Tan Zi Jian
Houdini simulation · Compositing · AI finishing
Procedural, physics-based effects built in SideFX Houdini and finished in After Effects. When a shot needs to move faster than a full simulation allows, I use a Houdini render as a control rig and let generative AI handle the final look.
VFX Reel
A large-scale naval artillery shot: muzzle blasts, shock-driven smoke and the ocean response around the hull, simulated as coupled Pyro, FLIP and whitewater systems.
Rendered as separate Mantra passes so the fire, smoke and water could be balanced in comp.
A rooftop explosion with a trailing smoke column, composited into locked-off tripod footage of an apartment skyline. The explosion and smoke were simulated in Houdini and composited in After Effects, with handheld camera shake added in post so the final shot reads like a phone recording.
A film-style aerial ocean shot delivered in one day. Instead of days of FLIP caching, a lit Karma render of the ship and camera move acted as the guide for an AI video pass, which kept the camera and animation locked while generating the water and smoke.
A quiet suburban night plate turned into a house fire, with the interactive firelight on walls, windows and ground handled as a relighting problem rather than a paint-over.
A mock brief set up as an exercise: a last-minute product placement change where the car in a moving drone shot has to become a different model without a reshoot. Solved with AI generation, tracking and compositing.
A procedural recreation of the Joseon-era rocket barrage from Noryang: Deadly Sea (2023). A volley of rocket arrows instanced procedurally, with VOP-driven propellant trails.
A high-viscosity FLIP chocolate pour with procedural surface texturing, composited into live-action stock plates for a brand spot.