Spies in Disguise
A Blue Sky Studios Film
Effects Reel
Glitter
Glitter was created by instancing double-sided circles onto a particle simulation. The characters and set geometry were used as emitters and colliders for the particles. In addition to a spinning motion, each particle was given a randomized initial normal value to create more variation between the glitter pieces and direction they face. For the large-scale shots, several systems of glitter were created, and the emission of each system was based on custom noise patterns to keep the showers of glitter from looking too uniform.
Birdnado
The Birdnado effect is made up of 3 main effects: a volumetric layer, a particle layer, and a feather layer. All 3 layers are influenced by the velocity of the swirling pigeons, with an additional custom spiral and suction force added at the center of the vortex to create upward motion at the eye of the storm. The feathers are sourced from the random pigeons in the flock, and one of 3 different feathers are assigned to the advected points. Similar to the glitter, the feathers have additional randomized spinning movement.
Destruction & Debris
Small debris was created using particle and volume simulations. To achieve more organic movement and emission, a lot of reference was collected and used for comparison.
For destruction and more complex debris and dust, several layers of effects were added to create overlapping motion and give the shot a more natural feeling.
Champagne
This effect was made by combining several simulations. The main fluid simulation was emitted from basic geometry into the glass, with a percentage of the created points being assigned "foam" values upon creation. Foam points were assigned different density and divergence values than the main champagne liquid points, causing the foam points to naturally expand and rise to the surface of the champagne.
To create variation in the foam between micro bubbles and larger bubbles, a small percent of the foam points were randomly selected to be rendered as custom bubble geometry. This custom geometry would detect if the large bubbles were near one another, and combine the bubbles at the point of contact to replicate how bubbles connect in real life.
The interior rising bubbles are a particle simulation emitting from the glass, and are revealed and advected by the main fluid simulation. The effervescence is created similarly, except it is sourced from the upper surface of the liquid..