Start of with the basics

Before throwing myself into the deep end I had to learn the absolute basics of Houdini. I choose specific YouTube tutorials because I knew I needed the knowledge for the airplane explosion. After searching on the internet I found tutorials about fire/smoke, destruction & collision. Learning these basics really helped me to create it in a bigger and more difficult scale.

The Airplane Crash

Since they used B26 Marauder aiplanes back then. Another group member is going to model one from scratch. Of course I cannot wait for her to finish. So I searched for a .fbx of an airplane and used that in the beginning. Later on I can easily switch with the other plane and everything will still work.

Turbine Fire

It would be weird for the viewer if there is an airplane exploding out of knowhere. To solve that issue we came up with the burning turbine. It's a cool element for the viewer, it gave me a lot of learning opportunities and a cool piece for in my portfolio. To get insides on what nodes I used and how I setup everything, please take a look on the VFX minor blog click here

Explosion

To make the pyro explosion I used Houdini's aerial explosion as foundation. I linked the explosion to some specific perimatives on the airplane to specify the location of the explosion. By tweaking all the different values as long as needed, I ended up with something I liked. To get insides on what nodes I used and how I setup everything, please take a look on the VFX minor blog click here

Texturing

Research

Before I could add textures to the plane they need to be made. I did research about the B26 Marauder's look and created a document with all the information I could find. Based on my research another group member created the textures in Substance Painter.
B26-Marauder Research PDF document

Seperate materials

Inside Houdini I had to seperate the airplane by material type. Glass, wings and the body of the plane all have their own textures. If I would not do this, it would mean that the windows could get a metal texture. For more technical and detailed information, please take a look on the VFX minor blog click here