VFX Creation

Ill start this post off by saying this will be a contiusously updated blog with each effect i create as it keeps it in one place, or will include the creation proccess in a powerpont that ill attach.

Fire:

Looking at the effects i plan to create (look at this blog update) the way i always start my proje t of by creating a fire effect. the reason behind this is normally between project i have a week away from niagra so a simple fire allows me to get back into the project as well as UE5 prooviding everything to make the effect in a realisitoc fshion, which whilst not the style i want allows me to progress with the rest of my work

The Creeation of the frie effect, i used my past experience of creating the effect but i explored the use of heat distortion as an extra layer to the effect as i normally stop at the basic look, so with this i had to use the help of a tutorial but once i understood what i was doing it was a simple add as it was a similar proccess to inputing the inital flames.

However i when creati ng the inital fire i noticed that with the heat distrortion it allowed me to use it more on other props such as torches and campfires than what i initally make so i made a simple version of each using blueprints in Unreal and they cam out pretty good. I normally use the simple light in the engine but during my making of the effect i learnt that i can set the effect to have it own light feature within the nigara engine so i tred my best to make it work with the size of the flame, as i can either make the like go inwards which creates a glow effect or a natural lighitng, which is what i wanted that reats somewhat to the movement of the flames.

Weather:

Weather effects are a big part of creating an enviroment, as seen in big film and games, such as bladerunner and RDR2 (Red Dead Redemption 2) and there is not diffenece in Game of Throne as the envirment entails;

- Rain
-Snow
-Sun
-Fog

With the rain and snow its a variation of the hanging partitcles pre made effect with the snow having a slower desecnt than the rain whilst also mainting the orgianl material place upon it, just amde larger. the rain effect requires more actions but its just to change the shape and speed of the falling rain. finally with both dpending on how i want the final produuct to look i either make it so on colliosn it fades away or theres a little splash effect created.

For the sun and fog there are already those as part of unreal engine, so i can alter them as needed to help witht the surrounding area.

Rain:

 

Snow:

Arrow Rain:

The process to create arrow rain, i created my own arrow using Maya 3D with multiple componets:

Using Niagara i increased the spawn rate and shape location so that they spawn in a wide area and spread out enough so it dosent all land in one place, adding velocity to the effect to add speed and distance to where the arrows could land depending on how i angle the effect so it goes up, archs over and flies down, using mesh by size mode to change the size so the arrow starts of massive to make it look inimidating then landing with a normal size arrow.

i plan to add a blood effect if it hits a character model so that means the inital effect will require a colliosn event, and ill have to make a blood splatter effect, ive explained this in a powepoint i will attach.

Dragon Breath:

The Dragon effect is similar to a flamethrower effect as i was shown a talk on the House of the Dragon filming practaises for how they made Dragon fire and it was just flamethrower as the backing piece for it. The main part of the effects follows a directinal burst with the material being te main change made to the effect to help create thate flame effect. This effect is the fist one with tht ebiggest colour range that had to be implemented as the change from a light colour to a dark showcased the stregth of the flame but also helped with thte lifetime of the effect as the further the flame got the more faded it got so that it could fade away easily without looking janky. 

Overall the effect is a basic basic and dosent live up to the desgin of other effects but it gets the job done and im happy with how it works so i cant really hate it

Runes:

The Runes effect is a combination of a few effects, the main one being a mesh plain with a material on it that i quickly created in Photoshop thats set to spin, this is followed by a circle material on a different plane tasked with creating the wobble effect by spawning multiple versions at different sizes ontop of each other with the final aspect being a fountain effect, without the gravity aspect creating the blue orbs that are rising upwards. overall im happy with how it turned out. it was a quick and simple effect i could make in time for the deadline that allowed me if i ad time to go of into more of the magical aspects of fantasy.

Powerpoint