Hey everyone,
This is my first attempt at a vfx piece. Any feedback would be appreciated.
User clicks three locations to start the ice spell. The “ice tear” in between each pillar is created based on the distance between the pillars.
9 Likes
Hey! Welcome to RTVFX 
Great job, the effect is functional and looks cool. Also seems satisfying to use!
A general critique I’d give is hues and values.
The shader on the initial crystals look cool (heh) and has nice values. Towards the end you are also mixing in some purples which is nice. But most of your effect is very blue and stays around that hue. Also, it’s blindingly bright because of the bloom and a bit of a visual slap to look at and read. Try mixing in some darker and contrasting elements. Also, you can add lights to the spikes! And perhaps a little bit of camerashake when they emerge.
Look at the souler coasters curve meshes at the start. They’re all blue. Boring and quite monotonous to look at. Splash in some hues and also play with their sizes. They all spawn at the same time and you can really see where the mesh cuts off. Get in some randomness here, too!
The timings are cool, but you could tigthen them up a bit I think. Look at how the initial crystal dives into the ground. You could give it a lot more impact with more anticipation, squash and stretch in the animation and faster, zippy timing as it shoots down.
The ice spikes which come out of the ground look cool, stylized and rather organic. Good job on that!
There’s large chunks of ice flying around everywhere, it should start affecting the surroundings. Perhaps try adding mist to this.
The big ice crystals could shatter towards the end along with some lingering ice shards, particles, puddles of water and mist would add a lot to this.
Good luck! 
1 Like
I approve of this message 
@zachandholdenspapa this is looking really cool! I really love that crystal shader. With the curve meshes I’d say it’s easy to see the outline from where they are spawning. Might be nice to get a little spawn location and size variation in there. Overall looking awseome!
1 Like
Awesome advice, thank you! @sifa @NateLane
I have my work cut out for me!
I did make a little update before I noticed this feedback. I wanted to add a little something to how the initial gems are spawned. I felt is was a little lackluster.
I’ll continue to work on this, thanks again!
2 Likes
A few things I worked on:
- Toned down blue, played with some hues… colors can be tricky! In fact, any guidance with that would be much appreciated. Any resources or techniques that would help me get good color combinations for effects and good value ranges.
- Curve mesh scale randomization and hue shift
- Animation for the gem…some squash and stretch coming out of the ground, anticipation when it goes back into the ground.
- Reduce bloom ( lowered the hdr intensity on most particles)
2 Likes
Finally found some time for a few more edits. I think that wraps this one up for me. I’m anxious to get started on my next piece. Thanks again for the feedback @sifa
- Camera shake when the pillars appear
- Pillars crumble instead of just shrinking into the ground.
- Water pools appear where the ice melts.
- Mist created from water evaporation.
2 Likes