THE FINAL POST

okkkkk so here it is, here is the shot i've worked up over this project. I still think there is obvious room for improvement, but i have learned soo much over this project!

I would still like to address how the petals fall as i think they have the right kind of speed now, but they need to last longer, i dont like it when particles just "disapear" but this is somthin i will be implamenting houdini for.

THINGS THIS PROJECT HAS TAUGHT ME
-i have learned what a voxel is, and by doing this, i have learned what sort of voxel grid resolutions to work with, then step up to render with.

-i have learned about the different render systems such as scanline and raytracing, and why you would prioritize raytracing in voxel fluid rendering as it steps rays right through your fluid to calculate accurate shadow maps based on density

-i have learned that volumetric emmiters work much better with voxel systems rather than the standard omni which is essentially a mathmatical "point" with extended space.

-i have learned all about the fluid shader, and how best to control it for different applications such as fire, smoke or combustion.

- i have learned about the various dynamics (fields) rigid bodies and types of fluids (particle, volumetric and voxel) and their best uses.

-i have learned about ppInstancing in maya and its drawbacks

-i have learned the benefits of using 2D voxel containers with raytracing.

i could go on and on, but basically i have loved this project, and I am more or less pleased with my results. here is a break down of what i think worked well and not so well.

THE GOOD:
-I like the trail from the spell, the body of it atleast.
-i like the look of the flower petals
-i'm sort of hapy with the shockwave

THE BAD (well, not bad, but stuff to improve on)
-the motion of the trail of the spell, more interesting and less uniform
-the flower petals i will need to take into houdini to get more complicated procedural dynamics working upon them
-the shockwave can be improved and i plan to do this soon!

HOW HAVE I INTERGRATED IN A TEAM?
-i have used animation from nick and joe to use as a base for my spell development. without their help, my work would be very boring and linear

-i have used Ollies model, which i rigged and gave to the animators, which feeds back into my first point.

-i have mimicked Stephanie Joy's beautiful matt paintings for my environment creation

---AND i have constantly been asking for feedback from everyone in the group, which they kindly ablidged with and without their feedback again i think my effects would be very bland and boring. so thanks for all of your help guys!