Stylized Entry [PROJECT]

Hi!

I’m still pretty new at VFX. You can see what I’ve done so far on DeviantArt! (don’t look at the 2D stuff @_@)
I want to try and do as many entries as possible by January. :B
My first idea is to do something PROJECT-y.

References

The idea: a projectile will fire from the first sphere. The projectile hits the second sphere. The sphere gains an indicator. There is a short delay while the indicator fills up, and then an explosion.

I thought it’d be best to do a rough pass, making sure I can do all the things I want to do, before actually coming up with the proper art. This is what I’ve managed to do in the past hour or so. Getting the bar to fill up was more complicated than I expected. :stuck_out_tongue:

roughIndicator

What I really want is for the indicator to fill up from two directions, like so: 1293804

I have yet to figure that out though. :stuck_out_tongue:

Polycount thread

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Managed to grab some extra time today and figured it out:
ezgif-5-4f955717df

Additional Iterations

roughIndicator3roughIndicator4roughIndicator5

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Hey, really nice start from my point of view.

I have a little question : have you considered to fill the shapes on the second pass ? I believe they will be a lisibility problem when the shapes are charging in term of Gameplay.
The attacker, as the marked, has to know very quick if the mark is completed or not. I guess it’s better thought on the second additionnal iteration because the shape is different when the mark is filled.

Take a look on how Riot deal with this on League, and think about the gameplay behind : is it something about to deal damage when the mark is filled ? Is it supposed to snare / root / stun the target at when the effect is filled ? The indicators are differents depending of what will append to the target !

I know it’s a creative challenge searching from fresh idea, but I guess it’s a good way to look what already exist in order to achieve a good comprehensive effect !
I am very open to discuss this with you :slight_smile:
However, I will looking forward this effect and look watchfuly your next iterations ! Keep going bro :smiley:

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Did some more tweaking today, before I realised that you cannot even see the back of it in game view. :sweat_smile:

oh

I’m thinking that I’ll cut the sides just over halfway, and have the middle block glow and grow in size when the timer ends. That way the whole thing can be seen and there should be an eye-catching indication that something is about to happen (there will be other stuff on top of this whole indicator of course). Have an extremely artistic MS Paint representation :stuck_out_tongue: :

k208u3s9

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Hi. :smiley:

Yes, that is a good idea! Thanks, I will be doing that for the next update. Also yes, I really should check some of of their existing indicators. :stuck_out_tongue: I hadn’t thought of it doing anything other than damage… interesting!

Thanks for the comment! :grin:

Update time. :B

I fiddled around with it a bit more and decided to go in a different direction. Now I’m going for a snare rather than a countdown to damage (thanks to @Jordanov for reminding me of different status effects) .

I got some time to work on that today, and this is what I have so far:
snare

I should hopefully have the rough done tomorrow, then I will work on the rough projectile. :+1:


Edit: No update, as I am currently mired in the nightmare of trying to teach myself 3D modelling and backface culling. Hopefully an update tomorrow. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Well, I’m now stuck with nightmares of backface culling, but the rough for the snare is done! I’m still unsure on the rotating band, it might be too much clutter when everything’s set up and coloured in. We’ll see. :B

Snare Rough 2

Next up is the rough for the projectile! I will start on that on Wednesday. :wave:

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This is just an update to prove I’m alive. :stuck_out_tongue:
I didn’t get time to do anything till Friday, and all the ideas I had turned out to be… bad. I’ll hopefully be able to come up with something over the weekend. :3


Okay, I have the start of an idea that might work!
projectile1

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So… the last few weeks have been very busy. But I’m back! I’ll edit this post later today with a GIF. :smiley:


Edit:

Progress at last!

Projectile

Update:

Projectile

As you can see, the snare fading in doesn’t mesh… at alll. :B I’m conflicted because in game the snare would have to appear pretty quickly after the particle hits… so I am not sure whether I should fiddle with it more or whether it just doesn’t fit with the impact effect. :open_mouth:

Next I want to do the firing burst, and after that get some colour into this. :stuck_out_tongue:

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*progress progressifies*

Full 1

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full2
(ignore colours for now)

Merry Christmas!

First attempt at putting in some colour!

colour1

Verdict: failure.

Looking at PROJECT references, using a complementary colour scheme was a mistake. :stuck_out_tongue: I have also made the colours too bright, and I think the snare band might have to be redone without text, because it is more difficult to read now.

I’ll try and post an update tomorrow! No guarantees though. :stuck_out_tongue:

Happy New Year (in advance)!

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Take 2

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take2-1

I switched to an analogous colour palette (which you can see at Adobe Color). As Jchisolm over at Polycount suggested, I looked at values as well; I kept the brighter colours for the head of the projectile, and for the snare itself. The projectile trail was made more transparent and the texture was tweaked slightly. The trail particles now have a burn-in effect(ish).

I’m thinking the emission point’s glow is a bit weird… the yellow probably needs toning down. Also, it might linger a bit too long… :B
Well, at the very least this process has shown me I have a lot (lot lot) more to learn. That is honestly quite exciting. :stuck_out_tongue:

Feedback always welcome!

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It looks very interesting. It combines interaction and special effects.Nice design!

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Thank you! Glad you like it. :smiley:

take2-2

An attempt to give more weight to the impact. Too much? :stuck_out_tongue:
I quite like the softer version, but I feel that soft is not really the PROJECT way. :thinking:

I was thinking, while there isn’t much time in game to build up to a snare… I should probably have some kind of build up for the competition anyway. :stuck_out_tongue:

So I have started exploring some ideas.

buildup_probablynot

The bounce is probably not right for PROJECT. I am also unsure whether I should put the build up on the whole thing or at the emission point. It looks a bit strange to me having it at the emission point, and then having the actual emission burst on the whole sphere… :B

take2-3

It looks better at a proper framerate, I promise. :stuck_out_tongue:

Moved the emission flash burst thing to the actual emission point, rather than over the full sphere. Tried to make it more of an abrupt flash too. :B

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