Special Effect!

For this project, I was assigned to create couple special effects for the scene, and I have made the torch fire and air dust effect.

Before I started working, I found couple videos of actual torch fire and air dust online for observation. Then I broke it down into different small parts. For example, a torch fire effect is a combination of the fire itself, the spark from the fire source, the smoke from the fire and heat distortion.

First, I started with the fire. In unity, I used the standard particle material to get the speed and size correct before actually implementing fire texture. Torch fire has a higher speed and more irregular movement comparing to bigger fire source such as a camp fire.

My second step is implementing the fire texture. In order to add to make the fire looks believable, I changed the particle’s start lifetime, start size and color over life time, rotation over lifetime and set them as random between two numbers so the fire won’t looks rigid and stiff. Next is the smoke, which is relatively easier step. I used the same material as the fire but changing the start color to a dark gray and lower the opacity. I also tuned the particles’ life span and speed, make it appears to be more light weight than the fire. After that, I reposition it to the middle of fire effect.

Last but not least is the spark. Using the default particle material, I changed the color of it and made it appear to be glowing. Then I made sure the emission shape is a cone and bigger than the fire.