For anyone wanting to use an animated VDB like an explosion or a campfire in the sequencer, you'll have to first drag the Heterogeneous Volume from your outline into your sequencer. After this, press the plus button or "Track" button and a drop down menu should appear. Under "compenents", select "HeterogeneousVolumeCompenent". From here, press the plus button again and under "Animation" in the drop down menu, add the "Frame" option. With this now added, you can key frame when you want your VDB's to start and finish their animation.
@@kylemcneill5751 no problem at all brother I know for me I'm more of a visual learner so helps when seeing stuff in motion but definately thanks for supporting and putting it out there for those that want just a quick reference 🤙🏿
Bookmark this video! VDB support is a BIG DEAL! ;) Thibault is the master mind behind it all, seriously talented (and brilliant) artist! Thank you both so much for putting in the time to share this with the community🙏
Steel City all day! But please make sure to check out my more up to date tutorial which makes the process awhole lot easier! ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=ekfLuv2cjXyGo2NN
Follow these amazing Artist that helped me out twitter.com/LambertTibo twitter.com/HollowsWoodsman VDB Material blueprintue.com/blueprint/94qjsm5v/ Other Tutorials: Cinema 4D Pyro + Unreal Engine 5 = Amazing! ruclips.net/video/9I2YHLwPCpI/видео.htmlsi=0kNNJ-c5fLhn1Kuf Learn How to Render VDB Sequences in Unreal Engine 5.3 ruclips.net/video/R6ZBuTHBk44/видео.htmlsi=fvS0LLAFgiRvdVsO
Thank you very much for the tutorial! I would like to add that when importing VDB, all settings must be as indicated in the video, this is very important! By default, I did not have a glow control channel; as a result, the explosion resembled an ordinary cloud of smoke and did not glow at all, and there was no flame either.
Thanks for the work in sourcing all this! For anyone concerned with the dark black shadows in the volumes for things like clouds, I found that plugging in a new colour parameter to control emissive color (multiplied by the Density) seemed like a good workaround for me.
This is a great video! Very in depth. Also, for anyone who may not know. For ease of access if you right click on an input node and promote to parameter it will automatically name the scalar parameter.
Thank you 🙏🏿 Be sure to check out my follow up tutorial I made it easier to drag and drop the material so you don't have to make it from scratch anymore
Thank you so much for your generous sharing of knowledge and expertise! You are an amazing teacher, and I so appreciate your selfless acts of empowering the rest of us, such as in this most informative video! It was just awesome, and I can't wait to feel like I actually know what I'm doing with VDBs in Unreal Engine. (I'm more than a little behind on this.) You're best!
Thanks so much I actually most recently put up a video to make this process waaaay more easier be sure to check that out! ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=2ZJWczAuj576zlr4
My god that is insane! Blender chugs like heck when I use VDBs. I have a pretty darn good machine too. With character skeletons now compatible in Unreal, I may need to switch over there for rendering permanently.
This is really cool. I used the OpenVDB plug-in with UE 5.1 a while back to get some custom cloud formations for the Volumetric Clouds object out of a smoke sim I did in Blender, but this is definitely easier. I wonder how hard it'd be to use the velocity property of the vdb to build a flowmap instead of using an animated VDB. Also a couple tips: You can hold down 's' on the keyboard and click in the material graph to create a scalar parameter instead of right-clicking and searching (you can also hold down '1' and click to make a Float Constant and then right-click and select 'Convert to Scalar Parameter'). You can override the Sparse Volume Texture in the material instance instead of duplicating the base material and changing it there and making another material instance.
Thank you and your Frends so much for this Video! Hope i will can understand this node tree some day. For now i will just follow step by step. Very much thank you all ! 🙏
NOW! this is a real gamechanger! I just wished the import worked better since its annoying to have to restore the volume to its original shape by scaling it by hand
Hmmm, my material of all that just shows up as a big thick vdb box, like a box of pure fog, instead of any discernible shape. I've found that not all VDBs are equal - one I'm testing is out of Blender, but ones out of Embergen and Houdini all act completely different. Any tips on if I can't get anything coherent to show up? Kind of weird to troubleshoot did node exactly as you've got it laid out, its just my VDBs that are atypical.
I had the same problem. Make sure when importing you have Smoke in the drop down menu of Attribute A > R. If you dont find smoke option there make sure you simulated it. In Max PhoenixFD you can check Grid Smoke in output. I hope this helps
Finally getting to test this but hit a wall. Around 2:00 you get the "Sparse Volume Texture Viewer", but it does't show up when I do the same search. Maybe I started off the wrong project type -Blank Video Production-?? Feeling like I'm missing something basic. Thanks in advance!
There are two RUclips channels where I hate myself for having my volume muted at the start of a video. Doug DeMuro: "THIS..." Winbush: "What up, what up..." Keep doing what you do! Your videos are so great. I appreciate all the knowledge bombs you share with us.
Thank you for great tutorial! I have just one quicktip for you :) Insted of making scalar parameter (S+LMB) you can just right click on small input circle (pin) and promote to parameter. It will create Scalar Parameter already named by the name of pin value type.
Thanks buddy, I recently made it so that you don't have to build the VDB from scratch either you can just copy and past the material from here blueprintue.com/blueprint/94qjsm5v/
Hey winbush thank you for this amazing tutorial. As we know 5.3 is officially released and path tracer supports heterogenous textures can you please make a tutorial how to remder VDbs usimg movie render queue with path tracer again thak you for the amazing tutorials
I haven't tested yet but in the road map they did show path tracer as being compatible portal.productboard.com/epicgames/1-unreal-engine-public-roadmap/c/1156-path-tracer
Hi Winbush thanks for making this, I noticed that the blackbody paramater doesnt really update anything, even on your screen, Only density works. Am I missing something? Also is the idea then to create a material instance for each cloud you want to use? Thanks
You can add a linear light or a rig of lights or do a 3 point lights. Copy paste the blueprint code for full control if you search on google ''Basic SVT Material in 5.3 preview (thanks to Thibault Lambert!)'' . Link the nodes to the material as shown in the video. Then play with the density, absorption and scattering parameters.
Hi! I'm tottaly new to UE, sorry for stupid questions) But "sparse volume texture viewer" doesn't show up Do I have to preinstall that script or something?)
Have anyone tried importing VDB's from Houdini to UE 5.3? Having issues that when importing the VDB's it disappears from the project, when i change folder from one to another - Another issue is that it can't be put into the "Sparse Volume Texture Preview"
Shouldnt need a plugin in fact here is a easier way to set it up now ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=pIJPqUQX02Mpt3dE I dont think you can put materials on it outside of what the volume has set for it. What kind of materials are you trying to place on it?
This is mind blowing, thank you so much for gathering this info together and working with the community. I can see this being great for static vdb,s especially for space nebula scenes. As for animated, it seems like the material flickers near the end, I wonder if it’s a frame rate issue. Maybe if unreal engines fps was locked to 24 or 30 would it not flicker anymore. Will it flicker if rendered in a level sequencer? What do you think?
I put this together quick so I didn't think to see what framerate the vdb was created in so that might make a difference as well. By default its set to 24fps in UE but I'm not sure what the actual vdb from embergen was created in. I'll def be doing more test
Thank you so much for explaining this. I am trying to render snow from Houdini into UE 5 but mine does not animate, Would you happen to know a solution to this ? My snow is a vdb file.
It would depend on the situation. Niagara fluids would be a lot more interactive in your scene think of VDB as more of a movie or sequence so theres not changing it at all once inside Unreal
I noticed that when you scaled in on the VDB, you had a flicker on the animation at the time of playback, as if there were not enough frames, I have the same problem and I do not know how to fix it, do you have any ideas how to fix it?
Hi Winbush, thanks for this tutorial, i followed everything but on my sparse volume texture parameter its still in error. in my stats, it says missing input texture. Can you please help.
nice overview on this VBD feature, just asking, is there a reason to duplicate the parent material and not just making a second instance for the explosion? i will definitely test on this when Epic release the stable.
Yup because when I tried to swap the vdb in the instance it didn't take for some reason so I had to do it this way. I'm sure this will be fixed in an update
@@JonathanWinbush so there would be no possible way to export from houdini or embergen into a niagra particle system? unless its made from scratch in Niagra?
Why the simple cloud is stacked to be grey in color? When I scatter on white becomes grey, when scatter is green it goes green. Is like I can not get it to white cloud.. Any tip?
so for some reason my vdb is working properly along with the animation but it's only visible when I'm super close to the heterogenous volume actor in the world. otherwise it turns invisible. Any clue why this might be happening?
Hi, thank you so much for a quick reply. I think it could be distance culling. But I tried to adjust the min and max values in the LOD of heterogeneous volume and it still didn't work. Do you know anything I could follow to get this fixed? Thanks again@@JonathanWinbush
Ah, this is amazing. Thank you, Winbush! Do you know any option how to: 1. Have a motion blur for the VDBs on rendering? 2. Have shadows from the volume?
hi guys, i tried to drop and drag a VDB from jangafx and it comes up with a failed to import message. It wont even open the openvdb box. any idea why? im on a mac
Only trouble I'm having is I can't seem to get that firey effect in my explosions. Adjusting the Blackbody and the Temperature seems to have no effect and everything stays gray. Any idea why this would be? (Density works fine)
Ok so it's related to which data is on which channel when you import a VDB. For example, the "midair explosion" temperature channel is on attribute B, channel R ,and the density on attribute A, channel R, so you have to tweak your material nodes accordingly. I don't know what to do with the Flame data tho.
Cool features and great video. Thank you for the walk through. Unfortunately It don't seem to cast shadows for now, like the plugin limitation or may be I'm wrong.
Hi! Is there a way to render the shadows of vdb while its hidden? It doesnt seem to work for me, I hope Im just too dumb to figure out, though I guess its a limititation... Thx for the answer
@@JonathanWinbush yea sure, I know and I can render it (thanks to you:)), but what I mean is that I would like to render the shadows casted by the heterogenous volume while its hidden. I dont want to render the volume, just its shadows, I hope its more understandable. :)
Hey this is really amazing however I'm having issues with importing the VDB sequences into UE. 5.4 and also 5.3. not sure what I'm doing wrong. Im running a MacBook M2 Pro. Any help or workarounds available? Would really appreciate some guidance or help. All I wanted to create is a meteor from the pixellab 😭
Would you be able to explain the 8, 16, 32 bit options? Even if you don't know the specifics, do you know which one is better quality? Also, I seem be getting some flame that "licks" the top of the "bounding box" around the VDB. I don't see that happening in EmberGen when I am making the simulation.
I dont understand the full science behind it honestly but I bet Jason at Embergen would be able to break it down more eloquently as he's in this stuff all day. twitter.com/key_vfx
Thanks Winbush! Do these react with lights now in 5.3? The big problem with VDBs before in UE5.2 is they would not be affected by point or rect lights, only the main directional light, which made them still unrealistic in UE compared to things like Octane.
What did you use to author the VDB. Looks like when making one from blender that the attributes are different for both A and B which will probably change how the material is made. Although the Sparse Volume Viewer had no issue showing it, but the material made here doesn't not show anything.
I did another one the other day that may help I showed how I made the VDB in Cinema 4d and Brought it into Unreal ruclips.net/video/9I2YHLwPCpI/видео.htmlsi=sLh-rgLIeYMTHhQN I also made it easier to make the material so you don't have to make it from scratch each time ruclips.net/video/6mDarpFP2lM/видео.htmlsi=uxrSQlMR60J9hAi5
Make sure to watch my updated tutorial that makes this process even easier! ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=rM5IsBOTFpry7djd
For anyone wanting to use an animated VDB like an explosion or a campfire in the sequencer, you'll have to first drag the Heterogeneous Volume from your outline into your sequencer. After this, press the plus button or "Track" button and a drop down menu should appear. Under "compenents", select "HeterogeneousVolumeCompenent". From here, press the plus button again and under "Animation" in the drop down menu, add the "Frame" option. With this now added, you can key frame when you want your VDB's to start and finish their animation.
I already did a tutorial on this process ruclips.net/video/R6ZBuTHBk44/видео.htmlsi=Xe0NlRTk2jcwuqeL
@@JonathanWinbush oh sweet, didn’t see that. Thanks for making great tutorials as always!
@@kylemcneill5751 no problem at all brother I know for me I'm more of a visual learner so helps when seeing stuff in motion but definately thanks for supporting and putting it out there for those that want just a quick reference 🤙🏿
Thanks for the tip!
Bookmark this video! VDB support is a BIG DEAL! ;)
Thibault is the master mind behind it all, seriously talented (and brilliant) artist! Thank you both so much for putting in the time to share this with the community🙏
Couldn't agree more!
This is going to be a game changer
@@logikal3d 100% 🤙🏾💯
Also new UEFN tutorial tomorrow!
Yeaaah buddy
@@faradaysinfinity 😎
Niceeeeee!! Was waiting for this :))
Hope you dig it! 🤙🏿
Dope, thank you for making this........much appreciated.....GO STEELERS!!!
Steel City all day!
But please make sure to check out my more up to date tutorial which makes the process awhole lot easier! ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=ekfLuv2cjXyGo2NN
Follow these amazing Artist that helped me out
twitter.com/LambertTibo
twitter.com/HollowsWoodsman
VDB Material blueprintue.com/blueprint/94qjsm5v/
Other Tutorials:
Cinema 4D Pyro + Unreal Engine 5 = Amazing! ruclips.net/video/9I2YHLwPCpI/видео.htmlsi=0kNNJ-c5fLhn1Kuf
Learn How to Render VDB Sequences in Unreal Engine 5.3 ruclips.net/video/R6ZBuTHBk44/видео.htmlsi=fvS0LLAFgiRvdVsO
Thanks you very much!
During the material stuff, I was "Wtf is this an escape game or something?" but everything make sens now.
😁😁
thank you for the good walktrough, and for taking you time with this explaining. Works like a charm!!!
Glad it helped! I recently did an updated tutorial that makes it even easier! ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=rM5IsBOTFpry7djd
Thank you very much for the tutorial! I would like to add that when importing VDB, all settings must be as indicated in the video, this is very important! By default, I did not have a glow control channel; as a result, the explosion resembled an ordinary cloud of smoke and did not glow at all, and there was no flame either.
Did you catch my later video by chance with the official epic games setup thats not manually put together like this?
wow. my head is still spinning !!! but the result is awesome.. i hope that the result is convincing when 2 or more VDB are in proximity. Thank you J.
Yea I'm hoping Epic makes an easier solution I was thinking it would be plug n play but of course not lol
thanks for taking the time to go through the material details, I followed along and it worked 1st time 👏 you rock 🤘
Thanks brother!
Great hanging out too 🤙🏾
Thanks for the work in sourcing all this! For anyone concerned with the dark black shadows in the volumes for things like clouds, I found that plugging in a new colour parameter to control emissive color (multiplied by the Density) seemed like a good workaround for me.
Thanks for the tip! 🤙🏿
Thx for the clear instructions, especially in the blueprint segment of the video. Please keep it up.
Absolutely, glad I was able to help! 🤙🏾
This is a great video! Very in depth. Also, for anyone who may not know. For ease of access if you right click on an input node and promote to parameter it will automatically name the scalar parameter.
Really appreciate the effort you put into this tutorial man. It was very helpful.
Thank you 🙏🏿
Be sure to check out my follow up tutorial I made it easier to drag and drop the material so you don't have to make it from scratch anymore
4:24 super minor hotkey shortcut, instead of 3 and covert to parameter you can just V+ left click and it will be the parameter version
Not long at all, huge thanks for this guide !
Thank you so much for your generous sharing of knowledge and expertise! You are an amazing teacher, and I so appreciate your selfless acts of empowering the rest of us, such as in this most informative video! It was just awesome, and I can't wait to feel like I actually know what I'm doing with VDBs in Unreal Engine. (I'm more than a little behind on this.) You're best!
Thanks so much
I actually most recently put up a video to make this process waaaay more easier be sure to check that out! ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=2ZJWczAuj576zlr4
so dope!!! thanks for making this, can't wait to give it a try.
No problem at all and have fun! 🤙🏿
Awesome help and tutorial...the channel that keeps on giving. Cheers for all your help.
No worries and thanks! 🤙🏿
My god that is insane! Blender chugs like heck when I use VDBs. I have a pretty darn good machine too. With character skeletons now compatible in Unreal, I may need to switch over there for rendering permanently.
I have a few friends that use blender and unreal together and make some amazing stuff
I love this video. Thank you so much. A perfect walkthrough
and I like the speed you move through your nodes at.
Thanks man I know it's alot of nodes so wanted to make sure I didn't just speed through it 🤙🏾
This is really cool. I used the OpenVDB plug-in with UE 5.1 a while back to get some custom cloud formations for the Volumetric Clouds object out of a smoke sim I did in Blender, but this is definitely easier. I wonder how hard it'd be to use the velocity property of the vdb to build a flowmap instead of using an animated VDB.
Also a couple tips:
You can hold down 's' on the keyboard and click in the material graph to create a scalar parameter instead of right-clicking and searching (you can also hold down '1' and click to make a Float Constant and then right-click and select 'Convert to Scalar Parameter').
You can override the Sparse Volume Texture in the material instance instead of duplicating the base material and changing it there and making another material instance.
Good stuff Winbush!
Thanks bro 🤙🏿
Thumbs up for your dedication, brother. I knew you would make a video about this.
Much appreciated you know I was on it once I saw the road map 🤙🏿
Thank you. I'm new to UE and this is awesome!
Have you checked out my unreal engine 5 in 5 days course of my channel? It's free
Awesome. Good tutorial
Thank you and your Frends so much for this Video! Hope i will can understand this node tree some day. For now i will just follow step by step. Very much thank you all ! 🙏
Yea honestly I don't understand most of it I was only able to get like 45% there so thank goodness for Thibault!
Awesome work, bro! Thanks for the share. This looks sick 🔥
Absolutely man and yes it's the real deal!
NOW! this is a real gamechanger!
I just wished the import worked better since its annoying to have to restore the volume to its original shape by scaling it by hand
Hmmm, my material of all that just shows up as a big thick vdb box, like a box of pure fog, instead of any discernible shape. I've found that not all VDBs are equal - one I'm testing is out of Blender, but ones out of Embergen and Houdini all act completely different. Any tips on if I can't get anything coherent to show up? Kind of weird to troubleshoot did node exactly as you've got it laid out, its just my VDBs that are atypical.
I had the same problem. Make sure when importing you have Smoke in the drop down menu of Attribute A > R. If you dont find smoke option there make sure you simulated it. In Max PhoenixFD you can check Grid Smoke in output. I hope this helps
this is really well explained ,thank you
Absolutely you are welcome 🤙🏿
Awesome! Can't wait to try this out!
It's a game changer for sure
Finally getting to test this but hit a wall. Around 2:00 you get the "Sparse Volume Texture Viewer", but it does't show up when I do the same search. Maybe I started off the wrong project type -Blank Video Production-?? Feeling like I'm missing something basic. Thanks in advance!
No problem I actually did a shorts answering just this question ruclips.net/user/shortsHX5WBMhn9KI?si=KlU65oLgz_5Zp3-2
Ouch! Thanks man @@JonathanWinbush
Dude AMAZIING!
Thanks! Be sure to watch my latest tutorial it's even easier now ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=RxmEUIMSbK8xcO2y
Hi! It worked but when I move away from the cloud for a certain distance it disappears, how can I fix this?
There are two RUclips channels where I hate myself for having my volume muted at the start of a video.
Doug DeMuro: "THIS..."
Winbush: "What up, what up..."
Keep doing what you do! Your videos are so great. I appreciate all the knowledge bombs you share with us.
Haha appreciate you brother! Now I gotta look up Doug I'm not familar with that channel
@@JonathanWinbush Doug is like the uncle of the youtube car community he's great haha
@@Bashyb Yup I looked him up pretty solid channel looks like he's been at it awhile too
Thank you for great tutorial!
I have just one quicktip for you :) Insted of making scalar parameter (S+LMB) you can just right click on small input circle (pin) and promote to parameter. It will create Scalar Parameter already named by the name of pin value type.
Can you make it appear in a specific frame? for example at frame 30?
yea I did a tutorial as well on how to animate it using the sequencer
Excellent guide, thank you
No problem at all 🤙🏿
Is there a way to save materials in a custom library like Asset Browser in Blender?
I think so but I'd have to check how
@@JonathanWinbush thank you
Great video. After trying VDBs in previous versions with plugin hacks it's great that it's being fully supported by Epic. Giving it a go right now!
Thanks buddy, I recently made it so that you don't have to build the VDB from scratch either you can just copy and past the material from here blueprintue.com/blueprint/94qjsm5v/
Hey winbush thank you for this amazing tutorial. As we know 5.3 is officially released and path tracer supports heterogenous textures can you please make a tutorial how to remder VDbs usimg movie render queue with path tracer again thak you for the amazing tutorials
I've been traveling around Korea and Chicago so when I get back I'll check it out!
Thank you!
Absolutely 🤙🏿
Very cool explanation!
Is it scene light interactive and pathtracer possible?
I haven't tested yet but in the road map they did show path tracer as being compatible portal.productboard.com/epicgames/1-unreal-engine-public-roadmap/c/1156-path-tracer
You can use them in pathtracer with console command for now:
r.Pathtracing.HeterogeneousVolumes 1
You are awesome.. thanks so much for this tutorial..😊
Thanks! Be sure to watch my latest tutorial it's even easier now ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=RxmEUIMSbK8xcO2y
The VDB master. Thanks a lot.
Couldn't have done it alone I have thoes people I mentioned to thank 🙏🏿
Thanks for the tut 😊😊Any idea how we could trigger the VDB animation in sequencer ?
I will have to try that and path tracing out next
@@JonathanWinbush I tried pathtracing without luck so far! No VDB in the render at all
Thanks for your video, i was wondering it there a way to put it in level sequencer and run it like with the plugin from before?
Yup I did a tutorial on how to use it in the sequencer as well 🤙🏾
@@JonathanWinbush already found it, thanks you
What's the go-to software these days for making VDBs for gases?
I'd say Embergen is probably top but I haven't tried Cinema 4D yet might have to see what it can do
@@JonathanWinbushcan you suggest me a cheaper option? 😂😂
Or free also im accepting.
Blender can be used to create VDBs?
@starvosxant4348 most 3d applications can make them now I believe
Hi Winbush thanks for making this, I noticed that the blackbody paramater doesnt really update anything, even on your screen, Only density works. Am I missing something? Also is the idea then to create a material instance for each cloud you want to use? Thanks
You can add a linear light or a rig of lights or do a 3 point lights. Copy paste the blueprint code for full control if you search on google ''Basic SVT Material in 5.3 preview (thanks to Thibault Lambert!)'' . Link the nodes to the material as shown in the video. Then play with the density, absorption and scattering parameters.
How can I apply a water material to the VDB imported? I'm tried to migrate a fluid VDB but it's all "cloudy"
any idea how to control it in sequencer?
My buddy here did a tutorial on it tell em Winbush sent ya 🤙🏾
ruclips.net/video/js2ZjYRvorA/видео.html
Hi! I'm tottaly new to UE, sorry for stupid questions)
But "sparse volume texture viewer" doesn't show up
Do I have to preinstall that script or something?)
Was easier to show but here you are ruclips.net/user/shortsHX5WBMhn9KI?si=ykg4agQekklZWbMm
Have anyone tried importing VDB's from Houdini to UE 5.3?
Having issues that when importing the VDB's it disappears from the project, when i change folder from one to another
- Another issue is that it can't be put into the "Sparse Volume Texture Preview"
make sure you export with _$F4.vdb and not .$F4 .vdb
Yes thank you we noticed that aswell! Should pin this tho - it gave me alot of headaches@@dadvfx
Great news - thank you.
No worries 🤙🏿
Hi thank yout for cool tutoriasl.. after applying material to HVolume it's blank though... any idea why? Do I need to install some plugin or so?
Shouldnt need a plugin in fact here is a easier way to set it up now ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=pIJPqUQX02Mpt3dE
I dont think you can put materials on it outside of what the volume has set for it. What kind of materials are you trying to place on it?
Hello, incredible information. A question, how can I add this to an animation sequence?
Yup I do have a tutorial on that as well 🤙🏾
@@JonathanWinbush Thank you very much this helps me a lot
@@gregoriocarreno absolutely no problem at all 🤙🏿🤙🏿
This is mind blowing, thank you so much for gathering this info together and working with the community. I can see this being great for static vdb,s especially for space nebula scenes.
As for animated, it seems like the material flickers near the end, I wonder if it’s a frame rate issue. Maybe if unreal engines fps was locked to 24 or 30 would it not flicker anymore.
Will it flicker if rendered in a level sequencer? What do you think?
I put this together quick so I didn't think to see what framerate the vdb was created in so that might make a difference as well. By default its set to 24fps in UE but I'm not sure what the actual vdb from embergen was created in. I'll def be doing more test
@@JonathanWinbush I’ll be right behind you with those tests. If I discover anything I’ll comment here and let you know. Thanks for paying it forward!
@@HandsomeDragon absolutely thanks man!
Do these work correctly (by occluding) transparent geometry rendered inside or behind it?
But what if your VDB actually has color channel information.. How could you work around that?
thank you!!😎✌
You're welcome 🤙🏾
Thanks brother 🤙🏾
i had to divide extents in half and multipy min by 2 for it to tile correctly
Actually there's an easier way now no setup needed ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=F0riO5P1FdbytT8A
Thank you so much for explaining this. I am trying to render snow from Houdini into UE 5 but mine does not animate, Would you happen to know a solution to this ? My snow is a vdb file.
VDBs in Unreal...I'm listening!
😁
Thank you for making this detailed tutorial. Is Niagara fluid sim better than VDBs? Thanks.
It would depend on the situation. Niagara fluids would be a lot more interactive in your scene think of VDB as more of a movie or sequence so theres not changing it at all once inside Unreal
@@JonathanWinbush Thanks for the answer, I'll take a look at Open VDB and test it out.
Thanks Sir!
Absolutely 🤙🏿
I noticed that when you scaled in on the VDB, you had a flicker on the animation at the time of playback, as if there were not enough frames, I have the same problem and I do not know how to fix it, do you have any ideas how to fix it?
I think the flicker was because of the viewport. If you see my renders in other videos I dont have any flickers when I render
i dragged my file in but i get a error message: File failed to import
Hi Winbush, thanks for this tutorial, i followed everything but on my sparse volume texture parameter its still in error. in my stats, it says missing input texture. Can you please help.
I have a more up to date and easier tutorial here ruclips.net/video/A3auSSKOAdw/видео.htmlsi=Z_83Ron39UgkW5tO
Amazing! Did you notice any flickering? Thoughts on how to reduce that?
Actualy I think that was just AA causing that in the viewport. But I am seeing a grid throughout the animation which is bizarre.
Whea are the projected Shadows????? in sparce volumetrics I culdn´t get them either
Gotta read the documents to see what is and isn't in this release there's still more to come in 5.4
nice overview on this VBD feature, just asking, is there a reason to duplicate the parent material and not just making a second instance for the explosion? i will definitely test on this when Epic release the stable.
Yup because when I tried to swap the vdb in the instance it didn't take for some reason so I had to do it this way. I'm sure this will be fixed in an update
Is it possible to make this intractable with the player or objects around it?
VDBs are just sequences so they are locked in.
You'd want to use Niagra particles for anything interactive in real-time
@@JonathanWinbush so there would be no possible way to export from houdini or embergen into a niagra particle system? unless its made from scratch in Niagra?
@@EthanMorales-e6u no anything interactive would have to be built within unreal particles system
@@JonathanWinbush all good, thank you so much for your help and videos there amazing!!
thanks alot
is it a way that we could work this is seq ?
Yup in the description I have my other tutorials linked and there's also an update where you don't have to make the material from scratch anymore
@@JonathanWinbush thank you so much for your time . Wish you the best
how to get rid of the grid at the beginning of the animation?
Why the simple cloud is stacked to be grey in color?
When I scatter on white becomes grey, when scatter is green it goes green.
Is like I can not get it to white cloud.. Any tip?
how to control the timing, the explosion has to be played back all the time?
Cluld you make an updated tutorial for 5.1 or 5.2 with path tracing render setting?
it's a 5.3 feature
@@JonathanWinbush thanks man!
@parthchotaliya3468 No worries. Now that im back I do plan on doing a path tracing tutorial though so stay tuned 🤙🏾
@@JonathanWinbush yes sure will do. Thank you for informing!
where are the shadows for the VDBs ?
for now you have to do it with path tracing but on the roadmap it shows shadow supporting coming in 5.4
Hey Winbush, this is awesome thanks! Any tips on where I can find free VBD's?
Yup embergen actually has a bunch of free vdbs you can use that's what I'm using here currently
@@JonathanWinbush Great! thanks
@@jbmocean399 found the link jangafx.com/software/embergen/download/free-vdb-animations/
@@JonathanWinbush You're a legend, thanks again man!
Is there a way to run the anim via Seuqeuncer? Right now I can only get it to loop
so for some reason my vdb is working properly along with the animation but it's only visible when I'm super close to the heterogenous volume actor in the world. otherwise it turns invisible. Any clue why this might be happening?
Might have something to do with the camera culling. Search in the docs for camera culling and some settings should pop up that might help
Hi, thank you so much for a quick reply. I think it could be distance culling. But I tried to adjust the min and max values in the LOD of heterogeneous volume and it still didn't work. Do you know anything I could follow to get this fixed? Thanks again@@JonathanWinbush
Ah, this is amazing. Thank you, Winbush! Do you know any option how to: 1. Have a motion blur for the VDBs on rendering? 2. Have shadows from the volume?
As of now you can only get shadows when using the path tracer I have a tutorial on that too as well
hi guys, i tried to drop and drag a VDB from jangafx and it comes up with a failed to import message. It wont even open the openvdb box. any idea why? im on a mac
You'd have to check if vdbs are supported on Mac I'm not sure myself
Only trouble I'm having is I can't seem to get that firey effect in my explosions. Adjusting the Blackbody and the Temperature seems to have no effect and everything stays gray. Any idea why this would be? (Density works fine)
Same issue here, i may have jumped on the VDB train a bit late, is this presented in a previous video ?
did you figured it out?
got the same issue
Sadly I haven't figured it out yet.@@nightmodedevelopment
Ok so it's related to which data is on which channel when you import a VDB. For example, the "midair explosion" temperature channel is on attribute B, channel R ,and the density on attribute A, channel R, so you have to tweak your material nodes accordingly. I don't know what to do with the Flame data tho.
Cool features and great video. Thank you for the walk through. Unfortunately It don't seem to cast shadows for now, like the plugin limitation or may be I'm wrong.
It's in phase 1 I'm sure more updates are coming
Hi! Is there a way to render the shadows of vdb while its hidden? It doesnt seem to work for me, I hope Im just too dumb to figure out, though I guess its a limititation... Thx for the answer
Shadows only work with the path tracer right now
@@JonathanWinbush yea sure, I know and I can render it (thanks to you:)), but what I mean is that I would like to render the shadows casted by the heterogenous volume while its hidden. I dont want to render the volume, just its shadows, I hope its more understandable. :)
I couldn't make the smoke as white as a cloud, do you have any ideas?
Maybe check some of my other vdb tutorials I did after might be something there but I mainly just play with the material attributes in the instance
Hey this is really amazing however I'm having issues with importing the VDB sequences into UE. 5.4 and also 5.3. not sure what I'm doing wrong. Im running a MacBook M2 Pro. Any help or workarounds available? Would really appreciate some guidance or help. All I wanted to create is a meteor from the pixellab 😭
Im not really familiar with the mac workflow I know unreal doesnt support all the features on mac or they come out later
Would you be able to explain the 8, 16, 32 bit options? Even if you don't know the specifics, do you know which one is better quality? Also, I seem be getting some flame that "licks" the top of the "bounding box" around the VDB. I don't see that happening in EmberGen when I am making the simulation.
I dont understand the full science behind it honestly but I bet Jason at Embergen would be able to break it down more eloquently as he's in this stuff all day. twitter.com/key_vfx
Thanks again!@@JonathanWinbush
Thank you
Absolutely 🤙🏾
Thanks Winbush! Do these react with lights now in 5.3? The big problem with VDBs before in UE5.2 is they would not be affected by point or rect lights, only the main directional light, which made them still unrealistic in UE compared to things like Octane.
I haven't tested it yet but have seen others using them with lights yea
5.3 added support for local lightsources like pointlights etc, still lacking skylight or oder indirect light though as far as I could tell
When i import my file it doesnt come up with any volume viewer. Please help been stuck on this for days no tutorial is helping :(
Only thing I can think of is it has to be unreal 5.3 and up
What did you use to author the VDB. Looks like when making one from blender that the attributes are different for both A and B which will probably change how the material is made.
Although the Sparse Volume Viewer had no issue showing it, but the material made here doesn't not show anything.
I did another one the other day that may help I showed how I made the VDB in Cinema 4d and Brought it into Unreal ruclips.net/video/9I2YHLwPCpI/видео.htmlsi=sLh-rgLIeYMTHhQN
I also made it easier to make the material so you don't have to make it from scratch each time ruclips.net/video/6mDarpFP2lM/видео.htmlsi=uxrSQlMR60J9hAi5
Are they performant enough to use in games? How much more performant are they vs using the old vdb plugin?
Yea Dylan has been testing them out in his game twitter.com/DylserX/status/1685096224150654976
could VDB effects be interactive like in niagara? like running trough fog? thanks!
It can't think of it like an image sequence
Has anyone found a way to have them cast shadows, along with receive bounce light/lumen bounce?
Only works with path tracing right now