CYBER & FANTASY VFX
ROLE
VFX Artist
DESCRIPTION
A short animation of a fight between a fantasy skeletal mage that has travelled from the past, and a cyber guardian. I focussed on creating the effects I wanted. I built them from scratch using Material techniques and the Niagara Particle system.
YEAR
2024
GENRE
Fantasy meets Cyberpunk
PLATFORM
Unreal Engine 5
VFX BREAKDOWN
GROUND ATTACK
There are many parts that were involved in creating the overall effect. From the charging of the staffs power, the transfer of magic into the ground, to the magical rock effect.
DRAGON SUMMON
The Summon effect required a combination of several Niagara effects and various material effects. The mage magic cast, the summon circle, the materialisation effect, and finally the magical fire breath. These all come together to produce the overall effect.
DRAGON DEATH
The dragon death, although not requiring many Niagara and Material effects, is quite clean. The disintegration and magical absorption worked well.
SHADERS, PARTICLES & CODE
GROUND ATTACK MATERIALS
The first thing I created for the ground attack was a rock material that was imbued with the green magic. This was an important part of the effect as it represented the magic coursing through the floor. To achieve this I combined a rock Material with a crack and green glow effect that pulsated, as shown in the Material blueprint.
The staff charge and floor slam needed accuracy, because without it, it just looked wrong. This involved the power flowing through the staff, charging up as it is raised into the air, represented by the glowing orb surrounding the head of the staff. The discharge of energy represented by the orb disappearing, the staff glowing green for a split second, and a glowing crack appearing where the staff meets the ground. This all takes place in mere seconds.
To achieve the effect, I created a Material for the staff that not only would animate the green energy running up and down the staff, but would also allow me to make the whole material turn green. This was important that I had full control over the material so that I could achieve the desired outcome.
The ground crack material was important in two ways, first off, the green glow was needed to represent the power discharging from the staff into the ground, and the second was to represent the floor cracks that were left behind as the rocks moved across the scene. This was achieved with a single manipulatable Materteral which I used for both.
GROUND ATTACK NIAGARA
There are two separate particle systems at play during the ground attack effect, the firs is the staff head, which charges up with a green orb surrounded by a rotating magic occult style circle. The second Niagara System is the ground attack itself. This system is a little more complicated and required several effects to achieve. Broken down this includes the large magical rocks, the smaller non magical rocks, the left over debris, the smoke, the floor crack and the small pebbles.
GROUND ATTACK BLUEPRINT
The blueprint for this effect is set to run all the paramotors through a timeline node. This allowed for the precision timing needed to achieve the desired outcome. The length and direction of the ground attack is tied to a Spline, allowing for a custom length and direction in which the effect travels along the ground.
