Arashi Nectar

Year

2019

Role

3D Designer
Animator
FX Artist
Compositor

Synopsis

A bisected capsule wedges itself between opposing slopes. The capsule unfurls to reveal its inner layers while video of a mouse giving birth plays on the screens around it.

Tools

Houdini
Redshift
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe After Effects

Process

For this exploration of excess, I began building the nested capsule using VDB volumes in Houdini. I used recursive networks to erode away the surface and cut away the interior of each band. As the geometry for each layer was created, I generated the solid grain representation, so that each piece could touch one another but be simulated as independent sheets.

The grain representations were then simulated falling into the wedge collider using the Houdini grain solver. The collision structure was designed for the capsule to fall onto and unfurl to reveal its inner layers. The physical implications of the wedge's form express themselves as the base of the capsule becomes squeezed and pressurized while the top is free to unfurl and settle comfortably.

Fluid Simulation

Like a fruit, when squeezed the capsule secretes juice from its tissues, with the nectar of its escense released by pressure and violence. A thick viscous fluid simulation was necessary to convey the proper chemical composition and temperature of the nectar in question.

The areas between the layers were isolated to act as emmision geometry for the nectar simulation. Houdini FLIP simulation was used to simulate a vicous sweet nectar oozing from the inner layers upon reveal. FLIP fields were then filtered and meshed for rendering.

Rendering was done using Redshift.