Hey there,

I am creating an other portfolio piece and I'd like to share my process. Last time [www.sidefx.com] this really helped me, even though not really many people gave feedback. Its nice to see the progress in one place.

This piece is a focused exploration of cinematic FX language — combining fluids, particles, procedural geometry mutation, volumetrics and environment art in a single coherent shot sequence. It's built as a personal reel piece to demonstrate range across Houdini's core FX disciplines in a naturalistic, environment-driven context.

Story
Toxic Crystal (working title) — A micro-universe nature documentary. A meter-tall crystal sits in a moss-covered puddle, its precisely milled openings leaking a viscous resin that mutates the world around it: plants crystallize, larva-like dumpling crystals grow, crystal dust drifts onto new hosts. A final pull-out through one of the crystal's openings reveals an outer world that mirrors the inner one — still young, still untouched — closing the loop.


Youtube WIP Playlist [www.youtube.com]

NEWEST POST [www.sidefx.com]


Please feel free to give feedback on anything you have in mind. I appreciate any comment, thank you!

I generated some images to visualize what was in my head.





For the first time I tried creating a font animatic (thats what I call it) as the very first storyboard, to quickly get an idea of the timing and the focus of the shots. This I really liked!






Then I combined the images and the animated fonts for a more detailed storyboard.

I created a first previz in Houdini.

That is looking quite foul already

Very cool. I like idea of using fonts for storyboarding.

Looking forward to the next phase.

Previz V2
I drafted some sound design and got rid of the unlicensed film music. Also ramped the transition between sh01 & sh02 and added a rolling motion to shot 10. The last camera was tricky since I already had some rotation on the x axis to keep the hole in the centre. When I would rotate the z axis additionally the cam would wobble around, but luckily I tried around with the rotation order of the transform sop and that did the trick 🎉
I wanted the roll to start after we pass through the whole, so it doesnt get to disorienting. I am happy I put in an other day into this.

Reynold Dodson
Very cool. I like idea of using fonts for storyboarding.

Looking forward to the next phase.

I got inspired by Koala who won the last Render Challenge of pwnisher. The breakdown of his process is definitely worth a watch!

https://www.youtube.com/live/4nNF09-_Scc?t=1237&is=ApnlmuB1fsBjF4iA [www.youtube.com]