This is the project I'm currently working on. I got the idea from the fiery snake in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I still need to re-work the flames for the mane and the beard, and work on the shader a bit.

The shader is designed to look like burning embers. Where light hits the object, it looks like ashed over coal, but in the dark areas, it glows with a burning color.

I created a tool to group primitives based on what direction they face in relation to the camera so I could use the “outline” of the dragon's body to source flames. Then I sourced flames from the tail and the head, and created a “beard” by setting the buoyancy direction to -1.

Let me know what you think. Any comments/critiques are very welcome.

Thanks.

https://vimeo.com/50347235 [vimeo.com]

Hi There,

cool project! Good to see you use houdini's procedural sourcing method and play with it.

Regarding the look, maybe turn down the buoyancy and shredding a bit? The flames rise quite fast but don't seem to break up correctly. You could also try to have it release less gas.

In terms of the shader, it might be a good idea to play with the ranges of the fields that come out. It's a bit uniform in the high density areas. Creating some more edgy ramps get's you a long way, together with playing with the in and output ranges.