GeoJSON reader

 Takes in a geojson file and draws out all countries with a unique color in Houdini by using a Python SOP

File IO - Name Generator

Gets an input from a file that contains rules to name a file. When a file needs to be names using the naming convention, the provided prefix and suffix are added and displayed. The user can also add custom rules. Class handles all exceptions so the program never crashes

Cannon bake

 

Common Art - VFX and Post Processes

Wizard of Oz level VFX and Post Processes

 Worked on creating a toon shader for the game and adjusting post process filters. The image below shows final scene with post processing

This image is of the scene without post processing 

I also worked on finalizing VFX for the scene. Refined the slash VFX (Left) and recreated the scratch VFX (Right) 

Toon shader before and after: 

Before

After

Adding scratch meshes to source folder

Inheritance in Houdini

Shape created using Boolean operations of Cubes and Cylinders. Both shapes are child classes of the CSG class which is a child class of the Geometry class

Containers containing each object

Layout of each object

Perforce proof: 

Cannon Sculpt

 

Common Art - VFX, Lighting and Optimizations

 Recreated lighting in the scene to optimize lights while achieving the look

Updated Axe Slash VFX. Added depth to the slash by adding more mesh renderers and added sparks during the spring

Light Optimizations - Light Overlap Before

Light optimizations after: No heave overlaps in the level.

Additionally, I removed excess assets that are not in the level area (present in the Level designer's larger level), and removed unwanted fire VFX that were adding to the lighting contributions

Most meshes in our level were set up was dynamic mesh actors that influence performance. Since we don't need dynamic mesh actors for our environment I converted them to static meshes

All these optimizations helped improve overall performance. The pictures below show the performance difference before and after. Major improvements in Frame time, GPU time and Input times. The number of draw calls and primitives in scene are also reduced

All edits were made in engine and were pushed to perforce

Classes and Operator Overloading in Houdini

 

Cannon Sculpt