Looping VFX (Falling Leaves)

VFX_01_apowell1.mp4

Fall-ing Particles...Get It?

Ok, the outcome is slightly better than that joke. I wanted to try to achieve a particle effect that I could reuse in separate environments and swap meshes to fit the purpose. For example, if I wanted snow, I could also use this same VFX.

Table of Contents

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/745345807075479332/

Concept Design

For the looping effect I wanted to do something like leaves falling, but had variation in color and fall direction.

Overview

I made two separate emitters: one for the red leaves and another for the yellow leaves. The reason for this was because I wanted them each to do something different in terms of movement and direction.

Wind Force

For the Red Leaves, I chose to use wind force node in order to push the leaves towards a single direction.

Box Constraint

For both emitters, I need to give the particles an area with dimensions so the engine knows the limits of where it can spawn the particles.

Vortex Force

For the Yellow Leaves, I chose to use vortex force node to give variation in movement between the two leaf types. The idea was to have more of a spiral motion as opposed to linear.

Spawn Rate

Because I made two separate emitters for a single concept, I wanted the look, feel and amount to stay the same as when I was originally concepting the idea. In order to achieve this, I divided the spawn rate for each emitter by half. The result gave me approximately 50% red leaves and 50% yellow leaves.

Conclusion

Overall, the goal was clear and I'm happy I have a VFX that I can use again for things like falling snow, and possbily even rain.

VFX_01_apowell1.mp4

Resources

Environment: https://www.fab.com/listings/0faf8b5d-7a5f-4fee-a297-7a8efaba8896
Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=828bwutaXzM
Mesh: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/red-maple-leaf-d5b2de071a0e4aa08156ddf183674385

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