For this project, I decided to experiment with the Niagara particle system in Unreal Engine. Responsive particle systems in game engines are something I have been interested in for a long time. I have tried using unity’s VFX, but since I’m completely new to UE, this is quite a challenge for me.
To learn more about Niagara, I watched numerous tutorials online. I have decided to use mesh particles instead of sprites to create this abstract visual effect. To practice with this new software, I made two days of my 100 days of making project to start with.
In my first trial with Niagara, I added a wind force to make them flow, a gravity force for realness, two curl noise forces to make them dance in the air, a drag force for fluidity, and a point attraction force to ensure they come back to each other.
This system is driven by a blueprint that maps the sound input for the position of the particles. At first, the particles were just flying everywhere as soon as I play the music. In this video, the effect isn’t that obvious, because the parameters are extremely sensitive, and I need to tune it down to make it subtle.
For my Cornell box, I fused two of my previous Niagara systems. The characters are the Four Heavenly Kings from Buddhism. They are Zbrush models I made for my other projects. Since I’m making the scene dark and gloomy, I have decided to add them to the scene to create a sense of solemnity and a somber feel. With the characters static almost acting like giant sculptures in a Buddhist monastery, the scene really creates an ominous feeling in contrast with their presence in Buddhism. I also played around with the Volumetric Height Fog and the Post-processing Volume to give it this grim effect.