Dragon Trainer Tristana VFX - Behind the Scenes

How do you make a cute, cartoony, 3D fireball that renders in real-time? I'll show you :^D As a bonus, here are 10 Design Tips from the League of Legends VFX Style Guide - bit.ly/3qGSgpA
More League of Legends VFX Breakdowns: bit.ly/3U9kJSm
The 5 Must-Know Artistic Principles of Video Game Visual FX - bit.ly/3BG5aKv
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[@semy28FGC]

This skin is beautiful in so many ways, it is almost ridiculous.

[@jimgordon4325]

I am going to buy this 100%. After the video, 200%. Why Riot?

[@PrideonTwitch]

You did an incredible job! I'll definitely be getting this skin for myself as a Tristana main. Animations are beautiful and fluid

[@Joe-dq5gq]

It's amazing how much work is involved in a simple but awesome animation. Good job!

[@Tsubx]

This is awesome. Tristana is my favorite ADC and this will be my 3rd skin for her. Thank you and the rest of the team for your work!

[@wuangelina]

I was so happy to see that you were going to be part of the Between Two Turrets series! You worked on my favorites, and this is just amazing to see. The animations are gorgeous!

[@ArcadeMasters]

So... you are the person i have been Trying to find that has made some of the best effects for skins in league of legends. You my friend are a legend.

[@SuperDoomSlayerness]

You literally make the best tutorials I have ever seen. I enjoy everything about them, even your voice is awesome! I just had this linked to me today by my friend and I am already blown away by the quality of your videos. Thank you!

[@FRStratos]

have been so excited for this skin as well as wanting to learn a little about animation and effects! this video was a treat! thank you!

[@brettstephens92]

thanks for putting this break down up, I really like how you've added the sprite sheets in the videos. I've been trying break into vfx and sprite sheets and overall shape design is my biggest folley, THANKS A TON!

[@ErequeFernando]

Man his work is incredible :D

[@dragodelchaos]

Wow, this was actually super cool and interesting to watch!

[@ThePiscesmMended]

this is why i spend money on a free-to-play game. we pay you guys, and the more we buy, the better product youll deliver because you have the time and resources to devote.

[@sweetcattv]

Your videos are so helpful because i have wanted to work with VFX for games for a long time, and i personally think league has the nicest VFX so it fun to learn so much from you on how they are made.

[@JohnzoGaming]

Loving this! Seeing how all these little pieces come together and appreciating all the stuff we don't get to see in-game when the action is too fast and hectic! Great work! Easily a new favorite skin! I'm picking it up and going to try my best to learn to play Trist now :P

[@ktm4059]

The ribbon trails were super interesting, I had no idea there was a way to mess with the settings in unreal so that you could get the front end to appear more bulky than the rest of the trail. I have only ever either stretched the material or had it change size for matching width and height like a rectangle would. Crazy awesome stuff!

[@Andrew24]

this is my favorite skin in the game, will buy it right when it comes out, its just so nicely made!

[@bachoo_kb]

im so glad riot shows the process of making skins, i'm defiantly gonna buy this amazing skin!

[@SntVal]

Man i enjoy these videos so much. I play them while i'm working on my hw. keeps inspiring me to work hard

[@adrianyup4197]

That was an amazing breakdown :D very helpfull will be using some of these tips in the future :D

[@LaizyLoveeDovee]

I immediately subscribed cause this is so cool! I totally love VFX and this is such a detailed job! Very cute too :]

[@wiz4rdo]

Oh wow, i didnt expected that mutch from a single Basic Attack :O ,woah its so cool what u all need that it looks so smooth and cute

[@CamoflaugeDinosaue]

Excellent stuff. Wish there were more breakdowns like this

[@TheBlundo]

I love the intro, pretending he didn't know we were watching this video he recorded on purpose to show us.

[@thisisDaKing]

Thank you so much for this, this is what im in college to learn how to do and i love watching videos from people at riot on either a speed art of the characters model (heimerdinger) or just how the visual effects are done, its beautiful and amazing to watch how its all put together thank you for all you've done this skin is amazing, i dont even play tristana but i plan on getting this skin( i have a problem i know)

[@Nitroglycerin1000]

My favourite of all skins on the rift, love it

[@ng1048]

Wow as superb as before!! So clever combining things together 5:04 including sun fire cape as well. I really appreciate your sharing!

[@thisisntreddit2477]

Wait you worked on this??? What the hell.. I watched your video “Alight” when it first came out when I was around 7 years old and it changed my perception of a few things in life, and I decided I wanted to be an animator. I’m still currently pursuing that path now in high school, and in my spare time I play my main, Dragon Trainer Tristana. I had no idea you created both “Alight” and my first main. Sir, I just want to thank you for contributing so much indirectly to my life. Your work still has me marvelling at what could be possible for me in the future.

[@lmz000]

Many thanks for sharing this! As someone who studies games it's beaultiful and inspiring to watch an awesome work!

[@rain51dbb]

One of the best skins in 2015. You must be really proud. INSTABUY

[@BrickBlockGames]

I really wish I could just buy a chocolate box to everyone who ever took part in making this, and an extra one to you for posting this incredible video. This skin is pure love :)

[@limelightmoon]

you make this look so simple XD. I just found your channel, and am going to start watching everything from the beginning thanks so much for sharing

[@SuperVoodude]

Love animating fire effects. Definately going to refer to this the next time I do a game jam. And only get one effect done D:

[@KotauFPS]

I didn't know these videos existed! This is so interesting!

[@jiratrello]

these videos are such a great reference - thanks!

[@BlizblobLP]

great work!

[@nobitanobi]

thanks so much for these! I always need to learn how to do 3D VFX!

[@FuriousFear]

likeable guy, very interesting video! keep it up, nice work (on both the VFX and the video)

[@Thundahgolem]

You guys are monsters for making Trist's death animation

[@camuswat]

this are really awesomes good Job man!

[@user-mz1vp8mv5q]

I love it!!!

[@randomstroke7026]

Awesome ! Thx for sharing)

[@sig3363]

This is gold

[@FilmingMachine]

Wow! Really great to see how it was made. Did you helped create the original skin too? What about her Rocket Jump? It seems something that might end up being hard to rig... All those amazing particles look great on her. Good job!

[@breXmovies]

really inspiring! thank you

[@leosavain00]

I liked the intro "Oh hey guys!"

[@staris7227]

All the job for this skin, i'll definitely buy it :3

[@LucasCAd]

Really cool, are there any video covering the character animation part? I would love to see how they made the squeeze and all :)

[@Test-iv4pm]

Can you give any insight into what effects / how many effects use this 2d image layering strategy in the game?

[@dippen]

Looks good!

[@jimgordon4325]

You're on pretty much every LOL video. WTF?

[@Hoigwai]

Is there something in game that alters the shape or bends the tiles to give the fireball a less flat appearance? Is there an actual 3d object these are placed over?

[@Floofffy.]

And I thought my lovely Pool Party Lulu was the cutest thing I've ever seen, such an overload ;w;

[@NikolaNiKucu]

I was browsing through some fan animation videos for league.. and somehow, dunno how.. I stumbled upon your channel. It's too little to say that I now am really glad that happened ^^ Very informative and detailed work! Now I certainly have a whole lot of respect for even those tiny little bits of arts that make something as short as this fire breathing animation Do you also get to work on League splash art animations, like i.e. the one Tristana has for login screen? Or things like those animated videos for League of Legends.. don't know if those jobs are for some other teams? I can't find the credits for those videos to see which people worked on them :|

[@sig3363]

I suspect he isnt involved on Splash Arts by any means. Look for Trent Kaniuga, I know he got to work on Riot and made a concept art for a Wukong skin. Underworld Wukong, something like that.

[@steffen4067]

great!

[@DavonAllen92]

i want to thank you for showcasing this incredible work. you've helped me wrangle my understanding on particle effects a lot better. If you don't mind, i have a question regarding how your actually stretching the card for the fire flip book effect. is that done in an external 3d program as vertex animation. or is the particle system controlling some kind of stretch over time parameter?. i'm using unity to do some test and have been looking for replicating some of your parameter changes to learn how to control my effects in various ways but i seem a little limited.

[@wiekentingel]

+Jason Keyser How much time does this animation take to make? Like just the missile

[@maxsamarin9002]

What's the difference between Additive and Alpha Blended shaders? Also Alpha Blended Premultiply? Additive I think I understand, it just adds a color to whatever is behind the particle?

[@Sl4y3rGR]

That was really interesting to watch. I have one question though (since i have never thought of it to notice in the game). Does the flare at ~11:50 scale with attack speed? And the next glow aswell?. Actually is anything connected to attack speed or are they locked and play at the same speed all the time?. Thanks for this breakdown.

[@birb9254]

Does anyone know where I can learn making those decals or images in the bottom right that he used?

[@avarium462]

awesome skin, thanks for the insight! any chance for more of this kind of videos in the future? :D

[@saintshing]

I didn't know the particle effects are 2D(are all of them 2D? what about lissandra w hit effect). Would it look weird at some angle(I thought there are tools that let you change the camera angle when watching replay)?

[@yorchmr3603]

WTF i want more of this videos, like...ALL OF THEM!!! T_T where cna i find more btw thx a lot for this :D insta-subbed

[@ivanchiu7181]

I just have 1 question, what is your favorite design that you have made? (kind of like your masterpiece)

[@DreadPyke]

Beautiful skin Jason, I love videos featuring this kind of insight into champion/skins development! I'd love to go into this line of work, but I'm studying Electronic Engineering atm :(

[@DreadPyke]

+Jason Keyser Where would you recommend absolute beginners like me to start off with? Flash?

[@gamongames]

the way you multiply textures together. do you if there's a way to do it in unity? which terms should I search for?

[@adelina3333]

Shader Graph in Unity is perfect for that job, just create unlit shader, open it, import your 2 texture, multiply them together with a multiply node and plug them in the color slot :)

[@Chokury]

Is it possible to do the Trail in Flash? i mean the ''zigg-zagg'' stretch :o

[@Koenraedus]

Hey Jason, nice video. I really enjoyed to watch something explained in depth I normally take for granted. I got a question for you, or any one else who knows. Why do you animations consist of a square number (1, 4, 9 and 16) of images? I'd expect most thing in computer world to be powers of two, or maybe this is just a coincidence. =]

[@parkhisaini3530]

Does Riot use vfx graph and shader graph OR particle system and manually write shaders for creating vfx

[@matrixpunk]

I like all of your breakdowns and effects, can you show next time an effect with meshes ? Like in your first Videos.

[@ronnieclosterman]

interesting that this is all 2d. I was expecting more of it to be 3d! are all vfx animations in league 2d?

[@user-nb9vo6vz6f]

맙소사 당신은 신이십니다.

[@EvgenySeregin]

Hello, Jason. Can you make tutorial about drawing animated sprite sheets, like fireball in this video? Im working as vfx artist a few years and create effects as you show in this tutor. But my hand draw skills need to grow. And Im very interested in hand drawn animation techniques. Explosions, splashes, smokes etc. Thanks!

[@paulsovushkin1532]

cool!

[@LucaNav]

this skin is

[@LucaNav]

+Jason Keyserc It seems that pay off all the hard work. This skin is the most cute by far on the game. I love your videos Btw. When I first saw the skin I noticed the flame and all that small details on the basic hit that you talked about. Great Job

[@Sunderland85]

this kind of videos are pretty interesting. I wonder why riot doesnt promote it better, Im sure lot of people would watch them

[@smou1328]

I have a question regarding the glowy flashes. Do you actually displace them towards the camera to make sure the plane dosent clip or is it a change in the render setting?

[@smou1328]

+Jason Keyser Thanks for that quick response! I'm always struggling which way to go when i it comes to these cases. But i guess the way you do it in League is more intuitive.

[@poosay1939]

What program do you use i need it for collage psl tell

[@TheNinngi]

THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@SlashXel]

can you do something about Kassadin's Blade? It really bugs me alot that its like a hole that moves over a painting. I mean can you give it some animation similar to master yi Wuju Style on his sword and make kassadin blade as energy blade like the Raziel's Reaver from Legacy of Kain? I mean projectiles that are in motion dont need much animation but things like kassadin blade they are not all that much in motion since kassadin wouldnt do anything

[@icebollero]

I have a confusion here 2:12 is that a tileset or particles?

[@hungly35]

This is very interesting, i remember when Riot release the Xerath abilities process too. Would this VFX is like the same thing as Xerath VFX rendition? Also, is there a different if the effect include a object, for example mundo cleaver throw. Does that just mean that there is a low poly cleaver and just animate the VFX when it hit?

[@hungly35]

***** I see, was this one done in Flash or is there a program that is mainly for VFX?

[@Juusokakku]

Hi, just a quick question: How big do you generally make your sprite sheets? In your experience, what is the maximum acceptable texture size for a single effect in an online game? Thanks in advance if you see this, love your videos!

[@draganuljicni4636]

i think that 2048x2048px is enough for it..

[@konrad7609]

which program is it?

[@Alberto-1994]

Bro league of legends vfx could export to c4d?

[@WillsThoughts]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!

[@KaiHydra]

I wonder, why did you make it so that the shot looked like it pierced through the enemy, rather than deflecting around them?

[@KaiHydra]

I dont really mean engulfed, let me use an example. When you have a bullet hitting metal from a curved angle. the bullet causes sparks to appear. when it comes to a dragon that would use fire, it hitting an enemy would make me thing that the flames would deflect or go past the person because the flames go around the person. because of the fact that the force is coming from an angle and when it would hit an object it would go around it because it couldnt use the object as fuel and by they way of nature it would go around it. I hope you understand.

[@kaeyse]

Some of the FX are pretty oldsql, just because of the nature of the engine. Imagine if League of Legends was based on a Unreal Engine, wich would provide dynamic lighthing and other hdr settings so an particle would actually affect the surroundings of the terrain and the character model. Right now its a neat little trick to give the feel of dynamic lighthing with those images and glowing. On the other hand its prolly the same reason as to why League of Legends can be played on older generation Pc's.

[@ihavecrabs56]

are there any champions/skin lines youd like to work on in the future?

[@bee-exe]

+Jason Keyser We need 100 more Bittersweet skins, like right now.

[@leet137]

i wish there was a nice lee sin or ezreal son goku with particles and everything.

[@tetianakoba3398]

Hello, Jason. Was it Maya? And the phases of vfx are poligons or the textures itself put in Maya?

[@tetianakoba3398]

Thanks for explanation :) Jason, can you also clearify how do you make each poligon with a picture of fire transparent - I mean we see fire on poligons without color background. Were the textures saved in png format or there's some special mode in Maya like multiply? Thanks for the answer)

[@tipi5367]

Jason Keyser im confused so youre making a flat polygon in maya like a plane with some subdivs. Then you bring it into your engine to project the textures on to? So animating the polygon left to right to show the fireball moving? Could you do something like this in maya alone just as practice or how would something like this be done in unreal if you have any references. Im a big fan of your work! And i follow your pinterest vfx references haha. Great resource! Im a complete beginner and am trying to wrap my head around this. Having a hard time making anything--

[@skidush4606]

Where's Dragon Master Swain tho?

[@ZachRLabbe]

Appropriate Pantheon skin to accompany this video.

[@exiledrabbit]

"Oh, hey guys!"

[@aaabbb-lq9cp]

that's gbay99 in the future

[@MrJoBilly]

Thr skin is really nice. Just the smile on the splash looks kinda off imo :X

[@calvintuano557]

i got a dragon trainer tristana skin shard and i reroled it with perm skin and got diana skin... i regret my decision now..

[@Jinetee]

Which one Phanteon skin is that?

[@Zaphod_]

+Cristian Vieri Dragon Slayer Pantheon

[@KimiRaikkonen123]

No pun intended

[@Folder]

"how to get fire" days in the studio to make a mix tape? xD lol

[@TahaMVP]

please tell the team to start on a yasuo skin i have a feeling you can do a masterpiece with yasuo

[@PandaTheGFX]

So, today we are going to learn how the animation of a spaghetti works