OH nice. I was thinking some game like code would have to be implemented. But I was guessing because I’m coming from a Unity coding background so lol.
@Niels thank you so much for the tip, it works! This tutorial was very helpful: https://youtu.be/oIdKxYYQBdw
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Yeah!!! So glad it work (Would have been so embarrasing if it didn’t, haha)
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tweaked a lot of stuff and also worked on the timing. my biggest wip part is the last explosion but i guess i will touch everything a bit here and there:
preview:
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Now THAT is a Riot (notice I didn’t say Blizzard) level VFX. I like the overheating red effect on the cut pillars of stone. The wind chunks are my fave though. Debris for elemental VFX is so underrated lol. Can’t wait for the breakdown.
The effect is amazing. I think it will be better if you make end sparks color from yellow to pink. But it’s just only an assumption.
small update:
- scene is not lit by the effect
- tweaked novas
- tweak final explosion
- final splashes/debris now have some rotational velocity
- core is now stretched/squished the faster it rotates
- BUG: orange slice on stones is missing!
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I totally love the art direction and progress for this!!! 
Great work, Simon!
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thank you @Shr1mpsy! 
- today i present the first 60 fps recording
- reworked novas
- added space/time warping at the beginning of the effect and slowly building up before the whole things explodes
- reworked stone timing: they fall a bit later now
- bugfix: glowing slice is back
- end sparkles now turn from yellow to purple
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Delicious work ! The timing, the build up, the colors, everything is perfect!
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OMG! it keeps just getting better and better 
Awesome work Simon!
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Thank you @Arklan & @Laura_041!
I finally finished the effect!
Here is the Artstation Page, Breakdown & Project Files:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/B3v258
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This is beyond gorgeous 
I wonder how much performance this VFX eats up. While the smoke builds up around the core it consists of 5+ meshes which all use transparency, right? Would you say this could be put into a PC game as is, or would it need like a “reduced” version for lower graphic settings?
(I read that you recorded it with 60 fps, but I imagine your hardware specs to be on the higher end and I’m working with Unity, so can’t take a look at your UE project, unfortunately.)
Once more, amazing work! 
Good question 
I think from an overdraw standpoints it’s ok because the very big novas are just 1 layer of transparency and the core where stuff happens doesn’t fill the whole screen and there is nothing like 100 big soft smoke particles on top of each other. But I must admit that I put a lot of mesh resolution in the geometries i used. I guess I would re-visit this and see if I can optimize more if it would be for a game. It’s also the question if this effect could appear 100x at the same moment on the screen or if it’s a very special spell only fired once.
Regarding the fps: I record in 4K via Sequencer. This means it’s NOT captured in real-time but rendered in a way that 1 frame can take way longer than it would be possible for a game.
Thank you! <3
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That makes sense. Yeah, I imagine it to be on screen only one time or maybe a couple of times, since it draws a lot of attention and would probably be to noisy for a smaller scale. Thanks for your answer! 
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Absolutely stunning!
Could you tell me how you did the distortion around the core that looks like its sucking the atmosphere around it before the explosion?
Thank you! It’s a simple particle with a disortion material and a cone-shapes normal map. You can download the project and check it out of you want.
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I will do just that!, thank you
I made a small project for my GDC22 talk which you can see here:
I’m extending the project a bit because I’ll give the talk again at ADDON22. Here is the current state:
ToDo Notes:
- explo slower
- lightning blue/white
- variation to watersplash
- additional elements (clouds?) for forground?
- rework lit from below/inner volcano smoke texture
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- tweaked explosion to communicate scale better (everything slower)
- lightning now blueish
- watersplashes with a bit random scale
- lava debris colliding with volcano
Feedback/Todo:
Shockwave in Air & Water 1. https://youtu.be/BUREX8aFbMs?t=13
Improve water splash (2 stages, angled when stone hits at anngle?) https://youtu.be/iQW-BE8abZs?t=36
- additional elements (clouds?) for forground?
- Physics of smoke, lava lumps and water burts seem to be from different scales, not reading together.
Lava Flow - Steam Column
- Water Foam around Island
- Tweak colors? Discord
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