Dmitry Kurbanau - VFX Sketchbook

My last smoke research. Another attempt to make toon-like shapes using Substance designer and implement it in Unity.

Concept:

Early iteration screenshot:

Update: follow replies for detailed breakdowns.

28 Likes

So love the concept style!:heart_eyes:

Hi, can i ask you how you use designer for that? :slight_smile:

Sure, Talrascha. Short answer is: I make tileable smoky twirly-curly shapes, prepare some additional maps, pack it in specific color channels and export it as images for following usage by shader in Unity.


Main reason to use Designer is fast tweaking without the need to manual redo. So I try to make process predictable and manageable in artistic terms. But honestly it’s a bit tricky. I haven’t reached a satisfactory result yet.
Anyway, if you are interested for more detailed breakdown just let me know.

12 Likes

by the way, core node in my trees responsible for curling, twirling and advecting is Vector Morph

1 Like

Looks like I’ve achieved some improvements in shaping my smokes. Process is more handy now. Also some shader variations was done for additional dynamics. Check it out:
https://youtu.be/C6q5UaUgD3U

2 Likes

One more attempt to play with shapes and dynamics:
https://youtu.be/QGvT9URmvj8

3 Likes

super cool experiment. i would love to see a bigger screenshot of your node-network to learn from it. right now it’s really hard to see which nodes are connected to what other nodes :smiley:

1 Like

Great job, keep it going! I’d love to see screenshot of your nodes too :slight_smile:

Guys, thanks for your interest.
With big pleasure I’ll explain you every aspects of my node-trees.
But let me start from core trick.

Unfortunately I can’t make all breakdown at once cause of lack of time. But next time I’ll show how I prepare Vector Fields manually.

6 Likes

Additionally to basic setup. Source shape can be moved. It can be utilized as sprite sheets (animated atlas).
VFX_BreakDown_02_VectorMorph

In some cases you don’t have enough “twirl power”, but Vector Morph amount is already set to 1.

So, just tweak HeightToNormal node values: decrease Surface Size or increase Height Depth.

3 Likes

Breakdown: How to Cook DistortMap with VectorMorph and feed Unity shader
I just put screens and preview here. If you need explanation, just give me a sign.


https://youtu.be/pTyDH2I52LI

8 Likes

Hey, this also works similarly for the normal rotation/swizzling stuff. Rather than doing the split & invert & merge, a Normal Vector Rotation does something similar.

I saw it on a blog that I keep loosing the address to so I thought I’d post this here for your benefit & mine. :slight_smile:!

5 Likes

GIF 14-Aug-22 23-36-02

8 Likes

Looks awesome!, reminds me of the Rayman and Tonic trouble era brought into the modern time!

1 Like

This is amazing!! :exploding_head: Do you mind sharing a breakdown? I’ve been trying to make a procedural fire material that has a hand-drawn feeling, and I’ve really been struggling to get this kind of fluidity and rhythm !

1 Like

RnD_Lightning_01

RnD_Lightning_02

RnD_Lightning_03

2 Likes