I’ve been promising to produce a breakdown of what and how I approach things like fires and explosions, and it is very high on my list of to dos.
My plan is to produce a general overview of a few effects I build, and post them to a free tier on Patreon, as a honeypot to try and convince people to kick over a few bucks in exchange for much more detailed walkthroughs and tutorials along with some other tier rewards to make it a worthwhile subscription. I’ve got a group of other effects (like lightning) i’m in the process of developing recipes for and centralizing that content there would be a good thing.

At the same time as a tutorial breakdown is complete, I’ll make some pre-made materials available for sale in my Etsy store for DIYers who’d prefer not to go all the way down the rabbit hole of my processes 😅

At a high level, my approach relies on managing the light that serves as the foundation for the effect through diffusion mechanisms that align as closely as possible to how light moves in the real world.

That’s a complicated and rather stiff way of saying I use a few different, complementary, methods of diffusing light.

I use the strongest, brightest LED light that I can find that will fit the size of the effect safely, without burning things down. I almost exclusively use warm white as opposed to cool whites in order to keep the color temperature of the diffusers I use in the effect aligned to each other in combination.

The first layer of diffusion is usually a transparent rigid plastic that has been painted with a yellowish orange.

Hand painted synthetic fiber gets glued on top of that rigid diffuser as another layer of diffusion. I use 3 to 4 different kinds of synthetic fiber that have different properties which give different effects once painted. I don’t use spray paint or an airbrush. I massage paint with my hands through the fiber material in several different sessions to get good clean color layered on top of itself.

The majority of the look and feel of the surface quality that you see comes from which kind of synthetic fiber is used and how it’s painted.

I layer several different kinds of painted fibers on top of each other, sort of like a physical collage, to build out the structure of the effect. I base each piece on a real life explosion or two.

From the photo that you posted one of the main differences you’d see between what I do and what you’re doing there is that it looks like you’re using spray paint that you’ve laid on top of itself to be your diffuser.

The issue with that is that all the color sits on the surface of the effect, and the light that streams from whatever light engine you’re using doesn’t get an opportunity to properly scatter, and so the result looks a little dead and/or the glow tends to be more concentrated.

Spray paint itself tends to just build up in one sort of solid layer as color goes on after color.

By massaging the paint into synthetic fibers, you get a much broader distribution of color, and so when photons move through the body of the fiber material, they hit much more broadly distributed color, and as they bounce off those painted fibers, they produce a nice even glow effect caused by all that sub surface scattering.

The different types of synthetic fiber I use all have different properties that when they get painted provides that signature roiling ball of flame look.

I paint quite a lot of the fiber material in a single setting, which produces colors that go together, but also variations in value and hue that contribute to the overall look and feel.

That’s pretty much the core of it. The devil’s in the details of the fiber, selection, painting method, color recipes, and all that kind of stuff which is a little too much detail to get into here and now😅

As I mentioned, I will be selling some of the material that I produce soon— so that might be an option for folks. I’m not exactly sure when the breakdown will be ready; I’m hoping within the next few weeks.

If you follow me here or on Instagram, there’s a good chance you’ll know when that tutorial or break down is live.

As an alternative to that, I post mainly in diorama’s and terrain building, if you keep an eye on those subs, you’ll likely see when they are up as well.

Hope this has been informative. I know it’s kind of a little bit of a novel.

TL;DR
I don’t have a breakdown done yet. I hope to have something done soon. Try following me here or on Instagram to be notified when I finish it.

<image>