Ornate Urn with Real-Time(ish) VFX

I was inspired to make this looping animation because I frequently pass by these ornate urns in Prospect Park, and thought it would be cool to combine these with some of my VFX work. I did so by replacing the plants with fire & an evil black sludge that loop back and forth – giving the piece a sinister energy.

The model was done originally in Maya and textured by hand in Substance Painter. The fluid simulation was sim'd in Houdini and the fires are a few sprite sheets rendered from EmberGen. The fluid was imported to Unreal as a Vertex Animated Texture (VAT) and the rest of the look and staging was completed in there, including the smoke and embers, which are Niagara Systems. Also, the audio is original and scored in Pro Tools.