Introduction: “Hi guys, I’m Ashif Ali and you’re watching CGHOW. In today’s tutorial, we’re creating a stylized fire effect in Unreal Engine 5 using Niagara. Let’s get started, and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel for more content like this. If you enjoy the video, please like, share, and comment.”
Creating the Fire Effect:
Modeling a Simple Mesh
The tutorial starts by explaining how the fire effect was modeled, emphasizing that a simple mesh was created for the stylized fire (not an animation or a complex model).
Fire Material Creation:
Noise Texture: You use a noise texture as a base and multiply it with a radial texture to create the fire effect.
Dynamic Parameters: These control the density and power (dissolve) of the fire material.
Black Body and Particle Color: You use a black-body temperature model for better visual effects, manipulating colors using saturation to make them vibrant or subtle.
Opacity Control: The opacity is controlled to make the fire more dynamic and lifelike.
Niagara Effect Setup:
Directional Velocity and Cone Shape: A directional velocity (with a cone shape) is used to simulate the fire’s movement. You adjust the cone angle and size to create the desired flame effect.
Dynamic Parameters in Niagara: You implement dynamic parameters for things like density, dissolve, saturation, and random tiling to give the fire a more randomized, organic look.
Particle Size and Fade Effect: The particle size is adjusted, and you use curves to make the temperature fade over time, which enhances the fire’s animation.
Adding Glow and Stylized Look:
Glow Effect: You adjust the fire’s glow by modifying its scale color with dynamic parameters, creating a soft, fluctuating glow effect.
Ambient Light and Post Processing: You use post-processing effects to refine the fire’s appearance, adjusting gamma, and adding subtle lighting effects.
Secondary Effects (Sparks/Embers):
You create additional effects like embers and sparks that interact with the fire, adding realism. These are smaller particles that are influenced by gravity and random noise.
Rotation Effect:
Rotating Fire Effect: You create a rotating fire effect by adjusting the source of the rotation using a point (fountain) emitter, making the fire rotate smoothly around a central point.
Final Tweaks and Adjustments:
Adjustments are made to particle properties like size, life, and gravity, refining the look and feel of the fire effect.
Additional tweaks are done on the spawn rate and rotation speed to achieve the perfect fire effect.
Conclusion: “That’s it! We’ve created a stylized fire effect in Unreal Engine 5 using Niagara. I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Thanks for watching, and keep learning!”
Key Takeaways:
Dynamic Parameters are crucial for controlling various properties of the fire, such as density, dissolve rate, and color.
Using Black Body Temperature allows for more realistic fire color manipulation.
Noise textures and random tiling contribute to a more chaotic, natural look.
Post-processing and ambient light play an important role in achieving the desired stylized effect.
The tutorial walks through creating a rotating fire effect with secondary particle systems (embers) to make the fire feel more dynamic.
I am Ashif Ali, Real-Time VFX Artist, I make Unreal Engine Niagara Tutorial on this channel. I've made it my mission to share my knowledge and expertise with the world through my YouTube channel. So why not join me on this exciting adventure? Follow me on my social links, subscribe to my channel, and support my growth as a creator. Together, we can create amazing things and take our skills to new heights. And who knows, you might even get access to some of my exclusive files for free!