then increase samples for the final render to reduce noise.

Tip: While it may be tempting to render the video directly, if you have a problem rendering or Blender crashes you'll have to start all over! Instead, render images and then take the video sequence and turn it into a video (this tutorial should help you out).

You did it! By following this instructable, you’ve:

1. Modeled a balloon and string from scratch.
2. Animated the balloon rising smoothly using keyframes.
3. Created a realistic balloon pop using Quick Explosion (or Cell Fracture).
4. Added materials to make your balloons bright and shiny.
5. Set up a simple background and camera animation for a polished final look.
6. Rendered your animation into a video ready to share.

Maybe you did something special to your animation like adding clouds, or using compositing nodes. Look at the images/videos I've uploaded as two examples of types of things you can do!

Sometimes, you'll spend a lot of time changing settings to get different results! (See the many images of a few different renders I took. So, don't be discouraged if it takes a while to find something you like!)

What You Learned:

1. How to use keyframes to animate objects.
2. How to use Cell Fracture to break objects into shards.
3. How to apply Rigid Body physics and Force Fields for dynamic effects.
4. How to add simple materials, lighting, and camera movement for a professional look.

Next Steps and Ideas:

1. Try adding multiple balloons with slightly different pop frames for a lively scene.
2. Experiment with Graph Editor noise to make balloons drift gently while rising.
3. Change colors, shapes, or background to customize your animation.
4. Add more objects, like confetti or clouds, to make a richer scene.

You now have all the skills to make simple, fun, dynamic animations in Blender. Keep practicing, experimenting, and sharing your creations! But most importantly, have fun and share your creations!