How does one create a subUV texture for a particle system?
Like are they done using Photoshop (drawn frame by frame) or other software?
When making them, is there a rule on how many frames can be created? (eg 2x2, 4x4, 6x6, no limit?)
I am asking this because I am currently learning how to make VFXs in UE4 and a lot of effects I saw (starter pack, downloaded content etc) use SubUV texture (smoke, inferno, magic ball etc). The outcome looks really good.
as long as you keep the texture power of 2, you can add as many subUV’s into it as you want.
from 2x2 to 4096x4096 or higher, or even go 4x1 or 4096x4, its all fine.
(we actually do sometimes use pixel-flipbooks to animate vertices on meshes)
Some draw per frame, others use animation tools, simulations in 3d programs like 3dsmax/houdini/blender, heck if you want you could even photograph a few frames of something… its all up to you
2d/hand drawn software stuff: Harmony, Krita, photoshop, crazytalk animator, flash, filmora, toonboom harmony… etc… but I am sure the 2d vfx artists here can give you advice on what to pick.
as for 3d: maya, 3dsmax, both expensive, and need expensive plugins to really get the most out of it.
Blender (free, not bad), Houdini (probably the best tool for the job)
Etc
Personally if I need to combine image into a flipbook I use a free tool called Glueit.
It is question about pipeline. In common case it look like this, but everyone has his own path of it:
Creating animation by hands or in software
Save or Render this animation in specific number of frames
Combine them into one texture
In my case, i`m using Houdini for realistic textures like smoke, explosions and After Effects for creating stylized or specific case animations. How create animation in this it is other question, but final result on this step - frames of animations(1 and 2 step). So, you can do it in blender, krita, Substance designer or other software.
For combine in one texture, you can find a lot of software free and not. For after effects i use plugin Sheetah(free) and in Houdini in composing you can use Mosaic node. Some engines add tools for this case, like unity (i dont test it, only know about it)
There are no special rules for this texture, but question is what you need from this texture and what quality you want. Add more frames, if you need smooth animation, but resolution of frames will be lower. You need to balance between resolution of frame and smoothness of animation. Some techniques(like motion vectors) can add smoothness for your animation, if you have little number of frames, but add new texture(or not, depend on shader).
Hi
I just released the first version of my java program that will generate you flipbooks from frames so that you don’t have to set them up manually in PS or After Effects
(The frames themselves are usually hand drawn animations, or simulations from Houdini, Maya or Blender)
as long as you keep the texture power of 2, you can add as many subUV’s into it as you want.
Hey @Luos_83, thank you for responding! I saw a lot of your visual effects on Youtube, love them man.
Great suggestions. Now all the more reason to set things on fire and play with it haha
I will give GlueIt a try (downloaded, thanks again!) after I decide how to create my textures, thinking of either going Photoshop (manually painting) or Houdini, which intimidates me a little considering how many other things I have to learn on UE4 (material editor… one deep rabbit hole).
Hi!
It is question about pipeline. In common case it look like this, but everyone has his own path of it:
A friend of mine told me about After Effects too when in comes to combining texture! I will be sure to look into it. A question though, is making texture in Houdini the same with Maya?
Lots of software to go through hahaha (luckily Im much more familiar with Adobe’s).
Hi
I just released the first version of my java program that will generate you flipbooks from frames so that you don’t have to set them up manually in PS or After Effects
Hey @josef this is super handy, thanks for sharing! Now more tools in the bagggg!!
