Star Citizen - Acidic Caves

Hello!
The Acidic Caves were introduced in the 3.24.2 content update and represent the first full cave archetype I had the chance to contribute to; from early RnD, assets creations, tool development to in-game placement. My role focused mainly on the environment side: I worked on flowstone and water stream tools (in Houdini), generated the cave shells with our in-house tools, dressed the environments, handled the technical setup, and placed them into the game world after it's ready. It’s been amazing to see players enjoying these caves—I’m quite proud of this one :)
The creation of this cave was a huge team effort, involving many talented members of the CIG art teams. A big thanks to Sebastian Schroeder for supporting the cave shell generator tools and adding procedural pools to the archetype and a huge shoutout to the CIG Organic team for their valuable feedback and guidance in developing the visuals for this cave archetype.

https://www.artstation.com/sebastiansch
https://www.artstation.com/maxikeilich
https://www.artstation.com/danielperes
https://www.artstation.com/niklasrueffler
https://www.artstation.com/miroxs
https://www.artstation.com/hyunjungchoi
https://www.artstation.com/taurian
https://www.artstation.com/g-sev
https://www.artstation.com/adam_williamson
https://www.artstation.com/charlinewegria

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Based on the concept we received, we knew we needed to create an asset kit with a flowstone look—those “bar”-like, organic surfaces such as stalactites, stalagmites, and everything in between.
To achieve this, I developed a Houdini tool that takes simple geometry inputs and generates the assets we needed. The tool distinguishes between stalactites (hanging, long-spike formations) and stalagmites (rising from the floor, formed by mineral residue from dripping water above), among other settings that users can change.
The tool works in a simple but layered way: its main input is only a simple geo. based on the selected mode (stalactite or stalagmite), it adds randomized lines that extend downwards. The lines can be adjust to go inwards (in exponential ways) to mimic the forms of the flowstones. These lines are then converted into mid-sized tubes, which in turn spawn smaller tubes and supporting details, creating a natural, layered effect. later on it blended together as a vdb and added noisiness in the small scales and medium scales (see the last screenshots).
One of the challenges creating these asset kit was ensuring the assets weren’t overly complex. like, stalagmites don’t need many long spikes underneath, and stalactites don’t need overly detailed tops. Another important aspect was making sure the asset kit could generate visually interesting combinations when assembled together.
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This is the first part of the acidic caves. Please check out my second post too!
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/WXVzX3

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Art Direction: Ian Leyland
Environment Art Lead: Sebastian Schroeder
Environment Art: Hasbi Adenan, Maximilian Keilich, Niklas Rüffler, Hyun Jung Choi, Daniel Peres, Lukáš Chovanec
Lighting Art: Chris Campbell, Giuliano Severitano, Adam Williamson, Ashok Kumar, Charline Wegria
Vfx: Ricardo cruz
Sfx: Jack hicks, Alexis smith
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