Jump to content

One Effect per month - previous Volcano Eruption


J.Santos

Recommended Posts

Hi all!

 

These past weeks I've been trying to do a volcanic explosion/smoke plume, with all the extra elements that add to it, like the debris (pieces of rock) that are expelled up into the air, the secondary smoke that raises near the mouth (?) of the volcano and so on...

 

This is where I am at the moment:

 

 

I like the general motion and feel, however, there are a few (or more than a few) things to change/improve:

 

 - More debris and make the new ones smaller (keeping the old ones);

 - Make the smoke plume rise slower... I think this will add up to "majesty and power" of it!

 - Improve on the look of the smoke plume (see images below);

 - Deal with the secondary smoke (the one at the mouth of the volcano)... it is too fast, too much wind/turbulence on it and so on...

 

For now I've mainly used as source of info the sideFx tutorial PyroFX - Volcano and my previous experiences with Pyro.

 

I would like to ask:

 

 - More sources to learn Pyro and Fluids in general;

 

 - Ho to achieve this look on the smoke plume (marked in red):

sainthelen_small.jpg

It looks almost solid, like that foam you apply that then expands and fill in any gaps...

awesomeRef_small.jpg

 

That's the level of detail I want... any hints and comments are more than welcomed!

 

Cheers and have a great 2014! ;)

Edited by J.Santos
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all!

 

Today is roughly one month after I started doing the volcano eruption (this one, not a previous HUGE scene I posted about and that will eventually do, one of these days... when I'm capable enough to tackle it!)

I decided that to keep myself motivated and force me to work/research and learn more, I need to do something like one effect per month! If I can finish it, awesome... if not, I'll move on and come back later on, when I feel that I can do it!

I hope to accelerate my learning, identify my shortcomings and add more pieces to the "Houdini" puzzle! ;)

 

I'll base most of my effects in simulations (Fluid and RBD's) but also want to try out the new particles (which are now... a simulation! And do a "million of particles" challenge!) and what not!

 

My next step will be... an waterfall (will follow sideFx tutorial firstly and try to build on top of that, for now!). On March I hope I can advance to my more elaborate idea with FLIP fluids... ;)

 

Here's my latest volcano video:

 

 

This is my second iteration on the volcano.
I added more debris, tweaked the secondary smoke (at the base/opening) of the crater and tweaked the smoke plume, so now it has a bit more interest in the main body after the initial burst and is more dense.
I still need to make it slower... If anyone has some ideas/tips, please say so!

 

And than I can come back and tweak the smoke some more!

 

Cheers!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi again!

 

Here's a (very low resolution) video of my (far away) waterfall... This is a very early WIP since it's lacking some of it's components!

 

 

The water is flowing nicely (IMHO) but:

 

- I need to find the correct balance between scale/camera distance;
- I need to add all the whitewater stuff (doing it as we speak ;) )
- Need to add the "mountain" thing from where the river flows...

 

I'll probably add a few more stuff to make this a more interesting scene, like a river bed, maybe some objects being pushed away by the current... let's see how time and other constraints behave ;)

 

I've found the fluids (FLIP) to be an interesting learning experience! I spent hours, days going crazy because I couldn't get enough water! Then I started "getting it" and the problem was having to much velocity and "wild" water... then... well, you can see pattern ;)

Like in all sims everything matters but witth FLIP I'm finding that the emitter shape, motion, dimension and so on play a LARGE role. Also the "other" geo is very important is making the sim work visually or not! A small dent in the terrain will work wonders ;)

 

Cheers!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... And this has been my Flip Fluid testbed so far...

 

Since it's a small and fast simulation it allowed me to try out a bunch of stuff and troubleshoot some (commom ?) problems with my waterfall sim...

This isn't amazing and it is a bit overkill in terms of spray but it was useful as a learning tool!

 

 

Cheers!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all!

 

This is version 02 of my waterfall. I'm going to move on to a different project now BUT... I will be back to a different and very cool waterfall I'm imagining and with all the stuff and mistakes I did, the next one will be way better than this one!

This one still has some missing layers of detail that I imagined but never got around to do them... I hope to include all on the next one ;)

 

Forgot to say that I'm rendering a version with less spray/foam to see which one looks better!

 

Edited by J.Santos
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all!

 

This is a small video that I did concerning what I learned while (trying) to do my Volcano... it is "basic/noobish" but I think it is useful... at least for me it serves as a "diary" of sorts... I do intend to dive deeper, as I learn/do more!

 

For now, this one concerns the importance that your emission geometry has in the final look of your sim... so instead of rushing into DOP's, taking care of your geo is the way to go ;)

 

 

Cheers!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Well...

 

These past... mmm 20 days or so have been bumpy!!! Lot's of stuff happening!!! And... one hard reboot that made me lost my changes in the file (yeap, forgot to save :( ), an error in rendering that cost me 4 days or more and so on...

 

But here it is, the second part on the "Importance of the emitter before DOP's"

Hope you guys like it and that it is useful... next time (I'll save and...) I'll try to take some screenshots of Ramps/custom values... makes sense, right?

The next video in this series will be about the Noise tab...

 

BUT... my next video will probably be about something else I've been trying to do ;)

 

Cheers!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...