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Avalanche VFX shot

For this film VFX project at BUas Games, I created an avalanche VFX shot.

I first used PFTrack for camera tracking and photogrammetry, to get a 3D representation of the scene. I could use this geometry as a collider and shadow catcher in Houdini, and for projections in Nuke.

The simulation is split in three different parts in Houdini. I used the MPM solver for the chunks of snow, the Axiom (pyro) solver for the finer puffs of snow dust, and the POP solver for some smaller finer particle details. I then rendered all of this using volume shaders in Karma XPU.

Finally, I composited the render and background footage together using Nuke. Properly blending them together turned out to be quite a challenge, but I am happy with the results.

Link to the plate (Pexels)

Client
Personal project
Software
PFTrack, Houdini, Nuke
Pipeline
Tracking, photogrammetry, simulations, rendering, compositing

Final Shot + Breakdown