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VFX 428

Puff Poof

VFX 428| Update 6

Future Changes

  • Re-Cache simulation with deforming collision (sections floating)

  • Adjust smoke speed and collision clipping through floor.

  • Fix depth pass (Issue with volumes and depth)

  • ​I want subtle foliage wind.

  • Import updated animations.

  • Possibly retarget the character with a different mesh.

  • Possible expansion of debris / more dirt feeling after smashing.

Class Final

Breakdown

Beauty

S26_V428_P_DeLucaGiuseppe_RBD_PuffPoof_Beauty_01.png
S26_V428_P_DeLucaGiuseppe_RBD_PuffPoof_Beauty_02.png
S26_V428_P_DeLucaGiuseppe_RBD_PuffPoof_Beauty_04.png
S26_V428_P_DeLucaGiuseppe_RBD_PuffPoof_Beauty_05.png
S26_V428_P_DeLucaGiuseppe_RBD_PuffPoof_Beauty_03.png
S26_V428_P_DeLucaGiuseppe_RBD_PuffPoof_Beauty_06.png

VFX 428| Update 5

Rendering

Renderer: XPU

Render Time: ~8 per frame

Resolution: 1920x1080

Samples: 256 

For my compositing i've decided to use a COP Net slap comp setup.

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It's especially nice using the "slapcompimport" to see real-time comp updates when I update my scene.

Environment

I've done a lot of work on the environment and lighting as I head into the last week of class. In this aspect, I am not directly copying the reference; although I am using a forest scene, I am aiming to make it more cinematic.

Preview_Environment.png

Envrionment & Lighting

Lighting

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Lighting Overview

LightFX_Gobo_Tree_Animated_03.png

Gobo

Light Blocker: Large Sphere with green high-roughness material.

(Gives good shadows and a slight green bounce simulating leaves.)

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Dome Light: Forest 2k HDR (https://polyhaven.com/a/meadow)

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Distant Light: Intensity - 4, Color Temperature - 4650.9, Angle - 0.9

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Point Light 1 Intensity - 55, Exposure - 0.44, Color Temperature - 4650.9

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Point Light 2: Intensity - 55, Exposure - 0.11, Color Temperature - 4650.9

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* Both Point Lights use "Spotlight" shaping with an 80-degree angle and a light filter gobo.​

Foliage

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For the environment, I have 3 layers in two chunks. The foreground layers (Brown and Dark Green) are used to scatter foliage points. The dark green section is specifically spawing larger foliage pieces. The background layer is used to scatter the tree meshes and an overall blending with the closer area, so the grass doesn't look like it cuts off.

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Flower Grass

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Hemp Nettle

Both of these foliage sections are using attribute randomizes for pscale, orient, density, and variant. There's also an underlying "art directed" section using attribute-adjusted float over "Radial" and "Line" to fade the foliage scale closer to the puffball and camera.

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Bermuda Buttercup Grass

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Trees

All foliage is using the "Volume Camera Frustum" to cull out extra points before spawning, and all foliage is packed.

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Effects

Along with the environment and lighting work, I did some smoke resimming at lower voxel sizes. I now have 3-layered smoke simulations. I also followed the professor's recommendation to look into the dry ice shelf tool, which included useful information on "Density Influence Gravity" and "Smoke Temperature."

Small Sim: Voxel Size - 0.007

Dissipation - 0.045, Buoyancy - 0.8, Temp - 240

Gravity Scale - .8, Wind Speed - 0.25 (Z Axis)

Disturb - 4, Turb - .83

Small Sim: Voxel Size - 0.01

Dissipation - 0.09, Buoyancy - 0.01, Gravity Scale - 5

Wind Speed - 0.24 (Z Axis), Disturb - 6.59, Turb - .523

Small Sim: Voxel Size - 0.01

Dissipation - 0.02, Buoyancy - -0.1

Wind Speed - 0.3 (Z Axis), Disturb - 30, Turb - .39

Breaking bits using the POP net copied to points (variant) on 3 separate meshes.

For the Puffball deformation, I decided to go back to my vellum side, but using struts. I felt it gave me the closest approximation to the video without feeling rigid. To avoid issues when the foot moves back, I removed the collision with a switch.

Max Strut Length - 145, Directional Jitter - 0.671, Constraints Per Point - 7, Stiffness - 100

VFX 428| Update 4

I ended this week working on texturing my decayed puffball in Substance. 

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Full Material

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Albedo

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Roughness

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Normal

I am close to finalizing the settings for the main smoke simulation. The primary adjustment I still need to make is to reduce the dissipation so the smoke holds its shape longer. I also plan to add a few secondary simulations to create thicker, heavier smoke elements. In addition, I want to experiment with small particulate details to suggest airborne spores.

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XPU Viewport

Playblast Viewport

Playblast Vulkan Viewport

I am still finding the best approach for the deformation simulation on the final puffball mesh. Next, I plan to begin populating the foreground and background elements. I am also exploring ways to extend the sequence to meet the required 10-second duration.

I used AI mocap tools to generate the animation from video reference. I tested two options, Quick Magic AI Mocap and Autodesk Flow Studio, and both produced usable results from a full-body video. The examples shown use Quick Magic. The biggest differences I noticed was that the Autodesk result had much less reliable foot planting.

 

I do plan to re-record the reference footage because my stomping motion was too loose. 

QuickMagic

https://quickmagic.ai/

Autodesk

https://flowstudio.autodesk.com/

VFX 428| Update 3

  • My reference behaves more like a downward burst of smoke than a typical rising explosion.

  • My current pyro setup rises too much and dissipates faster than I want.

  • I still need to determine the best RBD setup for the main puffball mesh.

  • I began by using a pyro burst source as the base of the effect.

  • I am now adjusting the simulation so the smoke falls and spreads downward more like the reference.

  • After fully refining the pyro behavior, I will work out how to handle the RBD motion and deformation for the main puffball.

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Reference Frame

Buoyancy and Disturb Test's High to Low values

Final First Layer Output

Dissipation - 0.09, Buoyancy - 0.01, Wind - 2, Disturb - 6.59,  Turb - 0.523

VFX 428| Update 2

I am considering focusing on a single forceful kick for the animation. Since character animation is not my strongest area, I plan to use NVIDIA’s Kimodo, “Scaling Controllable Human Motion Generation,” to help generate the motion. I have already used the model several times and have it set up locally, so I can bring the result into Cascadeur for cleanup and refinement.

I am currently testing a Vellum simulation for the puffball. I believe this approach may yield the strongest squash-and-stretch effect for the puffball after it is kicked. At this stage, I am still experimenting with the setup, but this is the direction I am exploring at this time.

Edge Fracture - 100 Pieces, Cloth Stiffness - 0.29, Cloth Bend Stress- 0.156

https://research.nvidia.com/labs/sil/projects/kimodo/

VFX 428| Update 1

Reference

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