Chocolate Teddy Bear Melting

I made this project in order to create a melting effect.

The idea was to have a piece of chocolate in a room that starts melting. It was clear to me very early in the project that it would happen in a kid's room. A child forgot about their sweets, and it starts to melt in the middle of a circle of toys. I quickly realized however, that using a chocolate bar would not work, as it would just get lost in a scene with toys. I decided to use a teddy bear as the shape of the melting object, since that is arguably one of the most commonly used symbols for childhood.

Main steps of the process:

The simulation was made in Houdini, rendered using Redshift, and composited in DaVinci Resolve.

Simulation:

The simulation itself is not a too complex one but it doesn't need to be. A well-thought-out source can make possibly any simulation look amazing, no matter how simplistic a dopnet is.

I had decided right at start of the project what the effect should look like. I imagined smaller areas melting faster than the rest of the object, which can be achieved by setting different viscosity levels to certain points. So, finding the somewhat proper values for the viscosity was the first step. The next one was selecting the points. I selected a few points within the object and scattered some on the surface of it as well. I clipped the points below a certain height, since I wanted to make sure that the melting effect is less pronounced on the legs of the teddy bear. I randomized the scale of these points and then I copied spheres to them. I also added a mountain node to break the spheres' uniform shape. Finally, I tweaked the viscosity values once again, but this time while they were applied to the selected points to get the final result. 

Layout:

I knew from the start that creating an immersive layout would be an essential part of the project, which is why I spent a fair amount of time on it. In the first phase I was just searching for assets, which would add to the scene. Luckily, I found quite a few assets on Quixel Bridge. Then I imported every single one of them and quickly set up the materials, keeping in mind the proper color spaces. Finally I started actually laying out the assets in a way that would direct the viewers eyes into the main focus area, the melting teddy bear. 

I always strive to keep my projects organised, so that the node system doesn't get too confusing. Sometimes I work long hours without an actual break from the project, and those few minutes that it takes to make sure my node system is nice and tidy also helps me clear my mind.

Disclaimer:

All of the assets and texture maps used in the project were downloaded from Quixel Bridge.