Alien Portal in Unreal Engine - Vellum Simulation from Houdini
In this third learning project in Unreal Engine, I used a low-resolution model from Cadnav, but I think a nice one. I subdivide the model to have better geometry to work with.
In Houdini, I made a basic particle simulation for the bubbles. I also made a basic procedural model for the alien egg.
Then I created a project in Unreal Engine and laid out stones and elements from the Quixel Iceland Environment. Once happy with the landscape layout, I exported the geometry as an FBX file to use as collision geometry for the simulations in Houdini.
In Houdini, I set up the alien bug and the egg as soft bodies and the liquid inside the egg as a Vellum Fluid.
Then I ran the simulations and got the output geometry as alembic animations.
In Unreal, I imported the alembic animations, and I created materials for them. I laid out the elements for each scene and made the animations for the camera and actors. Then lighting the scene, and finally, I rendered the sequences. And final touches, adding clouds and color grading.
CREDITS:
EDWIN ORTIZ: Modeling, Materials, Simulations, Lighting, Rendering, and Compositing.
CADNAV: Alien Bug model with textures
QUIXEL: Iceland Environment models, textures and materials
ADAM GRIFFITH: Song "Overpass" (Facebook Sound Collection)
WORKFLOW:
A.- MODELING
1.- Alien Bug: Free Low-resolution model from Cadnav (with texture)
2.- Alien Egg: Procedural modeling done in Houdini
3.- Landscape: Free models with textures, and materials from Quixel
(Iceland Environment)
B.- SIMULATIONS
(Houdini)
1.- Bubble simulation using particles (Popnetwork)
2.- Softbody and fluid simulation using Vellum
C.- LAYOUT AND RENDER
(Unreal Engine)
1.- Alembic geometry import in Unreal
2.- Material creation for alembic files
3.- Quixel elements import
4.- Scenes Layout in Unreal Engine
5.- Camera and Actors animations
6.- Lighting
7.- Sequences rendering
D.- COMPOSITING
(Fusion or Nuke and Resolve)
1.- Adding clouds background
2.- Color grading
