WILLIAM REN
VFX Artist / 3D Generalist / UIUX / Graphic DesignVFX & Animation
Design
UI/UX & Game Design
Photography
About
CGI Short Film :
Collaborating with four others to experiment with UE5 animation and render pipeline. I Houdini Pyro, RBD - Unreal Engine 5.3 I 2024 I 15 Weeks
Details
My primary role in the team was to handle destruction effects . Additionally, I contributed to directing, technical art tasks, and Sound Design.
Credits :
Instructor :
Houdini: Pyro Simulation
Unreal Engine 5: VDB & GeoCache
Unreal Engine 5: Post Processing
Sound Design
Layout & Staging
Minghao Zhou
Ashling Tu
Ezra Hill
Jamie Tseng
Moshe Mahler
▪ Model Preparation
After getting hands on this amazing model our artist creates.
I need to make it destruction-ready. Since the major destruction only
takes parts in the middle section of the ship. It is beneficial to
split the ship into 3 parts and simulate it with different complexity.
▪ Wood Material
Custom wooden pre-fracture ends up with 4,800 Pieces.
Using the squash, scatter, and stretch technique.
Wood doesn't shatter into individual pieces when it breaks.
They are somewhat soft bodies where some of the pieces
will be connected. To recreate that, I must relate them in
a way that they form convincing wooden fractures.
The left image is all the constraints between the pieces.
Each dot in the image represents an individual piece.
▪ Main Destruction Simulation
▪ Drag
▪ Drag_Spin
Those two magical nodes are the key to creating an underwater
illusion of destruction effect. I can adjust and animate the amount
of drag dynamically throughout the impact to make
the most of the animation.
▪ Dust trails and Shockwave
Pyro Trails Effect from Debris
To achieve realistic trail effects from the blast, I selected specific pieces of debris to serve as sources for the trails. After converting these pieces into volumes, I used a pyro simulation to fine-tune the behavior of the sand and smoke, leveraging their velocity to create a natural flow.
Pyro Ground Shockwave
The shockwave is essential for conveying the impact's power,
and it’s simulated separately to allow flexibility and efficiency
in making adjustments.
It originated from particles emitted outward, which were
then simulated using a DOPnet pyro setup to fine-tune the
drag and fluidity. It was then combined with the trail effect to
create a cohesive, rounded look.
▪ Secondary Destruction Simulation
To add more depth and emphasize the impact, I also simulated the bow and stern of the ship with less complexity to complement the main destruction.
I pushed the bow upward and let it free fall to better convey the power of the shockwave and the weight of wood material underwater.
▪ Ship Mast Animation
Why the “Mast” ?
Given the dramatic destruction of the ship, filled with intense motion, I wanted to provide the audience with a focal point. This visual and motion interest serves to guide their attention, anchor the animation, and effectively convey the ship's descent.
This simple animation enhances the entire shot, bringing a much-improved flow to the scene overall.