My first project is a flamethrower effect, featuring a stream of fire igniting its target with a burning effect. The project was made during a three week halftime period and took inspiration from the flamethrowers in Helldivers as well as real life flamethrower tests seen on youtube.

Process & Workflow

Analyzing the clips from Helldivers as well as the real life footage, the effect was broken down into 3 key components:

• The Effect: The stream of fire being shot.

• The System: The system allows the effect to be played as well as applying the burning effect. 

• The Burning Effect: The effect being applied on the target being hit. 

The Fire Effect

The fire effect was created using a flipbook simulation in EmberGen, which was then grayscaled in Photoshop before being exported to Unreal Engine. It was then used into the Niagara System, where it was edited to get the result of a convincing flamethrower.View shader graph here

The System

The system was made to ensure that the flamethrower effect accurately followed the weapon´s firing the stream. View blueprint graph here

 Additionally it used the collision data from the Niagara System, using the collision location data to then apply the burning effect on the affected surface. This ensure the burning effect accrately applies to the flamethrowers impact location. View blueprint graph here

The video below showcases the final result of the system, where the decal is applied upon impact.

The Burning Effect

The burning effect was created using a decal shader as well as a flipbook simulation generated in EmberGen, ensuring that the general effect feels more realistic. View shader graph here

If I Had More Time

If I had more time, I would experiment further with render targets, allowing me to create a more dynamic and realistic fire spread.  

Additionally, I would dedicate more time to refine the flame flipbook in order to enhance its quality to  achieve a visually detailed and more realistic fire effect, as well as put more time into the decal shader in order to make it more realistic. 

Conclusion & Takeaways

Conclusions

This project was a valuable learning experience that laid the foundation for my future projects. Additionally, seeing the final effect come together was quite exciting as it deepened my understanding in Unreal Engine as well as taught me to create a cohesive and convincing effect.

Takeaways

This project allowed me to build a better foundation in Unreal Engine´s shader and scripting system, giving me a better understanding in its practical applications. Additionally I gained a better experience in time management, as I initially spent too much time on tasks that did not directly contribute to the final effect. Through this process, I gained more knowledge on how to prioritize my work more effectively as well as understand when to find alternative solutions.