Thread by @NotSoLittleC

some people asked have me for a breakdown of this effect, so here goes! (1/6)

#VFX #UE4 #realtimeVFX #gamedev #Arcane

https://twitter.com/NotSoLittleC/status/1490079770540969986

the lightning is a very simple hand drawn spritesheet (8 frames) that is then playing over a sphere for the volume and twisted UVs for extra movement. the same sheet and material is used for all the spark elements with all variation done within the Niagara systems.

(2/6)

the floor effect is very straightforward. sine wave with animated distortion texture. using a smoothstep on the values and lerping between two colours (which ended up being this blue/purple and black). then the same again for the bright edge. all on a flattened disk mesh.

(3/6)

very simple 'wind'-effect texture here. random rotation with rotation speed * time and then a hand painted dissolve, just over a cylinder mesh.

(you can see how rough/rushed this texture is, if you look close you can literally see the brush strokes 🤫)

(4/6)

floor crack and dissolve is using one RGB packed texture. R for mask, G for emissive glow, B for a dissolve and also a 'burn' effect laid underneath. base colour, emissive and dissolve all controlled with Dynamic material parameters.

(5/6)

for the remaining elements like the sparks, they're just simple radial gradients stretched with velocity. the 'core' is just a sphere with a highly emissive material, all movement for the rest of the effect just animated in Niagara. (6/6)

any questions! hit me up! 💚💚

✨B O N U S ✨

after some feedback, added a little camera shake just to sell the explosion a little more!