Meteor Sim
(2024)
During this project were given the assignement of developing a rednered Simulation. The original idea was to use houdini but due to Uni and licence issues we moved accross to Unreals Chaos system. This project was developed originally over two weeks that i had went back and reviewed at a later point. Focusing on the VFX pipeline from research and storyboarding to blockouts and final implementation.
Overall Grade: Distinction
Project Info
Video Link:
Team Size:
Solo
Project Duration:
3 Weeks
Role:
Technical Artist
Engine & Tools:
Unreal Engine, Clip Studio Paint, Davinci Resolve
Responsibilities:
For this project I worked on:
Fluid Simulation
Chaos Destruction
Rendering Shot and editing
Niagara Particles
Caching Simulation
Cinematic design
My Work
This project, being solo, meant that it was up to me to deliver a minimum of a 9-shot cinematic, broken up into three stages: a storyboard, an animatic, and finally a previs cinematic. I developed the storyboard alongside shots and references from various sources, with the storyboard itself being drawn in Krita. While developing this, I was careful to build all objects and coloring into layers, using red to indicate motion or what would be occurring within each frame.
From here, the task was to develop the animatic in a 3D space, with a focus on using curves to drive motion. I initially started developing the scene in Adobe Premiere Pro but chose to switch to DaVinci Resolve due to the cost of the license. I focused on camera movement in every scene and the timing of each shot. This was something I struggled with initially, but it became really rewarding when it finally started to click.
Finally, the previs was done in Unreal Engine 5, rendered, and then edited in DaVinci Resolve. During the development of the previs, I added two additional shots that felt clunky. Incorporating these shots made the cinematic flow much more naturally and helped bring the whole piece together.
Project Takeaways
During this last project, I was time-poor and unfortunately learned that the hard way, especially when working on a large scene. However, I gained a lot from our VFX class, particularly in learning best practices and understanding the industry pipeline for developing visual effects, with a focus on risk mitigation and reiteration.
If I were to do this project again, I would look at adding more to the impact, such as an air shockwave, and improve the dust pushout. I would also fix the trail on the effect so that it better simulates the impact.
Personally, this project taught me a lot about time management and project scoping. I’ve learned how over-scoping can significantly hinder progress as the project develops.
