edit: I posted this on the UE4 forums, which would probably be more appropriate.
Right; so I created a "what if, this would be cool" thread in the general section about Sharknado in VR. But don't get me wrong, as I have been longing for a tornado type of system for a pretty long while. Something like the video I'll link below, but a bit more, substantial, I guess.
I've been reading up on doing this type of effect, however, it seems that it all comes down to sprites and emitters; and we all know how good sprites are in VR 😐
So, after a bit of research, I came up with using vector fields, but again, too resource intensive for the amount of particles that would be needed. Then I came upon someone wanting a krakatoa plugin for UE4. I've heard of that 3dsMax plugin before, but never really invested time into researching it.
Anyways, after looking at their website, they have a plugin called Frost:
"Thinkbox Software" wrote: FROST is a compound geometry object for 3ds Max that can be used to generate a single mesh from particles, vertex clouds, object positions, point data files or a combination thereof using various iso-surface and geometry cloning techniques.
So I can take particle effect from Krakatoa or FumeFX(?), convert it into an animated mesh using Frost, and then export it as an FBX. In UE4, take the animated FBX, add to it a radial force actor, and boom, we have a tornado.
Any ideas if this would work? I'm thinking I might have to save up a bit of money for the plugins (not cheap!), so would like some insight if this might be doable.
