AAA
Rocket Launch
EXPLORATIONS
This project was developed as a fully procedural rocket launch system inside Houdini, focused on physical accuracy and simulation control.
The rocket was simulated as a single point located at the thruster base. All motion was force-driven. Linear velocity was calculated from gravity, thrust, wind, and quadratic drag. Rotational behavior was derived from torque and angular velocity instead of direct orientation alignment. The simulation ran inside a SOP Solver with clearly separated stages for force accumulation, angular dynamics, and orientation integration.
A thrust vector control system was implemented to simulate gimbal correction. Corrective torque was calculated dynamically to stabilize ascent and respond to wind disturbance. The goal was to create a controllable physics framework rather than a guided animation.
The effects pipeline included multiple simulation layers:
Thruster Core was built as a custom particle system, shaped and directed to maintain high-energy structure during lift-off.
Rocket Exhaust Smoke and Fire were simulated using Pyro.
Breaking Ice around the launch structure was simulated using RBD.
Smoke from Ice Fractures was simulated with Pyro to add atmospheric interaction.
Foreground Trees were simulated using Vellum to react to wind.
Each system was designed to remain modular and art-directable. Core parameters such as thrust strength, wind intensity, torque limits, and drag coefficients could be adjusted without restructuring the setup. The result is a scalable procedural launch framework built for technical control and physical credibility.