One of my favorite things to do on this site is look through peoples sketchbooks and see how they improve over time! Part of my new years resolution is to do a lot more VFX studies, with that in mind i wanna create my own space. Mostly to track my own progress throughout the year but also to get critique from you wonderful people.
I’ll start off with what done this morning ! Been playing around with anim trails, lots of fun.
Looking forward to learning more about them! If anyone has any tips or cool references materials please let me know!
I’d consider adding a halo to add some volume. I also think adding some trail distortion/refraction and having the embers move more as if the air was heated would ground the effect a bit more. Also of course the blade should probably have it’s surface be firey! Other than that, it’s looking sweet!
EDIT: Just had a look at the material, I think lerping between two colors is totally fine but I’d consider using a gradient ramp just to get the falloff to have that perfect feeling! Also makes it stupidly simple to switch between a cartoony and photorealistic look just by changing the texture
