😅

[zenith lark]

https://youtu.be/5Mw6NpSEb2o?t=26

The principle is no different from the simple texture created at the beginning here

To get to the example you'd just need a bit more complex shape and more blur

Your texture looks neat but more convoluted
I'd just keep practicing and try to keep it simpler

Photoshop also has "tiling" mode which repeats the image as you edit it, so it will be confirmed to repeat seamlessly

[woeful vapor]

tiling mode?

intresting

[zenith lark]

It might go by another name but it certainly exists in newer versions

[woeful vapor]

if im correct i think i have pt 2023

[zenith lark]

The repeating pattern thing was released a year or two ago so I think you're fine

[woeful vapor]

but how would i go about making these shapes? im not even sure where to begin for, hmm lets say creating something like this

i have an idea on how to create this one

since you sent that fire video

but the one above this one is actually a blur 😭

mabye smudge but im not sure if that would work either

[idle comet]

Some extra tips; before adding effects like motion blur, inner glow, satin and otherwise paintbrushing, make sure the texture is tiling properly

[woeful vapor]

dope

but now the bigger question

how do i create things where i have no idea what to do

yknow what i mean?

😭

[idle comet]

I would look for tutorials or experiment

[zenith lark]

You get experience with the tools and once you know the ways to create an manipulate images you start thinking with them

Like knowing what kind of brushes you have when planning a painting

[idle comet]

You mentioned this, it looks again like someone drew a pattern, blurred/smeared the upper parts and used motion blur

[woeful vapor]

i see

[woeful vapor]

that makes sense

[woeful vapor]

ahhh

alright

[idle comet]

it's difficult to replicate something 100% as everyone uses different tools and techniques, so it's just a matter of practicing until you get a similar result

[zenith lark]

@woeful vapor My process to make something similar would be

1. Brushwork 2. Noise overlay 3. Motion blur & noise overlay
2. Median filter 5. Noise distortion 6. Highlight brush overlay
3. Gamma curve 8. Finally motion blur
   Step 9 would be to make it repeating

Could ofc put more effort into it to aim for a specific look
Since I use the free and primitive tool PaintDotNet I have to iterate a lot with filters to "shape" the brushes, as this program doesn't even have brushes

[woeful vapor]

wow

thank you for this btw 🙏

[woeful vapor]

im trying to create it and theres no option for "noise distortion"

in photoshop atleast

unless i just cant find it 😭

first try hacking at it

its pretty bad but ill get better ig

[zenith lark]

It goes by different name in every program
PDN calls it "dents"

But the principle of distorting pixels by a noise pattern remains the same

What effects and filters you use doesn't really matter, only how they look

[woeful vapor]

true

[woeful vapor]

is there a reason why i cant find it

in the filters tab

[zenith lark]

Could be under "distort"
I haven't used PS in ages

[woeful vapor]

what did you use for this?

what program**

[zenith lark]

PaintDotNet, but I don't really recommend it

[woeful vapor]

why not exactly?

is it not as robust as photoshop?

[zenith lark]

It has just a fraction of the capabilities of Gimp or PS, and I'm pushing it to its limits

[woeful vapor]

ah i see

[zenith lark]

Simply because I've used it for so long that it's very familiar to me

[woeful vapor]

that makes sense

[zenith lark]

But after all the most important part is just knowing what filters you have to work with and how they look
The rest is just shaping the patterns so they look as they should in VFX

[woeful vapor]

you must be super good at vfx man

[zenith lark]

Decent at least
The nicest part is to get to that level where you can think of an effect and visualize plan for the assets and systems to make it work
Might not be perfect but it feels very liberating when it's not all just learning by trial and error to get there

[woeful vapor]

ive been trying to achieve this for so long, what it feels like im doing right now is just memorizing the properties of the vfx, like im a robot with no mind

i wish i was able to freely create good looking vfx any time i wanted

[zenith lark]

I used to have hobby for a few years to just idly smash image filters together to end up with new and interesting patterns
That turned out to be priceless experience when making textures for particles just like we've been doing today
And it was fun too

[woeful vapor]

without worrying about if it would look bad

[woeful vapor]

man 😭

[zenith lark]

Making whole effects is still hard, because there's not really a limit how "good" you could make them with "enough skill"

[woeful vapor]

yeah but like isnt there a point where you reach like this zen state

like you can do NO wrong

and are able to create effects with free mind

idk i just feel like a bot 💀

[zenith lark]

Usually mostly when making an effect you're already familiar with
The good thing is that you can set goals very low to get a very likely success
Simple and cartoony effects are the best
Then you know that when you do the same thing as before, you'll most likely get the same result so you can try to improve it in small ways with little effort

When making a fire particle system for the 20th time it's probably not very hard at that point, and each time it looks a little bit better

[woeful vapor]

yeah but ive stopped doing this, instead of doing things i know ive tried doing things that im not very confident i can create

although most of the time it does look really bad, i feel like im learning more from it because i dont know how to do it as good

i especially struggle on beams

[zenith lark]

It also helps that a lot of VFX use overlapping techniques

Even when trying something new you can find ways to utilize old knowledge
Like, sparks and embers for example are kind of similar

And trying to dissect effects used elsewhere, especially in old games helps a lot

Old games tend to be bad at hiding how the effects are done so they're easier to analyze

[woeful vapor]

are you suggesting that vfx artists try to hide the way there effects are done?

but why would they do something like that

is it so that no one can copy their style or something

[zenith lark]

It just looks more "real" and generally better if you can't see where one particle ends and another begins

[woeful vapor]

ahhh

i see

[zenith lark]

Like how modelers usually want to hide the polygon edges and clipping

And why clothiers want to hide the seams ^^

[woeful vapor]

ahh that makes alot more sense now

[zenith lark]

Old games had much less tech and processing power to do that with

[zenith lark]

There's many kinds of beams and many ways to make them
But most generally I'd think they have a particle effect where the beam starts, another where it ends, and a line renderer in between that appears to move by shader animation

[woeful vapor]

ahh

[zenith lark]

Instead of a line renderer you could also have particles traveling along a path, and the path could be curved

[woeful vapor]

would i have to create a beam texture beforehand

?

like the one above

[zenith lark]

Yes
Once you have made or found some textures you won't need to make many new ones since they can be recycled

[woeful vapor]

using the shader system?

which can create new ones

or is that because of substance desginer

im not sure what you mean by recycled

😅

[zenith lark]

Shaders let you create almost any kind of motion on a material
Textures are useful for that purpose, so you can overlay and animate them in the shader

[zenith lark]

Re-used
Most of VFX isn't visually super "clear" so it doesn't actually matter a whole lot what your textures look like, as long as they have the correct type of variance

It's also ofc economical to store and load less textures

Pulling some numbers from my ass I'd say Diablo 3 in particular uses like 3 textures for 80% of its particle and shader effects

Just overlayed and animated in different ways

[woeful vapor]

no way

they had some pretty good effects too

shaders are powerful as hell 😨

[zenith lark]

That reminds me this is a must watch since you're interested in this topic

https://youtu.be/YPy2hytwDLM

[woeful vapor]

ill give it a watch real quick

i hope it helps

😺

[zenith lark]

It's long but helped me a lot from start to finish!

[woeful vapor]

ill definitely watch it now

LMAOOO

[zenith lark]

Something you may have already run into is that there's a lot of different things to learn here in VFX and in tech art in general
Image editors, shaders, particle systems, VFX graph, model editors, component code may all seem required and for a tech art professional they will be
But there's no need to learn them all at once, which I didn't
I started with image editors, then discovered the Particle System and practiced making effects with just that
I didn't learn any shader stuff until after

[woeful vapor]

so i should break down how i learn into parts?

and learn one before going into the next

cause all this time ive been just diving into everything

thats probably why ive been confused for so long 💀

[zenith lark]

Consider that option! Since these systems are so different, it can be a huge mental strain to learn them at once
Especially since those systems will need to work together

Knowing for a fact my particle system works exactly as it needs to before trying to incorporate shader animation into it was a huge help

[woeful vapor]

alright ill instead try to learn how to get these darn textures to work

then ill move on to particles

thank you 🙏

[woeful vapor]

quick question

what brush packs do you recommend?

[zenith lark]

Couldn't tell ya
Like I mentioned my program of choice doesn't even support more than one brush total

[woeful vapor]

ah i forgot that