Black Hole
Unreal engine render
The visual effects are created through Niagara. The first Niagara system and the main driver of the effect consists of the black hole itself, flying orbs diving towards the center, mesh-rendered spheres with fresnel effect and panning noise texture.
Additional Niagara system with smoke, rocks and finishing spark burst.
Working with "RBD material fracture" in Houdini, I experimented with different ways of creating an impact on the ground. The solution I found involved using a custom torus mesh that would protrude upwards from underneath.
Fractured sphere with "POP axis force"
Two separate blueprints for the activation of ground-fracture animation and orbiting rocks upon spawning
Hitting component activates a line-trace.
line-trace in -z direction and spawning actors at the right location.
For my second project I wanted to create something more dramatic and impactful. My goal was to create a black hole that emerges from hitting a target with a projectile. My initial thoughts on this project was to have the effect be destructive to the environment, hence the big ground impact. Turning to Houdini for this effect and experimented with different ways to create a ground impact that would convey a sense of force and destruction.
For for fracturing the ground, I used "RBD material fracture" with "RBD bullet solver" in Houdini. I wanted the fractures to appear denser in the middle, with fewer cracks radiating outward from the center. To achieve this I used points from circles as my forth input in "RBD material fracture" to guide the looks of my fractures. For the simulation, I attempted dropping a sphere to create an impact with "RBD bullet solver", but the result felt very flat because the fracture pieces only scattered, leaving a small dent on the ground. The solution I found was to utilize a custom-shaped torus that would protrude upwards from underneath. This result provided more volume, creating a bigger visual impact.
For the orbiting rocks, I applied the same principle, using "RBD material fracture" with the "IsoOffset" node to distribute points within a sphere and create denser fractures inside. This was simulated in a "DOP network" with "POP axis force" to generate the spinning momentum."
The biggest challenge for this project was to have the orbiting rocks behave in a unique way. If I had more time, I would like to change the behavior pattern for the orbiting rocks, as I find it to be too uniform. This could be achieved by applying different IDs to the fractured pieces and making them act more unsynchronized when simulated in Houdini.
Regarding the black hole effect, I wished to implement a more explosive finish and leave more hanging particles at the location, along with an afterburning decal. Additionally, I would like to create a charge-up effect for my projectile, indicating some charge-up effect before shooting.