About Prompt
- Prompt Type – Dynamic
- Prompt Platform – ChatGPT, Grok, Deepseek, Gemini, Copilot, Midjourney, Meta AI and more
- Niche – World War Realism
- Language – English
- Category – Ground FX
- Prompt Title – Trench Warfare Explosion VFX Prompt
Prompt Details
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### **Optimized Dynamic AI Prompt for Trench Warfare Explosion VFX**
This prompt is structured as a dynamic template. You can customize the variables within the `[brackets]` to generate a vast array of specific and high-quality Ground FX visuals. The structure is designed to guide the AI by layering details, starting with the core subject and progressively adding environmental, physical, and artistic context.
#### **Prompt Structure Breakdown:**
1. **Core Subject & Action:** The primary “what” and “where.” This establishes the scene’s fundamental elements in a clear, concise statement.
2. **Environmental Context:** The setting. This section grounds the explosion in a realistic and specific time and place, heavily influencing lighting, color, and atmospheric effects.
3. **Explosion Physics & VFX Details (The Ground FX Core):** This is the most critical section for your purpose. It breaks down the explosion into its constituent visual components, telling the AI exactly what to render for a realistic ground-level effect.
4. **Cinematic & Artistic Direction:** This layer controls the final look and feel, defining the shot, lighting, color palette, and overall style to achieve World War realism.
5. **Negative Prompts / Exclusions:** A crucial step to refine the output by telling the AI what *not* to include, preventing common mistakes and stylistic deviations.
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### **The Dynamic Prompt Template**
**(Copy and paste the following into your AI generation platform, replacing the bracketed text with your desired specifications.)**
**1. Core Subject & Action:**
Photorealistic VFX of a [Ordnance Type: e.g., German 77mm artillery shell, British Mills Bomb grenade, French mortar round] detonating on the ground. The explosion is tearing apart a section of a [Trench Nationality & Type: e.g., French forward fire-trench, German support trench, abandoned no-man’s-land crater].
**2. Environmental Context:**
The scene is set in [Location: e.g., the Somme, Verdun, Passchendaele] during a [Time of Day: e.g., bleak dawn, overcast midday, gloomy dusk, moonless night]. The weather is [Weather Condition: e.g., a relentless downpour, thick morning fog, light drizzle, humid and overcast]. The ground is a churned morass of [Ground Material: e.g., thick, wet mud, chalky soil, frozen earth] littered with [Trench Debris: e.g., splintered duckboards, ruptured sandbags, tangled barbed wire, discarded ammunition crates]. The air is heavy with [Atmospheric Element: e.g., smoke, mist, haze].
**3. Explosion Physics & VFX Details (Ground FX Core):**
* **Initial Blast:** A blinding, momentary flash of [Flash Color: e.g., white-hot, intense yellow-orange] light at the epicenter, low to the ground.
* **Ejecta & Debris:** A violent, upward geyser of [Ejecta Material: e.g., dark, heavy clods of earth, sharp rock fragments, chalky dust] is thrown high into the air. Observe high-velocity shrapnel—[Shrapnel Type: e.g., twisted metal fragments, splintered wooden shoring]—ripping through the immediate area.
* **Shockwave & Ground Interaction:** A visible, concussive shockwave radiates outward, kicking up a low-lying cloud of dust and debris. The ground heaves and cracks, forming a [Crater Description: e.g., jagged, fresh crater with smoking edges]. The impact should send ripples through nearby puddles of muddy water.
* **Smoke & Aftermath:** The initial flash is immediately followed by a rapidly expanding plume of thick, acrid smoke. The smoke is [Smoke Color & Texture: e.g., dense, oily black and grey, dirty brown and white] and clings low to the ground due to the wet, heavy air. Lingering [Aftermath Elements: e.g., glowing embers, small, isolated fires on wooden debris] are visible within the smoke.
**4. Cinematic & Artistic Direction:**
* **Shot & Framing:** [Camera Shot: e.g., Ground-level wide shot, low-angle medium shot, close-up on the crater formation]. The perspective emphasizes the raw power and ground-level destruction.
* **Lighting:** [Lighting Style: e.g., Naturalistic, dramatic chiaroscuro lighting] with the explosion itself acting as the primary, harsh light source, casting deep, long shadows. Volumetric lighting should catch the particles of dirt and mist in the air.
* **Color Palette:** Heavily desaturated and monochromatic. Dominated by a palette of [Color Scheme: e.g., muddy browns, deep greys, olive drab, charcoal black], with the brief, fiery orange of the explosion providing the only point of vibrant color.
* **Style & Realism:** Hyperrealistic, gritty, chaotic. Rendered with the detail and fidelity of a high-end cinematic VFX shot. Emulate the style of [Cinematic Reference: e.g., the film “1917”, “Saving Private Ryan”, a historical documentary still]. Achieve photorealism using techniques associated with Unreal Engine 5, Octane Render, high-speed photography, and motion blur on fast-moving debris.
**5. Negative Prompts / Exclusions:**
-avoid cartoony, stylized, or fantasy explosions
-no large, Hollywood-style fireballs (unless a fuel source is hit)
-no visible people, no clean uniforms
-no vibrant colors, no blue skies, no pristine landscapes
-no sci-fi or futuristic elements
-avoid perfectly symmetrical craters or smoke plumes
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### **Example Prompt in Practice**
Here is a practical example generated using the above template. This prompt is ready to be used and demonstrates how to fill in the dynamic fields to create a specific, evocative scene.
**(This is a ready-to-use prompt based on the template.)**
**1. Core Subject & Action:**
Photorealistic VFX of a German 150mm heavy artillery shell detonating on the ground. The explosion is tearing apart a section of a British forward fire-trench.
**2. Environmental Context:**
The scene is set in Passchendaele during a bleak dawn. The weather is a relentless downpour. The ground is a churned morass of thick, wet mud littered with splintered duckboards, ruptured sandbags, and tangled barbed wire. The air is heavy with mist.
**3. Explosion Physics & VFX Details (Ground FX Core):**
* **Initial Blast:** A blinding, momentary flash of white-hot light at the epicenter, low to the ground.
* **Ejecta & Debris:** A violent, upward geyser of dark, heavy clods of earth and sharp rock fragments is thrown high into the air. Observe high-velocity shrapnel—twisted metal fragments from the shell casing and splintered wooden shoring from the trench wall—ripping through the immediate area.
* **Shockwave & Ground Interaction:** A visible, concussive shockwave radiates outward, kicking up a low-lying cloud of mud spray and debris. The ground heaves and cracks, forming a jagged, fresh crater with smoking edges. The impact sends concentric ripples through nearby puddles of muddy water.
* **Smoke & Aftermath:** The initial flash is immediately followed by a rapidly expanding plume of thick, acrid smoke. The smoke is dense, oily black and grey and clings low to the ground due to the wet, heavy air. Lingering glowing embers are visible within the smoke where they’ve landed on wooden debris.
**4. Cinematic & Artistic Direction:**
* **Shot & Framing:** Ground-level medium shot. The perspective emphasizes the raw power and ground-level destruction, capturing the moment the crater is formed.
* **Lighting:** Naturalistic, dramatic chiaroscuro lighting with the explosion itself acting as the primary, harsh light source, casting deep, long shadows across the muddy terrain. Volumetric lighting should catch the particles of rain and dirt in the air.
* **Color Palette:** Heavily desaturated and monochromatic. Dominated by a palette of muddy browns, deep greys, olive drab, and charcoal black, with the brief, fiery orange of the explosion providing the only point of vibrant color.
* **Style & Realism:** Hyperrealistic, gritty, chaotic. Rendered with the detail and fidelity of a high-end cinematic VFX shot. Emulate the style of the film “1917”. Achieve photorealism using techniques associated with Unreal Engine 5, Octane Render, high-speed photography, and motion blur on fast-moving debris.
**5. Negative Prompts / Exclusions:**
-avoid cartoony, stylized, or fantasy explosions
-no large, Hollywood-style fireballs
-no visible people, no clean uniforms
-no vibrant colors, no blue skies, no pristine landscapes
-no sci-fi or futuristic elements
-avoid perfectly symmetrical craters or smoke plumes