This is the final output of my personal project i.e., Meteor Shower
Category: PERSONAL
To make it simpler for me to colour-grade each layer individually while compositing, I rendered each layer separately for compositing purposes. So, after reformatting the plate, I color graded the Pyro. Later, I gave the meteor and pyro some glow so that it appeared to be glowing fire, and I combined it with the debris.
However, after importing the clouds, I gave them the appropriate transformations and colour graded them to match the sky plate. I came upon this picture of the sky plate online. Three to four flocks of birds were flying in the frame and there were numerous anomalies in this sky plate. For this reason, So for this reason I photoshopped the the image while making it a clean plate.
Following this, I rendered it out after adding and adjusting the blur to the meteor and clouds.
In order to simulate fill light and rim light for the scene during rendering, I first took two distinct distant lights and set them up. In addition to this, I used an ambient light to help me gather light from all directions. Another way to use these lights is to take an HDRI image that you like and produce lights with different colours. But for this instance, I refrained from the use of HDRI.
Since I am more accustomed to the Mantra renderer, I used it for my scene. In the beginning, I started by putting up the correct cameras and rendering path for the image. Later, I changed the settings and increased both the samplings and the pixel samples, which improved the render quality.
The main section, or forcing objects, follows this. In this section, we must manually inform the renderers of the objects they should render. As you can see, for the force object section of the renderings of debris (sparks), I indicated the path of the sparks, however for the forced matte, I used the Pyro path. I would receive a layer of sparks as a result of this procedure, resulting into the sparks that aren’t visible not to be rendered.
I started by building a simple model of a meteor. I took a sphere, sized it appropriately, and then added a mountain node as a result. This mountain node introduces noise to the surface by adding deformities to a geometry.
After this, I added an attribute named “attribute randomise” while scattering various points throughout the sphere’s surface. Every single point is given a random scale or characteristic thanks to this node. Later, I added spheres to these places and a boolean to make the surface of the model void.
After the modelling phase, I began the project’s primary duty, which is the creation of FX. I started by animating the meteor as necessary for this. I then used the point Velocity node to determine the velocity and add irregularities to it. Volume have the features of density, temperature, velocity, and in certain cases burn, which are the essential characteristics required for pyro emission.
After the modelling phase, I began the project’s primary duty, which is the creation of FX. I started by animating the meteor as necessary for this. I then used the point Velocity node to determine the velocity and add irregularities to it. Volume have the features of density, temperature, velocity, and in certain cases burn, which are the essential characteristics required for pyro emission.
The voxel size of a pyro stimulation is one of its most important components. The size of the voxels is a crucial aspect of stimulation quality. Slice thickness and pixel size both influence voxel size. The effect of stimulation performs more effectively the lower its value is.
I attached each of these volumes to a Pyro source node after this step. The input geometry of the Pyro Source SOP is transformed into points that can be used as sources for pyro and smoke simulations. The generated points can be rasterized and imported into the desired DOP fields by the Volume Source node after being added with the specified characteristics by this SOP.
By changing the values of density, temperature, and velocity, I began pyrotechnics. This phase is essential since it is the centre of attention. This phase allows us to distinguish between the pyro of a candle and the pyro of an eruption of a volcano.
The process of manipulating the pyro to increase its potency begins after this phase. Due to this, I changed the properties of Turbulence and Disturbance (which refers to a fluid’s departure from a smooth (laminar) flow), which means that we added noise or, disturbance to the flow. Vorticity, which is an irregular eddying motion, is what defines turbulence. Adding shredding to this project was a must as Shredding is the main method for adding the kind of high-frequency details to the stimulation.
Additionally, I enhanced this stimulation by including a gas vortex confinement node. This gas confinement node enhanced the visual appeal and further shredding the pyro effects by adding even more small features.
shape attributes for pyro
I eliminated all the attributes that I would no longer require after Pyro solver. Temperature and density would be the necessary factors. The texturing of Pyro requires these properties. Additionally, I volume compressed this stimulation while I was conducting it, which helped to shorten the stimulation’s duration by removing unnecessary voxels and characteristics. File caching comes after this stimulation.
Later with the help of Pyro bake volume I added the texture to the pyro.
The secondary components of stimulation—sparks—come next. For this, I created a straightforward pop system and added pop force to give it variety in particle emission and velocity. Following that, I added a trail to these particles, turned it into a line, and then textured it appropriately.
When making clouds in Houdini, it’s important to remember their irregularity, density, texture, and lightning. These clouds are typically categorized as Volumes or VDBs. When creating clouds in Houdini, the primary factor at play is volumes, which are then converted into an attribute known as “Density”. In this project, we’ll explore the process of how I procedurally generated clouds, as well as incorporating elements like animation and Pyro effects.
Initially, my approach involved utilizing a high-resolution Sphere to generate VDBs with a more intricate and irregular shape. To further enhance the overall effect, I used the “Mountain” node which proved to be incredibly useful in terms of distorting the surface and introducing a greater degree of irregularity. This technique allowed me to achieve the desired outcome and create an optimal result.
After completing the initial distortion of the sphere, I proceeded to create duplicate copies of it. To ensure consistency, I made sure that each copy had identical attributes. However, to distinguish them from one another, I added a unique offset to each duplicate.
I added more details to the existing sphere by scattering some points and creating various sizes of regular spheres. These steps were taken to improve the overall quality of the sphere and convert it into VDBs.
Afterwards, I moved forward by transforming the shape into VDBs or volumes. To carry out this task, I used a node called “Cloud” which proves to be more efficient than the “VDB from Polygon node” when it comes to creating Cloud. The “Cloud” node provides a more extensive spectrum of components to operate with, enabling the designing of noise VDB.
Through the utilization of “Fill Source,” I have successfully generated a sphere with increased noise and irregularity on the VDB. This newly created volume will prove to be quite beneficial in generating a more diverse and dynamic noisy volume.
To achieve a more lifelike appearance, I utilized the Cloud Noise node to enhance the realism of the clouds. This resulted in a more natural-looking noise in the Volume, which helped to create a more irregular cloud pattern. Additionally, I fine-tuned the Density using the Cloud Noise node to accurately emulate the fluctuating density of real-world clouds, which can range from virtually nonexistent to a fully dense state.
As a result of the extensive time required for rendering Volumes, I found it necessary to implement several measures to ensure an efficient process. I decided to limit the camera resolution and adjust certain elements like SSS, Volume quality, and Noise to achieve the desired outcome. Despite these limitations, I am happy to report that the clouds have retained their natural, irregular shapes and variations in their density, resulting in a pleasing final product.
Along with the clouds I also want to do Pyro Fx which would enhance my skill set for the same. The Main elements for this Project would be clouds as well as a Meteor Shower. For meteor showers following are the references, that I have collected, which would be included in the personal project.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47607696
The final project which want to achieve is the a merger of these two concepts i.e. clouds as well as meteor shower.