VFX Breakdown – Shield Effect
This project was built for the 1mafx.com community and focuses on a dynamic shield VFX.
Watch the teaser: Shield Effect Teaser
Mesh and Setup
We started in Houdini, where the shield mesh was built procedurally to allow for easier iterations and future reuse. Vertex colors were added to control edge highlights, and the mesh was split into parts to allow for gradient-based world position offset effects.
The shield reacts dynamically in Unreal Engine through noise-driven motion and custom UVs designed for WPO-based animation.
Check out the mesh breakdown:
- Houdini Mesh Tutorial: Watch Tutorial
Texturing
Textures for the shield were made in Substance Designer, aimed at reinforcing both the visual complexity and performance goals.
These textures support:
- Animated surface detail
- Motion through world position offset
- Fresnel-based glow falloff
Supporting tutorials:
- Substance Texture Tutorial 1: Watch Tutorial
- Substance Texture Tutorial 2: Watch Tutorial
Gameplay Integration
One of the key elements in this effect was visual clarity during gameplay. When the shield’s health drops below 50%, we introduced visual shifts to signal the change, using world position offset, parameter blending, and time-based Fresnel effects.
For the destruction phase, we built a simple fade-out using animated material parameters and additional VFX layers, giving players a clean and readable cue that the shield is breaking.
Explore the Full Tutorial
The complete walkthrough for this effect is available inside the Tier 1 membership at 1mafx.com. It includes everything from procedural mesh creation to material logic.
You’ll also get access to a growing library of VFX tutorials and free assets to build up your real-time workflow.
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