Crimson Sands
The video shows the effects I worked on that include the hit sparks, dust trail, and explosions. I also created a toon shader that was compatible with the Unity particle system that used noise to create a fading pattern.
Below are some progression shots that show how I created them and various iterations.
Smoke Shader for VFX
Created a toon shader using Amplify Shader Editor that works with VFX graph to allow for cutoff effects to be driven by the alpha channels. Above is what the graph looks like. And here are some passes that were used to get the final effect below.
Rough pass of getting the dissolve feature working.
Smoke geometry that was made in Houdini.
Explosions
As a team we decided we wanted to lean in to the punk aesthetic that was in the game. To fit that, we wanted the car explosions to stand out by adding a skull made out of smoke. Here are some passes at that.
Pass at car explosion using a placeholder skull. Added debris shooting off.
Grenade explosion followed by a rough pass at the car explosion.
Explosion in action in a scene I used for testing.
3D sculpted Zbrush skull I made for to be used with the smoke shader. This was using a specific material for the skull to make sure the variables could be tweaked separately.
Getting the prefab set up so it can be used on the cars.
Hit Sparks and Muzzle Flash
Hit spark effect system. A sprite shows where it is hitting, and little sprites are emitted as well.
3D Geometry for the muzzle flash. Created in Maya.