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Addressing this week:

  • Flame curve – need references, and correct based on what is realistic
  • Flame look dev – the flame is blown out in the comp, make sure the emission is balanced
  • Flame motion – the flame looked very static in the comp, refining the motion
  • Skid smoke – did not make it into comp last week, need to ensure it is in the composite this week

To better understand the flames motion and to address comments on the curve of the flame from this weeks feedback, a lot of research into rockets and missiles in flight has been conducted this week. Most references of rockets in flight show the rocket moving in a straight line or a very subtle arc, which has made finding specific reference difficult. Below is a curated selection of the references found so far:

Though research is on-going, it appears from the references the rocket flame is too high velocity to arc with the rotation of the engine.

Earlier this week I was working through some look dev of the flame in Maya to address the feedback of the flame being blown out. Maya’s blackbody setting appears more promising than driving it from the channels, but it is harder to color with the blue/pink look we had originally discussed. Here is two iterations of the black body shader in Maya:

The motion of the flame is still being worked on, however this tutorial was recently discovered which looks like a simpler implementation of the flame setup. Experimentation with this method has started, but with mixed results. A work in progress will be coming later today as some of the issues are worked through on the setup.

Additional reference was found to help inform how to add more movement to the flame. Speaking generally, the base of the flame needs to be fairly static to show the force, but the tail end of the flame needs high frequency and fast moving disruption/turbulence. A little bit of flickering in the flame may help add interest as well. Discussions with Mitch from team splash was conducted this week to help figure out the best approach to implementing these changes.

Update: 5/2/20

See below for most current version of flame FX

This upcoming week, research will be conducted into lighting and rendering the flame in Houdini as it may provide a more robust level of control over the look of the flame FX. Additional goals this week will be adding more detail to the flame to make it more interesting, refining and art directing the skid smoke for shot 02.

An alternate look for the flame:



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