FAQ

A particle animation is made up of a huge number of tiny individual elements – particles. Each particle on its own is simple: a point, a small sphere, sometimes a sprite or a small 3D object. The interesting part only emerges from the sheer quantity: when thousands or millions of these particles are simulated according to physical rules, complex, organic motion emerges – smoke, sparks, dust, explosions, flowing water, swirling snow and much more. That's exactly where the name comes from: it's literally animation made of particles, not objects animated by hand in the classic sense.

Practically every 3D application today ships with its own particle system, but for demanding simulations a few programs have established themselves as specialist tools. Houdini by SideFX is widely regarded as the industry standard for complex simulations – its strength lies in its procedural workflow, which lets you control particles, fluids, smoke and fire down to the finest detail. X-Particles by Insydium has established itself as a standard in parallel, especially within Cinema 4D and now also available for Blender. And Cinema 4D itself has gained its own native particle system in recent years, powerful enough for many use cases without needing a plugin at all.

So what's a fluid simulation, then? Fluid or liquid simulations are, at their core, nothing more than particle animations – just governed by different physical rules. While "classic" particles are often calculated using the principles of wind, turbulence or smoke behavior, the particles in a fluid simulation follow the physical laws of water: surface tension, viscosity, how liquid behaves on impact, how it pools and flows. At the end of the simulation, these particles are meshed into a continuous surface, turning the particle cloud into a believable, solid-looking body of water. The boundaries between the two are fluid in every sense: smoke can behave like a liquid, lava sits somewhere in between.

Whether it's sparks, dust, smoke, an explosion or realistic water – the same underlying technique sits behind all of these looks: particle simulation. The difference lies in the physical rules the particles are calculated by, and in the software used to build them. With Houdini, X-Particles and Cinema 4D's native particle system, I cover all three relevant tools – whichever fits your project best.

What this looks like in practice can be seen in my liquid simulation made of 7 million particles, the whitewater simulation with the alien, the crown splash with Houdini FLIP or the growing particle form with X-Particles.

Many young creators producing content for Instagram, TikTok or YouTube today think they're doing something entirely new – something that has nothing to do with classic advertising anymore. In reality, though, the core of the work has stayed the same. The software used to create classic TV and cinema ad spots is exactly the same software used today to create social media content: Premiere for editing, After Effects for animation and motion graphics, 3D tools like Cinema 4D or Houdini for more elaborate work. Content creation is, at its core, advertising production under a different name and a different distribution channel.

What has really changed is the format. Instead of thinking in classic widescreen, projects today often have to be conceived in portrait (9:16), sometimes also in 1:1 or 4:5. That calls for a different visual approach – framing, camera movement and cutting pace all have to be rethought for the new format. But the underlying craft and tools behind it stay the same.

New tools have been added along the way, such as online tools like Canva or the use of AI, which can simplify or speed up certain steps. But that doesn't change the underlying principle: good content production still means combining different disciplines – video, 2D animation, 3D animation, VFX – deliberately, to create films that ultimately serve one goal: successfully selling a product or a brand.

That exact combination of disciplines is my specialty. Video, 2D and 3D animation, and VFX all come together under one roof with me, so you don't need to coordinate several specialists for your content production. That can mean the complete film, from idea to final edit, just as well as individual building blocks: a packshot, a 3D animation, or an effect that I deliver and that someone else then integrates into the final edit. That keeps you flexible, whether you're looking for a complete package or specific elements for your project.

The cost of a 3D animation mainly depends on three factors: length, complexity and level of detail. Liquid simulations, splash animations, smoke or particles need a lot of computing time and several iterations – often numerous previews are created until shape and timing are right. Up to the final render, we review the work together using so-called flipbooks, i.e. quick preview renders of the simulation. That's why even a short clip of just a few seconds can mean several days of work.

For the fluid simulation itself, the following guide prices roughly apply:

Guide prices for the fluid simulation itself, all prices net plus VAT. Each seconds row is a total price including setup. Additionally charged depending on effort: scene building and 3D modelling, camera animation, shading, lighting and rendering, compositing and colour grading, additional formats, 4K and express delivery. Clips longer than 10 seconds are quoted individually as a VFX or full production.

For a complete CGI product video or 3D commercial, scene building, camera animation, rendering and compositing are added, as are additional formats such as 16:9 for web and TV and 9:16 for Instagram, Reels and TikTok. The best way is to send me a short description of your project via the contact form – you'll then get a concrete quote.

Fake Out of Home, or FOOH for short, are CGI commercials in which products seem to appear at giant scale in real city spaces – a sneaker box on a building facade, a drink flowing over a bridge. In reality it's all 3D animation integrated into real footage using VFX. FOOH videos don't run on billboards but as social media ads on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, where the wow factor makes them get shared particularly often.

Technically it's classic VFX: the camera movement in the live-action footage is extracted via motion tracking, the 3D object is animated in Cinema 4D and rendered with matching light, and finally composited seamlessly into the footage. One example is my FOOH clip for Nike.

Whenever a real shoot would be complex, expensive or simply impossible. Liquids in beverage, food and cosmetics advertising are the classic example: a perfect splash around a can, chocolate flowing over a product in slow motion, or milk forming a crown. In reality that requires high-speed cameras, many attempts and a lot of cleaning up. With a fluid simulation, every movement can be controlled precisely and repeated as often as needed.

On top of that comes flexibility: colours, backgrounds and camera angles can be changed afterwards, products can be shown through 3D product visualisation before a prototype even exists, and one scene can be turned into several formats for web, TV and social media.

Examples from my portfolio – beverages: Pepsi cola splash, Pepsi breakdown with X-Particles, VOSS premium water, whiskey splash, coffee from an espresso machine.

Food and confectionery: Toffifee, Ehrmann blueberry splash, Cherries and Milk, Cherries in Water, chocolate between cookies, oranges in a juice splash, chocolate ice cream.

Cosmetics and skincare: LAB SERIES water splash, La Roche-Posay cream, green cosmetics splash “Dramatic Design”.

Simulations and tests: crown splash with Houdini FLIP, whitewater with an alien, astronaut in whitewater, liquid made of 7 million particles, elegant liquid with X-Particles, liquid animation with X-Particles.