Bioré Charcoal Face Wash

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A very quick turn-around and intense request from the skincare company, Biore, was a unique challenge that I worked on around the start of the pandemic. Working along side one other 3D artist / animator, we were tasked with creating a series of scenes showcasing Biore's powerful deep cleaning face wash in a pore-like environment filled with gross grease, skin flakes, oil, and questionable goop which were then cleansed and uplifted by a bubbling sparkling foam of charcoal infused face wash.

Pictured above was the hero "booger" scene I created, see the spot below in it's entirety.

Here's a breakdown of the hero booger scene specifically, and how it among many other scenes with simulations and softbodies were pulled off in just under two weeks (thanks Rebus!).

Concept

Biore's vision of the scene was fairly straightforward. Show gunk in it's natural environment in a hair follicle or skin pore, then show a visual dramatization of how it's removed. A few popular motion graphics pieces were referenced, particularly looking for something with that repeating "booger" quality in classic SSS rendering...yet another hurdle on a short deadline.

R&D

A lot of variables had to be figured out quickly, so I dived into testing various subsurface scattering textures, reflectivity, etc. We used what I think was a simple rock pack with a simple asteroid looking chunk.

However our booger "hero chunk" would really come to life with some Jello-like softbody dynamics. Our lead animator, Sky Goodman, was responsible and more knowledgeable about setting up correct softbody settings in C4D (since they are at times, rogue and not cooperative), and once done was passed off to me for a variety of motion tests. Part of the request from Biore was making the chunk look like it was lodged, and would get "sucked" out by a magnetic force in cooperation with the bubbles that wash over it and loosen it up. In these examples I also threw an Xparticles system on to get a better feel for how our future bubble system would need to operate.

In total I used three or four different bubble systems. Some, in XP, others simple matrix / cloners that were parented to the hero chunk and other chunks. Later on there was also some discussion as to how oil the "hero bubbles" that eventually lift the hero chunk would need to be, via dispersion and some caustics that needed to be tweaked. Bubbles are strange things, get the IOR the wrong way and it comes off as glass spheres rather than transparent pockets of air.

Blocking

I then moved on to blocking and populating the skin pore with a variety of skin flakes, booger chunks, dirt, and other debris to kind of cake the skin pore over in what might be considered acne build up.

Bubble System

From the onset of the project, we knew the visual representation of the facewash would be tricky. We were a bit out of time and rendering power to produce full water sims as one might expect, so a Realflow or Houdini answer was not really an option. Luckily the client was preferable towards showing the product as a wave of suds, which in combination with the "charcoal magnet" up above the pore, would loosen gunk and dirt before it ascended up and away.

An initial system of simple cloners would animate a wave on left to right across the pore bottom.

And combined with our sucking motion, softbody simulations, and levitation of other chunks in the scene, it was starting to come together.

However, to the client it was felt that the face wash was more or less simply growing on, or scaling up as it literally is, rather than pouring into the pore. And so we began tinkering with XP systems to achieve a more wave like rush of suds. I'm not exactly sure why some of the previz examples had a very marble glass look to them lol, but that later changed.

This was a step in the right direction, but the XP bubbles seemed to heavy with too much gravity.

I think at this point in the process, I was needed on another scene looking up towards the charcoal magnet, so Sky took some brief time to test a more airy bubble spill that felt more sudsy. We ran quite a few previzes after the fact.

Eventually a correct combination of cloners and XP were met, and with aforementioned elements, the scene was close to final. Of course upon review the client loved it but requested what was more or less expected...can you add like way more of those bubbles? Sure thing. :D

Final

Of course with some post work and speed ramping, this scene flies by in the blink of an eye, but it was nevertheless a fantastic project to work and learn on.