I was tasked with creating an effect where snow would fall from tree branches when the player passed nearby.
After testing several approaches, including real-time simulations, the directors favoured a solution using an RBD simulation created in Houdini and imported into Unreal Engine via VAT (Vertex Animation Textures). The animation played through two materials triggered by collision events. As the animation was pre-baked onto small textures and used static meshes rather than skeletal meshes, this method proved to be both cost-efficient and visually convincing.
Special thanks to the talented team at Ballistic Moon, particularly Son Nguyen, for their outstanding work on the tree and snow models.
Interaction with branches in "Until Dawn Remake".