Combustion (fire, smoke, explosions, debris, dust)

Paint fire, smoke, explosions, dust, and debris as physical events with volume, stages, and integrated lighting.

What it is

Paint burning, breaking, and drifting elements so they follow physical behavior. This includes flame tongues that taper, smoke that billows and thins, and dust that hangs and settles. Examples include campfires, torches, burning buildings, muzzle flashes, impact smoke, dust in sunlight, explosion plumes, and shockwaves.

Treat each effect as a layered volume. Fire can include a bright core, color shifts, and a soft outer glow. Smoke can form thicker, darker rolls near its source before breaking into lighter wisps. Explosions can combine a hot flash with slower smoke, fragments, and lingering dust. Use shape, edges, and opacity to show these stages.

Control color temperature and value within each effect. Flames can shift from white-yellow at the hottest points through oranges and reds into dark, sooty edges. Smoke can become lighter and bluer as it mixes with air. Dust is often mid-value and low contrast, catching light on upper planes and fading into the background. Keep these effects within the scene’s lighting and color relationships unless the reference requires otherwise.

Why it matters

This skill helps effects support action, depth, mood, scale, and atmosphere. Weak control can make fire look soft and uniform, smoke look like brush marks, or explosions feel flat and weightless. It can also make effects overpower the scene or sit outside its lighting and color.

You can check it when

✓Paint a torch, campfire, and building fire at different scales, with shared physical behavior and distinct shapes.
✓Show an explosion through separate stages: an initial flash, a rising fireball, and expanding smoke and dust that connect as one event.
✓Point to where smoke and dust are thickest, where they thin, and which direction force or air movement carries them.
✓Check that each effect’s brightness, color, and contrast match the scene’s lighting and surrounding colors.

Combustion (fire, smoke, explosions, debris, dust)

What it is

Why it matters

You can check it when

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