Hello! I think i´m a little behind schedule, but I will experiment with some techniques on creating the basic lightning element. Here are some references that I like.
Here´s the final entry:
8 Likes
Here´s a WIP so far:
I think I have put the main elements of the effect, and from now on I will try to improve each of these elements and replace the placeholders for more polished versions.
Below are the elements separated:
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For the Lightning itself, I´ve modeled a and rigged a 3d mesh. I made a custom shader graph to give this flick effect using vertex offset. The rigged mesh allows me to make some small variations on the silhouette and combine various lightningh strikes. I still want to improve it by adding a “dissolving” effect when the lightning starts to disappear .
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The sparks are composed by 4 different particle emitters:
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This flickering line to show before the main strike. Something to telegraph the main effect.
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Smoke puff after the impact. Gonna try to work more on this one:
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Simple Point Light
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Simple Decal and Ground Shatter Mesh. They are not working very well together, maybe a should choose one or another:
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A Expanding Emitter for the Ring effect. Still not close to the intended effect, wanted to look more Tight, but somehow the timeline isn´t letting it play in local space as it should.
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And some debris emitter with a simple mesh with physics applied
That´s all for now. Please do comment for any suggestions. I will greatly appreciate any insight for this opportunity to grow. Cheers!
4 Likes
Quick update: New Smoke Puffs simulated in blender and turned into sprite sheet. Also improved Light Flash
6 Likes
Hello! In this Wip I´ve tried to improve the debris and added a crater using depth mask:
The crater and pebbles objects were sculpted in Zbrush , retopo in blender and painted in Substance Painter
3 Likes
I recognise this crater 
Nice work 
1 Like
Improved Lightning shader and added some secondary Strikes
2 Likes
Hey There! There it is the finalized project:
7 Likes
And Here´s in half speed: