Overview
Thanks to Pawel Margacz and Joseph Harrison for the feedback and guidance.
At first, the project started out as a single fire meteor but as I expanded my skills I decided to take it further and create an AOE ability. The idea was to create a multi component effect in order to expand my knowledge on how everything works with each other (Blueprints, Niagara, Materials etc).
At first, the project started out as a single fire meteor but as I expanded my skills I decided to take it further and create an AOE ability. The idea was to create a multi component effect in order to expand my knowledge on how everything works with each other (Blueprints, Niagara, Materials etc).
References
I started gathering references of fire meteors. Things I deconstructed from the references were:
I figured out the different components of a meteor,
- Head
- Trail
- Impact
- Ground Crack
- Area of effect
Things I kept in mind,
- Rotate the meteor to give it a more believable look as it pierces through the air.
- Create cracks in the meteor to indicate the fire inside
- Add fire on impact
- Make the meteor hit diagonally
I figured out the different components of a meteor,
- Head
- Trail
- Impact
- Ground Crack
- Area of effect
Things I kept in mind,
- Rotate the meteor to give it a more believable look as it pierces through the air.
- Create cracks in the meteor to indicate the fire inside
- Add fire on impact
- Make the meteor hit diagonally
![Meteor Reference](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/a1d93ced-85f2-4924-8ac3-99f32a36c52b_rw_600.gif?h=903c077f7df7ddb12002abd7ad2e5a92)
Meteor Reference
![Meteor Reference](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/e3f7fb97-f6e8-43a9-b7d7-250390b8fff2_rw_600.gif?h=aff6d7e5b8b830d77d679eda1f8313d4)
Meteor Reference
![AOE Disc Reference](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/c9103d0b-359c-46ad-ab74-28aecf5bb602_rw_1200.png?h=7c17beb1f87166b72e389efc7c530280)
AOE Disc Reference
Meshes
All meshes made inside Houdini
![Impact Rocks and Debris](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/60da0a2d-03a6-45e9-92bd-1362e5d5dace_rw_1200.png?h=00fa18203f26fb9b2a9b847dcca9292b)
Impact Rocks and Debris
![Head with vertex color](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/8f7712f3-7f6a-40ca-ac41-b9dabd278a6f_rw_1200.png?h=0acb4a5b49dcfed85630cff202d92712)
Head with vertex color
![Smoke](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/99c12bad-6dbd-4444-94c4-08f9ab80521c_rw_1200.png?h=18b9fbabb430250e8cbf3bd2f60faced)
Smoke
![Meteor](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/e19a97dc-adb5-4f73-9303-96b8b03615bd_rw_1200.png?h=1927555744e77f6d00babd0e88b4608d)
Meteor
![Meteor (Exploded View)](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/3eb20eed-53c1-4ac2-a2db-e384bcbdd0fe_rw_600.png?h=410bf0a6bfd8d6ed3329851c0612c87a)
Meteor (Exploded View)
![AOE Disc with vertex color](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/0c38bfb9-b26c-44e7-b0d9-fcc2a0cb047e_rw_1200.png?h=49ea71c219dacd5731c47d974fa43a5b)
AOE Disc with vertex color
Smoke mesh:
- bubbly shaped mesh to create a stylized smoke look
- taken from my Arcane inspired smoke project.
Meteor mesh:
- fractured a sphere in Houdini using RBD and added material slots (inside and outside) to be used in engine.
Head mesh:
- will wrap around the meteor
- taken a sphere, blasted the bottom half, stretched it and added a vertex color to be used in engine.
Rocks and Debris:
- very simple polygon shape
AOE Disc:
- indicates the impact area of the fire meteors
- used Labs disc generator and added a vertex color to separate the edge from the center
- bubbly shaped mesh to create a stylized smoke look
- taken from my Arcane inspired smoke project.
Meteor mesh:
- fractured a sphere in Houdini using RBD and added material slots (inside and outside) to be used in engine.
Head mesh:
- will wrap around the meteor
- taken a sphere, blasted the bottom half, stretched it and added a vertex color to be used in engine.
Rocks and Debris:
- very simple polygon shape
AOE Disc:
- indicates the impact area of the fire meteors
- used Labs disc generator and added a vertex color to separate the edge from the center
Textures
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/091093f1-4beb-44e7-bd30-fbf8630f25cf_rw_1920.png?h=28acb60ad882e6fbf1b2b9ba114c1b55)
Ground crack texture I created in substance designer
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/98bfcfa5-27a7-4016-8058-cd551804c6cc_rw_1920.png?h=59bc5889fb005a6e9c351fa4541296a7)
Trail textures from Pawel Margacz (Patreon & Youtube)
Blueprints & Materials
![[Meteor BP] - Spawns the ground crack and explosion upon colliding with a trigger volume](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/585c203c-edd0-4f35-9b12-d817cfcf8469_rw_1920.png?h=717b790098368abbc13b323b5ab9caef)
[Meteor BP] - Spawns the ground crack and explosion upon colliding with a trigger volume
![Spawner BP to spawn meteors with a range for the delay](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/fc2fe35f-f142-4dd1-98cb-3bc57a8f060e_rw_1920.png?h=8f0986e046ad9527f183ed4d501fa5cc)
Spawner BP to spawn meteors with a range for the delay
![[AOE Disc Material] - Using vertex color to control the opacity and color of different areas of the disc](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/554b13b0-24da-43e7-989e-1f3e692e4cb3_rw_1920.png?h=e2c2e652980d7daf584170622c4a63b0)
[AOE Disc Material] - Using vertex color to control the opacity and color of different areas of the disc
![[Ground Crack BP] - Animating the ground crack from the BP using a timeline node and the erosion parameter from the material](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/723d4601-edca-4a78-8c09-373cc932d6af/a64be3e3-c99a-4ebd-b342-452bde37559e_rw_1200.png?h=c1826ad01b4fdbc3dc407e83e46389af)