Houdini 20.5 Shelf tools

Simple Muzzle Flash shelf tool

Creates a visible blast from the the muzzle of a firearm during shooting.

On this page
Muzzle volume and ember in the viewport. Colorspace: ACES.
Muzzle volume and ember rendered with Karma. Colorspace: ACES.

Overview

This shelf tool sets up a simple pyro muzzle flash source, which is rasterized into a volume using volumerasterizeattributes1. Additionally, the tool generates a simple spark setup coming out from the muzzle.

Using Simple Muzzle Flash

  1. Click the Simple Muzzle Flash tool on the Simple FX tab.

  2. Select the location of the muzzle flash in the viewport.

Working with Simple Muzzle Flash

  • If you have a Houdini FX License, you can dive inside the solver and edit the subnet with custom DOP forces. Otherwise, you can stay at the SOP level and use the exposed parameters on the node.

  • This muzzle flash is not simulated, so it’s very quick to iterate. One tip to make the volume look like fast moving gas, is to enable Velocity Blur on the Volume Rasterize Attributes node.

  • The look of the muzzle flash is created using the pyrolook node. By enabling Scatter on this node, you can make the flash emit more light.

Shelf tools

Using the shelf

  • Customize the shelf

    How to change the look of the shelf, change and rearrange its contents, and create your own shelf tools.

Technical