Reel & Breakdown

 

Breakdown

Here follows a very brief breakdown of content shown in my reel. For more content (and some in-depth breakdowns), feel free to take a look at my blog.

Film / Houdini

Max Max: Fury Road

Houdini, C++

  • Custom Pixar Renderman procedural for volumetric rendering
  • Dust / Particles VFX (Houdini)

Aftershock

Houdini, C++

  • Bullet solver / Houdini SOPs integration
  • Houdini SOPs Destruction tools

Strangerland

Houdini

  • Pyroclastic dust storm cloud
  • Dust and dirt elements (particles & volumetrics)

Gods of Egypt

Houdini

  • Lighting VFX, custom materials
  • Scorpion crowds

Seven Psychopaths

Houdini

  • Blood, material with custom renderpasses

Aftershock

Houdini

  • Gas pyro sims

Ghostbusters

Houdini, Python

  • Ghost lookdev
  • Ghost VFX particle / pyro sims
  • Workflow automation

Happy Feet 2

Houdini, C++, Python

  • Bullet Solver / Houdini SOPs integration
  • Bullet Solver customization for “glue constraint” support
  • Houdini SOPs Destruction tools
  • Destruction VFX / RBD sims

Seal Team

Houdini, Python

  • Pipeline tools / workflow automation / renderfarm integration

GameDev / Unreal Engine

Isuara Trailer

Unreal Engine, Niagara, Maya, Houdini, Python

  • USD import pipeline from Maya to Unreal for rendering in Sequencer
  • Ocean sim in Houdini, custom material and rendering in Unreal
  • Smoke / fire / fog elements for rendering in Unreal
  • Niagara systems for VFX elements
  • Palm Tree rig prepped for instancing with Unreal foliage painter

Glimpse (Epic Megagrant Recipient)

Unreal Engine, Blueprints, C++, Houdini Engine

  • Blood smears / spline rig
  • Cloth simulation rig
  • Microwave explosion cinematic scripting, niagara systems, VFX, gameplay integration
  • Glimpse Bubble effect RnD

Check out more Glimpse posts.

Houdini Engine Development

Unreal Engine, Houdini, C++

  • Houdini Tools Panel & Presets system
  • UE4 Streaming Landscapes integration
  • KineFX Support
  • BSP Brush Support
  • HoudiniAsset Blueprint Component

More details here.

Twister (Prototype)

Unreal Engine, Chaos

  • Chaos Destruction / gameplay integration

Untethered (2022 Epic MegaJam Winner)

Unreal Engine, Niagara, Houdini Engine, Houdini

  • Healing, Death, Tether VFX

More details on Stylized VFX and MegaJam.

Spline Following Bat Swarm (Personal, RnD)

Unreal Engine, Niagara, Houdini, VAT

  • Boids swarm with spline following, built with Niagara
  • Bat model rigged / animated in Houdini / KineFX, exported as VAT mesh for instancing.

More details here.

Weapon / Impact VFX (Personal, RnD)

Unreal Engine, Niagara, Blueprints, Houdini, Pyro, Substance Designer

  • Muzzle flash & tracer VFX, made in Niagara
  • Concrete impact VFX (decal, debris, dust trails)
  • VFX / gameplay integration

More details here.

Shield VFX (Personal, RnD)

Unreal Engine, Niagara, Blueprints, RenderTarget, Houdini

  • Shield modeled in Houdini
  • Custom blueprint logic / draw impacts on RenderTarget.
  • Distort mesh from Impact RenderTarget using material.

More details here.

Shootable Roaches (Personal, RnD)

Unreal Engine, Niagara, Blueprints, Houdini, Fluid Sim, VAT

  • Niagara Roach simulation with player avoidance
  • Blueprint / Niagara hitscan integration to achieve shootable roaches
  • Fluid Sim in Houdini for Roach Splat, exported as VAT to UE, for use in Niagara.

More details here.

Chaos Destruction (Personal, RnD)

Unreal Engine, Geometry Collections, Chaos, Chaos Fields, Niagara, Blueprints

  • Multi-level fracturing of statue geometry
  • Statue fractured using Chaos Strain Fields on bullet impacts
  • Fracture break and trail events used to spawn more dust (niagara)

More details here.

Dynamite Explosion (Personal, RnD)

Unreal Engine, Niagara, Houdini, Axiom, Substance Designer, Blueprints, SplineMesh

  • Throw Arc using Spline Mesh procedurally built with blueprints and custom material
  • Smoke and Pyro elements simmed with Axiom GPU solver in Houdini
  • Explosion made with Niagara
  • Dynamite Lit Fuse made with Niagara and custom material
  • Dynamite mesh modified in Houdini for VFX purposes