(Copy/pasted from the RTVFX Discord)
Okey DOkey amigos. I think I’ve been staring for too long. My goal is to get as close as possible to Zenitsu’s First breathing form from Demon Slayer. Right now I havent nailed the look BUT, I’d like to know what I can add/change before I start moving on to refining the look to closer match the anime. And speaking of said look, I’m honestly not sure how I’ll even get close, but again. An interesting challenge for sure lol.
Off top of a few things I think I can add.
A decal on the ground for like…a path of destruction.
a decal for the lift-off point, (the start of the path).
Debris.
A shockwave would be cool I think…
And after that. While I havent reached the point yet, I’d like to know if you guys have any thoughts on how to achieve the hard/graphic look of the effects.
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Saw you got some good help on the discord, which is mainly looking at how they did it in the game, though the points you stated are a pretty good starting point, though taking into account that you don’t want to much visual clutter to take away from the overall effect.
think it’s best to break down the effect into multiple parts that you need for the effect and think of the possibilities to achieve that effect (billboard, mesh, shader magic?)
just wanted to give you a tip on the “hard graphic look”. one tool that helps a lot with that particular look is having a SmoothStep function in your shader. then you can play with the min and max value to get the preferred aesthetic; soft, hard or anywhere in between. 
curious what it will look like! 
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Thanks for the feedback! Visual clutter is definetly one of the aspects I’m struggling with the most. Honestly the part I’m struggling with more than anything is gettin gthe smoke to look right. I feel pretty confident I can get the magic/lightning part. Just animating the …shockwave?blowback? idk what you’d call it, but the dust that kicks up after the attack. That part is rocking my socks.
I have another update with an attempt at that part.
Also, how did you get that nice dark gradient in your presentation scenes? Was that just done in post? Or did you build your level like that.
For the gradient I use an “exponential height fog” and put the values ridiculously high.
for the smoke; I think your texture just might not be very good for what you’re trying to achieve;
might be benificial to try something like this instead
or, if you have substance and are up for following a tutorial in korean, this one’s awesome and very similar to your reference
