Hi, this is Aly’s ultimate ability. I name it Astral Smash. I was inspired a lot by anime, their effects and impact frames, particularly some scenes from MHA (which is probably why I call it astral smash). I tried to replicate some anime effects using shaders and compositing and mesh visual effects. Feel free to let me know what y’all think as always
—FLASH WARNING— (There are sounds in the video too. Watch your volumes)
So Cauda invited Aly so she can assess her power level in the sim room to join her organization. Cauda and Aly are good friends. The room here is a giant simulation room that is able to pretty much simulate anything using programmable particles (those flying little things near the end. Emitted from the sim-cube when it disintegrates). The cube in there is made by the particles to simulate the hardest material ever in the world (should be practically indestructible) that then can be used by the organization to test anything like bullet impact force, material strength tests for objects, car crash simulation etc. The organization here (they are like a secret SWAT/military organization type thing. idk yet. basically, the good guys org) can test interns’ or applicants’ power level via the cube (I guess the sim-cube here acts like those box strength tester that you punch. In this case, it’s especially done to test participants’ strength). Cauda here works as the examiner. So yeah…Aly, who’s supposed to be a new “intern”, destroyed the supposedly indestructible sim-cube. Aly has astral powers. Where does her power originate from? I guess we’ll have to figure it out (anyhow, if y’all read all that, tysm. fist bumps. Yeah, if you wanna delete something, just call Aly I guess? She’s a nice person fr or maybe Cauda? she’s got a plasma cannon tail…ok bye, have a great day )
GYATTT!!! Nice Work!!! YES THAT’S HOW YOU MUST PUNISH THE DEFAULT CUBE …Also, you made this with the NPR branch or manual npr shader effects with EEVEE? A breakdown of the pipeline would be welcome .
Thanks so much . hahah. oh man, I kinda feel bad for our boy default cube now for some reason. Even though it shows up everytime we open up a new project in Blender but.
The animation is all done with manual npr shader effects in EEVEE. I experimented with the shaders to try and get the “anime” type of feel for the ultimate move, especially the impact. Pretty much most if not all of the effects use meshes with shaders that are then have their properties animated.
For instance, the impact shockwaves and the arm flame are cone-like meshes with animated emission shaders. The speed lines are stretched out noise textures on a spherical mesh. Aly’s Astral clone is just Aly’s duplicated rig with different shaders.
I started with some planning (gathering references, setting up the scene, how should the story go, where should Aly start, when should Aly do the ultimate move, what is the aftermath, etc), and then the blocking of the animation; making keyframes for the key poses, both for the characters and camera (I use the dolly camera rig). After doing a bit more detailed blocking, I go on the splining stage and adjusting the timings of the animation especially for the impact frames. All of the visual effects and stuff are done later after the main character animations.
Oh, and to make the effects more intense, I added compositor effects such as lens distortions, glare. I also add camera shakes which is not part of the compositor, but it intensifies the effect too. Glare is, I mean everyone probably knows about it already at this point, but it’s so good at making things pop. Like, it’s really nice:
I followed references like boxing videos and of course anime stuff. This might get off-topic, but I think some of the shots might look familiar to some people. Like, this shot for example:
is referencing this:
(—Watch your Volumes—)
this shot (I believe you guys know already ) :
or maybe Cauda? she’s got a plasma cannon tail…ok bye, have a great day 
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