Project Pitch

DRAGON

10/19/20242 min read

Houdini Version: 20.5.370

Render Engine: Redshift for Houdini OR Karma

Naming Convention: DRAG_VERSION#


Location: (Looking to film at sun down for more light) - possible photoscan of location?

Mateo: https://mateosolorzano0989.wixsite.com/mateovfxportfolio

Mateo Solorzano and I wanted to create a project with a live plate that combines both my skills as an FX artist and Mateo's skills as a compositor. I was inspired by a Scanline VFX Breakdown and wanted to create a project that allowed me to brush up on my pyro skills.

This will be a one shot project, unless we find it fitting to split into two shots. The dragon will land on top of one of the buildings as if searching, will find the camera and fly towards it, engulfing the "viewer" in flames.

Inspiration: (Start at 0:35)- website host is weird with clips

I found this rigged model by Oscar Creativo on sketch fab that I am able to animate if needed using either Houdini or Maya to rig.

Model: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/drago-3d-model-free-by-oscar-creativo-4173249254954513bfa1e5785fb40dd5

The base of our project is the fire and smoke emitting from the dragon.

Personal stretch goals:

  1. Rubble or fallen pieces from the fire escape

  2. Break up of road?

We plan on filming the week of October 20th, but we are waiting for 360 camera to capture a better HDRI.

While we are waiting to collect our plates, I began the R&D stage to familiarize myself with the pyro technique.

Here are some tutorials I am referencing:

This is first flip book of the current state with a bare bones set up with no adjustments. I prepped the model for use and only keeping the head portion to work with. I created correct velocity placement so that the emitter follows the head movement. A pop sim is used to create the temperature and burn attributes that are used in the pyro solver.