A character driven world shaped by geology
I am developing an original video game concept that combines character focused storytelling with a world influenced by geology, terrain, minerals, underground environments, and natural processes. The goal is to make these ideas part of the setting and adventure rather than present them as a separate lesson.
These drawings are early visual explorations for the cast, their relationships, clothing, and important places. As the concept develops, landscapes, materials, hazards, and environmental change can shape how the characters travel, solve problems, and understand their world.
Building a cast before building the game
The character sheets explore silhouette, proportion, expression, clothing, and personality. They are working designs for a future game, so some pages show several alternatives rather than a single final answer.
A childhood home shaped by terrain and memory
This work in progress explores an important place from Duan's childhood. The house, mature tree, exposed rock, water, and vertical paths begin to connect personal memory with the geology inspired setting of the game.
Using fan art to study atmosphere and visual storytelling
This completed Madara Uchiha fan art is separate from the original game concept. It demonstrates a more resolved illustration process through composition, color, lighting, environment detail, and character interaction.
Turning engineering data into a readable technical story
Material Point Method results can describe complex water movement, but raw particle files and velocity values are difficult to interpret outside a specialist workflow. This project developed a visual pipeline that preserves the engineering sequence while presenting the behavior as a clear 3D animation.
Define the physical study before building the scene
The source study represents water moving through a rectangular domain with a dense crushed rock block acting as a barrier. The model records particle position and velocity through time, allowing the flow to be compared on the obstructed and unobstructed sides of the structure.
The first task was to translate the study dimensions, boundary conditions, and barrier location into a visual setup that remained faithful to the engineering model. This established the scale and spatial relationships used throughout the animation.
Convert the MPM time series into a Houdini ready sequence
The original simulation was delivered as a sequence of VTP files. ParaView was used to select the particle arrays, preserve the time steps, and export the data in Houdini geometry format. This conversion retained the fluid velocity attributes needed for later visualization.
Inside Houdini, the sequence was inspected through the Geometry Spreadsheet. Time Blend was used to interpolate between stored steps, while File Cache reduced repeated computation and made the heavier scene easier to review, refine, and render.
Build a rock barrier that matches the model but reads naturally
A simple solid block would communicate the dimensions but not the granular character of crushed rock. A procedural Houdini network was therefore used to fracture a base shape, isolate irregular fragments, scatter placement points, and introduce controlled variation in position, rotation, and scale.
The fragments were copied across the barrier volume to create a densely packed structure. This preserved the intended 0.3 by 0.3 by 0.6 meter footprint while giving the rendered barrier enough surface variation to read clearly under lighting.
Transform particle motion into a continuous water surface
The simulation data already contained the water movement, so the goal was not to create a new fluid simulation. Instead, the workflow prepared the existing MPM points for visualization and reconstructed them as a continuous renderable mesh.
Particle Fluid Surface controlled the conversion from points to surface. Particle separation, voxel scale, influence scale, filtering, and smoothing were balanced to preserve splashes and changing water depth without producing an excessively heavy or fragmented mesh. The result was then refined, mapped, and cached for consistent rendering.
Use material, light, and camera decisions to explain the motion
The barrier received a dark rock shader, while the water combined a volume treatment for depth with a liquid material for reflection and surface clarity. These choices helped distinguish the two materials and made changes in water depth easier to see across the sequence.
Multiple point, spot, ambient, and environment lights were arranged around a fixed camera. Mantra ray tracing was used for the final output, and the model was staged inside a transparent aquarium style enclosure with a restrained backdrop so attention remained on the interaction between the water and barrier.
Following the water as it meets and moves around the barrier
The rendered sequence makes the progression of the engineering data easier to follow. These four frames show the flow developing around both sides of the barrier, the changing surface shape, and the way the enclosed water redistributes later in the sequence.
The project demonstrates how technical animation can bridge numerical modeling and engineering communication. The result is not a replacement for simulation analysis; it is a visual layer that helps specialists, collaborators, and nontechnical audiences understand the same time dependent behavior more quickly.
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