Black flame tornado | elden ring
Using fractal noise & distortion techniques to create stylized VFX inside of After Effects.
This project was great, and it really shocked me. I’ve always wanted to create VFX in some form, and I thought something like this might be possible inside of After Effects. After analyzing the “Black Flame Tornado” VFX from Elden Ring, I knew I wanted to recreate it. Through splitting that effect into small parts, and re-creating them one by one inside After Effects, it all started to come together.
Oftentimes, doing projects like this in After Effects promotes strange and weird solutions for problems that After Effects isn’t necessarily equipped to handle. A setup like this in After Effects is awesome, but it will never be as efficient or robust as VFX inside a game engine, or software equipped adequately for work like this. Nonetheless, it’s always fun to test yourself and try new things in After Effects, and I couldn’t be more pleased with how this one turned out!
Timeline: 3 Days (July 2024)
(breakdown pictured below)
Tools
Role
After Effects
Trapcode
Visual Effects
Animation
Rigging
Compositing
01 - VFX BReakdown
Textures
The top left and bottom left texture(s) were used to create the fire at the bottom of the tornado.
The top right and bottom right textures were used to create the central mass of the tornado, with the bottom right texture being used for the cylindrical lines/wind. The top right texture, was used in various sizes for the flying fire.
(All created with Fractal & Turbulent Noise)
Animated textures
The texture pictured on the top is the cylindrical lines, distorted using CC Cylinder and various displacement maps. Looped particular particles are also tied to this texture.
The texture pictured in the middle is the “flying fire,” which consists of numerous fractal patterns, all with varying sizes for more dimension. This component also uses CC Cylinder and various displacement maps.
The texture pictured on the bottom is a mix of two textures, one texture that serves as the mass of fire at the bottom, and one that lifts off the ground to create the illusion of rising fire. The mass of the fire has several duplicates all at different sizes and different positions in Z space to create more depth, and create a convincing base for the tornado. These textures also have CC Cylinder and various displacement maps applied to them.
02 - rigging breakdown
3d setup
Through using so many instances of CC Cylinder, we can connect them to one CC Cylinder controller, and adjust all layers at once inside 3D space.