Asteroid Explosion | VFX Shot

All PYRO and RBD elements were developed in Houdini FX and rendered with Mantra.
Compositing and Color Grading performed in Nuke Studio.

Check out this project's breakdown:

I used Copyright Free Models as a basis for my Asteroid and Missile, and a Space Spheremaps' HDRI as the background and environment light.

This project was born while I was studying at CG Spectrum. Taking the Advanced Houdini FX Course, I had to develop a Pyro Simulation through which I could explore some key concepts for these type of shots.

So I created this concept and, with the guidance of my mentor Ben Fox, I refined all the elements over the course of 3 months.

In the first stages of this project, I was going for a realistic shot. However, after some experimenting, I really digged the whole "Glowing Blue Asteroid" concept, so I decided to go all in with the stylized look, emitting blue smoke and a purple explosion! It definitely makes the shot more unique, while adding a very foreign nature to the Asteroid.

As mentioned above, this is just one of the projects I started during my studies (and it's the only one I've finished so far).
With that said, I'm currently working on many more, and I'm excited to share them all in a final and polished version once they are completed. But until then, if you're interested, here is my Draft Student ShowReel, that I update each time I render a new version of each project. 

Thank you! :)

(btw... technically, it's not an asteroid, it's a meteor... but it sounds better this way)