VFX Blog
Aim:
For this project I want to create a boss intro cut scene where the player is seen walking through an environment before reaching a boss arena. This is when both the player and the boss prepare to fight, however the fight itself wont be included. The genre for this will be a fantasy RPG similar to dark souls and bloodborne which has been a big inspiration for my project. It will also be set in medieval times and the visual style will be stylized however it could change depending on assets I use etc.
Early Storyboard & Scene Planning:
Scene 1. Main character walking through the forest
camera: Slow zoom out, moves from behind the character to the side, following the character.
VFX: camp fires,
Scene 2. Main character reaches the ruins and walks under the arch.
camera: Camera pans round to the front facing the character, before turning away from the character and focusing on the boss.
VFX:
Scene 3. Boss fighting another character and kills them.
camera: slow zoom in onto the boss as he defeats another character before panning to the right and turning to face the arch zooming out, showing the character stood there.
VFX:
Scene 4. boss sees the main character and turns to them, getting into fight stance.
camera: zooms in onto the character as he draws his sword, quickly pans to the boss who does the same preparing for battle.
VFX:
Timeline:
The piece will start with the character/the player walking along a path through a woodland area during the evening. along this path there will be bodies of defeated enemies and other characters building up some tension for the upcoming boss fight. there will also be one or two campfires presumably from the others.
The middle of the piece will be the character/player reaching the arena/ruins, where fighting can be heard before the player sees the boss defeat another character. This will be followed up by the ending where the player draws their weapon and prepares for battle, so does the boss.
The length of each segment is currently undecided as it is just the first draft but the start and middle will be the longest segments as it stands.
Inspiration/Research:
Once i decided i wanted to do a cutscene i then started looking into different ideas, this included a fight scene, boss intro scene, boss death scene, or a story scene. I decided that a boss intro scene would be the best for me to do. I instantly starting looking into the dark souls series and the different boss intros they have because of my medieval setting and these cutscenes are always really well done. The first one i looked into is the abyss watchers from dark souls 3, specifically the second phase after you beat the first phase of the fight, the music starts creating a really tense atmosphere, the VFX of the blood/souls of the other abyss watchers going into the one you are fighting before he stands up, his armour has bits of glowing ash/soot making it look like hes on fire, these can also be seen within the blood/souls as they transfer to him, then his sword starts glowing too which gives the impression he is so much more powerful than before. Theres then the candles and torches that can be seen around the arena which help set the lighting and tone of the environment really well based on the time period this game is set in.
Figure 1 
Figure 1 
Figure 1 
Figure 1
Another great example from Dark Souls 3 is the boss fight Sister Friede and Father Ariandel. In the Cutscene for the start of the fight Sister Friede walks in with her scythe and runs her hand along the blade causing snow/frost like particles to fall from and float around her scythe, there’s more VFX included in here movements. For example when she slides/dodges around the arena or attacks the player, ice/frost trails fall from her weapon or form in the direction she has moved. There is also another included in the attack the white line (smear) which follows the swing of the weapon to add exaggeration to the movement.
What i took from this:
One of the main things that has influenced my own sequence is the weapon effect, i really like how it trails the weapon swings and sits in that shape before fading, however i have decided mine will be a constant effect once applied to the weapon instead of one that is visible during a attack similar to the one in the image above (figure 1). I also really like how the candles and torches are around the area in both examples, it helps add to the atmosphere the designer was trying to create and is something i aim to do as well using fires and torches.
Complete Storyboard:
Example work:
Below are all the current effects I have created in unreal engine. Some of these are finished while others will be edited or completely changed like the fire one as it doesn’t look like what I am aiming for. There are also screenshots along side the gifs to show how I made them.
Sword effect:
This effect was the hardest to make out of the current effects and i did run into some issues mainly to do with scaling and the rotation of my static mesh. When i added it into the blueprint it would stay facing one way causing the blood drip effect to not line up and the scale of the blade was wrong too. To fix this i ended up completely removing the sword from the project and reimporting it and this time it worked fine, (as shown in the gif below).
Portal Effect:
Using the tutorial we had available to us on canvas i followed the steps on how to create the portal, no issues occurred but i did enter some values in wrong the first time round. Once it was done i then continued to play around with the settings to get the look i wanted. I am very happy with how this looks visually making sure the colours complement each other so as it swirls and flows it looks smooth.
Fire & Smoke Effects:
These were the first two effects made, similar to the portal there was a tutorial available to us so i followed that and then started playing around with the settings however for what i will be using them for these work perfectly and wont be changed unless a new idea comes to mind, and like before no issues occurred. ive stuck with how these were originally created as they work really well for what i need them for.
New Weapon Enhancement:
Since i was not fully set on the previous one i had made and wanted to make sure both characters had their own enhancement i made a new one which is based on lightning bolts, i used certain parts of a couple of videos to make this. In one i learnt how to add the lightning effect to the weapon and how to make my own mat using a free to use lightning bolt image online. In the second video i learnt how to make it wrap around the sword flickering and travel up it based on how it was done in the video for fire.
i had a few issues, the main issue about me miss understanding certain settings and making sure i chose the right ones for what i wanted to achieve. Others were just about making sure it was scaled right and aliened properly with the blade. i created it like this due to inspiration taken from Elden ring and all the different lightning buffs and attacks they have.
Dust:
This was fairly simple to create, all i had to do was duplicate the smoke effect, scale it down, change the colour, scale it down add gravity and change the lifespan. I did not run into any issues but it did take a few attempts playing around with the scale setting to make sure the particles were not too big, and to make sure the particles floated away how i wanted them to. I created it like this as it fits the art style i am aiming for in this project, and is how i visually planned it in the story board.
VFX List:
Smoke- This will be used in scene 1 shot 3 and 4, scene 2 shot 1, scene 4 shot 1 and 2.
Fire- This will be used in scene 1 shot 3, scene 2 shot 1, scene 4 shot 1 and 2.
Weapon enhancement- This will be used in scene 5 shot 1, 2, and 3.
Dust- This will be used in Scene 1 shot 3 and 4.
Portal- This will be used in scene 1, shot 1.
These are the VFX’s I plan on using in my project, this isn’t an exhaustive list as I might add, change or remove VFX’s from it.
Sound List:
Foot Steps- This will be used in all the shots the character is moving which is the majority of them.
Swords clashing- This will be used in scene 4 shot 1 and shot 2.
Stab sound- This will be used in scene 3 shot 2 and scene 4 shot 3.
Birds- This will be used in scene 1 shot 1, 2, and 4, it will also be repeated occasionally throughout.
Enemy noises/grunts- This will be used in scene 2 shot 3, 4, scene 3 shot 1, 2, scene 4 shot 3.
fire crackling- This will be used in scene 1 shot 3, 4, scene 2 shot 1, 2, scene 4 shot 1, 2.
Portal sound- This will be used in scene 1 shot 1.
These are the sounds i plan on using in my project, this isn’t an exhaustive list as i might add, change or remove sounds from it.
Asset List:
Trees
weapons
firepit/campfire
enemies
hero
walls
bodies
logs
shields
foliage
These are the assets I will be using for my project, just like my sound list this isn’t exhaustive, as i may add or change things as I put the scene together.
Animatic:
Now that i have made the complete story board along with notes about the camera, VFX and any sounds i will be including in these scenes, i have now made extra shots so i can make a animatic of how it will play out (roughly). This will also help with the timing of some shots and the sounds as well. Below are a couple screenshots of how its looking currently, the timing for certain shots needs to be played around with, but the time of 60 seconds is taken up which is good.
References:
(Figure 1) YouTube (BossFightDataBase, 2016) Dark Souls 3 abyss watchers 4K Fight [images] Available Online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv_qryPwmig
(Figure 2) YouTube (BossFightDataBase, 2016) Dark Souls 3 Sister Friede 4K Fight [Gifs] available Online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDGSxkxrI0w
Sketchfab (Giezova, 2020) Stylised torch [Asset] available Online: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/stylized-tourch-29cc233d04d94fe4b0b652cb994f663e
Free3D (2018) Sting sword [Asset] available Online: https://free3d.com/3d-model/sting-sword-128810.html
Alamy (Kraynova, 2021) Lightning bolt on isolated background [Image] Available Online: https://www.alamy.com/lightning-bolts-isolated-on-black-background-thunder-electric-strike-thunderstorm-and-lightning-image447418062.html
Epic Games (UppercutGames, N/A) City of Brass enemies [Assets] Available Online: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/b7cbc53813a24db1a5bd42f75151698c
Epic Games (Tidal Flask Studios, N/A) Fantastic Village Pack [environment] available Online: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/fantastic-village-pack
epic Games (Cafofo Music, N/A) Magic & spell Sounds Pro [sounds] available Online: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/magic-spell-sounds-pro
Epic Games (Lilpupinduy, N/A) Undead Pack [Assets] Available Online: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/undead-pack-01
Mixamo (N/A, N/A) vampire A Lusth [Asset] Available Online: https://www.mixamo.com/#/?page=1&type=Character
Mixamo (N/A, N/A) Maw J Laygo [Asset] Available Online: https://www.mixamo.com/#/?page=1&type=Character
Mixamo (N/A, N/A) walking, Idle, Sword attack, look around, taunt, Spell Cast, Run [Animations] Available Online: https://www.mixamo.com/#/?page=1&type=Motion%2CMotionPack