After our group discussion determined the theme and we received the storyboard from Peiyao, we went together to the Seven Sisters Cliffs to shoot images.
Within the group, I was responsible for early-stage technical testing and creating the images for the pollution source. One of the initial planned shots—a turtle crawling through sand—was abandoned due to the difficulty of realistically simulating its interaction with seawater. Additionally, the pollution source footage did not fully align with the director’s final vision.
Sand Simulation
For handling the sand, I used SOP presets to simulate the clumping effect of wet sand caused by surface tension, by increasing the attraction force between particles.
Polluting Simulation
In terms of pollution source simulation, I used presets from the Pyro system. Initially, I was using an older version of the Pyro Solver, which failed to account for turbulence during simulation. After extensive research, I eventually replaced it with the newer version of the Pyro Solver and achieved the desired diffusion effect.
Reflection
In this project, I primarily took on the role of a VFX artist—an area in the film and CG production pipeline where I have the least experience. To bridge this gap, I spent dozens of hours systematically learning the components of Houdini’s SOP, Vellum, and Pyro systems, using them for the wet sand and pollution smoke simulations. As a first-time user of Houdini, I found its node-based interface quite confusing and often struggled to locate the functions I needed. At the same time, I was amazed by the realism of its effects. Houdini is a powerful tool that I believe is worth exploring further, and it will undoubtedly help me improve the quality of my work in the future.