Sunday, November 26th, 2023 Posted by Jim Thacker

Download three free smoke and explosion VDBs from ActionVFX


Stock effects site ActionVFX has released three free VDB files of a gas explosion, a smoke plume and a meteor, along with a Blender shader set-up than can be used to render them.

The single-frame files have been made available as free samples from Action VFX’s new 3D asset library, along with three free 3D models of bullets and shotgun shells.

Part of a new library of 3D assets from the stock effects website
Although best known for its stock FX clips of effects like fire, debris and lightning for compositing into VFX or motion graphics projects, ActionVFX has been branching out recently.

The firm recently launched a free online library of stock footage aimed at students learning visual effects, and has now launched a commercial online library of 3D assets.

As well as conventional 3D models like vehicles and weapons, it includes volumetric assets like smoke and explosions in VDB format, and animated effects in Alembic format.

Free .vdb files of an explosion, smoke plume and meteor, plus a Blender explosion shader
The three free VDBs come from the Pyro and Smoke and Fog sections of the library, and comprise a gas explosion, a smoke plume and a meteor trail.

Being in VDB format, they can be imported and rendered in most modern DCC applications.

Blender users also get a readymade shader set-up, shown in the video above, which can be used to shade any smoke or fire asset by swapping out the free files for other VDBs.

The free assets are invidual files rather than VDB sequences, so they’re for static images rather than animated sequences, although you can create material animations with the shader.

ActionVFX has also released three free models of a shotgun shell and 9mm and .223 assault rifle bullets, which can be downloaded from the Weapons section of the library.

License and system requirements
The Blender VDB shader is compatible with Blender 4.0. The sample files are compatible with any DCC application that can import .vdb files. The files are licensed for commercial use.

Download the free Blender VDB shader and sample VDB files from ActionVFX


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