Create a 3D Blast Effect with Blender's Grease Pencil 💥

Combining 3D and 2D to Create an Anime Blast

Overview: In this tutorial, we will be combining a 3D object with 2D elements to create an anime blast. We will be using a pre-prepared file that has a halftone shader already set up, as well as a point light and a baked down simulation. We will also be adjusting the cube size and cascade size of the shadows to get the desired effect.

Lighting Setup

• Add a point light to the scene and adjust the power to 200.

• Adjust the radius of the light to get the desired effect.

• Switch to rendered viewport shading to see how the light is affecting the model.

Shadow Adjustments

• Go to the render properties and increase the cube size and cascade size to get better shadows.

• Increase the viewport shading and render shading if your computer can handle it.

Halftone Shader

• Select one of the objects and give it the halftone texture.

• Adjust the settings to get the desired effect.

Halftone Shader Troubleshooting

Overview: This section covers troubleshooting the halftone shader in 3.4 or 3.5 beta.

Replacing the Color Mix Node

• If the halftone shader isn't working, select the node group and tab in to view the node network.

• The color mix node may need to be replaced with a version that works in the particular version.

Adjusting Resolution and Angle

• Increase the resolution of the dots.

• Adjust the angle to create an anime effect.

• The dot size is affected by the intensity of the lamp.

Adding Color

• Add a blue or yellow tinge to the light.

• Increase the intensity for smaller dots.

Adding Line Art Modifier

• Add a line art modifier to get lines on the cracks.

• Select the scene collection and add a lines layer.

• Adjust the intensity and depth offset.

• The line work will appear in front of any object with the viewport display.

Painting a Blast

• Use default brushes to paint a blast.

• The line art modifier animates along with the object.

• Turn off the viewport display to keep the line work on the surface.

• Adjust the depth offset to fix any errors.

Drawing a Blast with Grease Pencil

Overview: This section covers how to draw a blast using the Grease Pencil tool in Blender.

Drawing the Blast

• Select the Grease Pencil object and give it a name.

• Select the draw tool and choose the marker chisel brush. Set the color attribute to white.

• Draw a random blast, adjusting the radius as needed.

• Spin around and draw lines in any angle desired.

• Make sure lights are not enabled, as this will affect the glow.

• Switch to edit mode and adjust the thickness of the stroke.

• Create a circle for the blast radius and assign a new material.

• Move the circle to the desired position and scale it up.

• Duplicate the circle and move it up in the Z direction.

• Select the points and use the proportional editing tool to adjust the shape.

Blast Effect

Overview: This section covers the steps for creating a blast effect using the Grease Pencil tool in Blender.

Creating the Blast Effect

• Use the Grease Pencil tool to draw circles and lines to create the blast effect.

• Add a glow effect to the Grease Pencil object.

• Adjust the glow settings, such as size, color, and threshold.

• Duplicate the blast effect and rename it "smoke".

• Select a different material for the smoke layer and adjust the draw settings, such as pencil type, hardness, jitter, and radius.

• Erase the smoke and draw it in randomly around the scene.

• Move the lamp to the scene collection and duplicate it to light the scene.

Creating an Animate Blast Effect

Overview: In this video, the speaker demonstrates how to create an animate blast effect with 2D objects in 3D space interacting and intersecting with 3D objects.

Creating the Blast Effect

• Begin by creating a half tone shader.

• Tinker with the resolution and intensity of the half tone shader.

• Frame-by-frame animation of the blast is recommended for animators.

• Adjust the half tone shader, 2D drawn blast, and shading to achieve the desired effect.

Conclusion

• Links to the working file and CG Cookie website are provided in the notes below.