Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• This is a really cool piece and shows some really interesting creativity. One of the big things I would say for the transition is you can reference a static mesh or skeletal mesh and spawn particles on it which would have really made the particle spawn feel a lot closer to the mesh volume and made that feel a lot better. The transition to the water material also lacked some creativity fading at the same rate over the whole character. It would be nice if this transitioned up the character like a glass filling with water or something a bit more unique. Its a really strong base with some interesting and complex themes tackled in this example. Pushing a little further on the transition and spawning of particles could make this a really nice piece.
• I loved this idea and especially the playable meta-ball. Using distance fields to adjust the meshes verts shows a high level of technical knowledge and it was executed really well. The research that went into this project is quite evident. The documentation demonstrated each stage of production very well. The transition from the character to the water blob works really well. I would put the visuals in a prototype/first pass stage of production, but the workflow and proving out the effect is to a production level. Once this was approved, you would then move onto developing the visuals more, as you stated in the conclusion section of the documentation. In it's current form, the transition shows a lot of particles spawning from the character and they lack form during the transition. This could be refined with a few simple modules to give variation to the particles, from its size, lifetime and motion. The decal left behind from the blob was a nice touch, what would work better is darkening the area underneath and affecting the world roughness to make it look as they the blob is leaving the ground damp as it moves over it. Overall, very impressive! I like the simplicity of the idea and the high-level technical skills used to execute it.
• First of all, well done for submitting your project, it was a very unique project because you actually made the gameplay mechanic for the effect too! That is something that you should be really proud of and it was refreshing to assess! Things that went well: 1. The colour and values are really nice, you created a really nice stylisation of water that is very close to your references 2. Showcasing it working in game is really nice to see, it shows how your effect will work in a game and it can also be the core mechanic. 3. Water is a very difficult thing to replicate and I think you did that really effectively! There are a few areas I would look to focus on in your future projects/ if you wanted to work back into this piece: 1. Whilst what you have is really nice, if your aim is to become a cinematic VFX artist I think you should be focusing on more sequence-based things than gameplay things. They work slightly differently and you won't really have to spend much, if any, time on blueprints. It relies a lot more on Niagara and keyframing events in the Level sequence which is what game cinematics are made in. 2. I would have liked to see a lot more Niagara as it is where a VFX artist will do most of their work. Areas you could do this in this project are: -splash effects when interacting with geometry -more complex trail. e.g. dripping off surfaces, droplets being left behind -interactions with other surfaces e.g. steam coming off when going over something hot Overall, this is a really nice gameplay effect! If you want to push your skills further I would definitely recommend exploring Niagara more to help you get ready to work on game cinematics! If you would like more feedback on this or future projects you can reach out to me on LinkedIn: ‘Ethan Gangotra’ and I will do my best to help! Best of luck with the rest of the university and with the rest of the competition!🙂 👏
• Excellent project and effort towards achieving a complex effect and it’s implementation. The only reason for 4 out of 5 starts in some categories is because I felt that as a VFX challenge the technical part of the project (BP setup) is much stronger than the artistic visual side. I really enjoyed reading the documentation and following the thought process behind the project. It was very interesting to see the stages of the project development, ups and downs explained. Thank you!
• Documentation is a little plain, would love some more annotations and bullet points instead of large blocks of text. Strong understanding of the material editor and sequencer. A good concept with a good execution. Excited to see some further development for SFAS! Great work overall
• The documentation is simple and clean. It's wonderful to see that you spent time researching and looking at specific components of the effect and working on them. After creating each element, the final piece could be pushed further by integrating each element further. Adding additional layers and details.
• Hey, I'm really liking this piece! My only suggestion would be to check out vertex animation textures for the transitions between the character and the water. It could add a cool effect and make those transitions even smoother. Keep up the awesome work!
• This is a very ambitious effect to put together. It's mechanics can really contribute to a great game, but it also comes with a high level of complexity in its artistic as well as technical implementation. What you put together is a good start to block out all the moving parts. But it lacks a little in overall finesse. Maybe try breaking up basic geometries like spheres and cylindrics. Also important to think about all the different layers of detail, from the core water shape to splashes, puddles and spray. With a bit more elaboration on those it will be easier to tie the effect to the character and its motion.