Can Blender Simulations Create a Realistic Candle Wax Melting Effect?

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Hi everyone,

I’m working on a project that I need to complete entirely in Blender within a short time. One part of the project requires creating a realistic candle wax dripping and melting effect, like the reference image below:

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I’ve tried:

  • Fluid Simulations: Very limited control, with no parameters like weight attributes to customize the flow.
  • Geometry Nodes: Quite complex to set up for good results; it feels like you’d have to remake a solver from scratch, similar to Houdini’s Vellum or FLIP Fluids.

So, is it possible to achieve this effect with Blender’s current tools? Are there any free addons or techniques that could help me achieve it?

Thanks!

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I don’t want to say it’s impossible, but practically speaking, it is.

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In a limited amount of time? No. If you had six months to play around with it? Maybe

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Thanks. I’m sorry if it seemed obvious, but I did have some hope. It might be the fastest solved question on this forum I think :sweat_smile:

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Thank you for your honest answer.I thought so but was in denial, I was still hoping that someone had a secret technique. :joy:

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I’m trying to think through how this could work… I think the “best” way would be to make a super high poly mesh of the candle and sculpt shapekeys, but this isn’t a simulation, so it doesn’t count for your requirements :wink:

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The best “hack” I could think of would involve shrink-wrapping a skin over a compound object.

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SDF would probably work really well, they have that molten flowiness already, but animating that… I’m not aware of any SDF solution that lets you easily animate the primitives :thinking: @Metin_Seven ?

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This is the answer.

You could absolutely do it, but it would indeed involve spending months in the node editor.

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I really think SDF nodes in geometry nodes could get you there, but I don’t think it would be fast or easy. Animating each single drip would involve animating dozens of primitives, and getting it to look good would require… hmm… I’d guess a timelapse of a melting candle video and going through frame by frame to match it. If I was asked to do this at work, I’d give an estimate of a full work month to make it happen (or suggest finding a different way, like compositing a video of a candle into whatever)

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Yes , thanks.
I’ve been testing different things for 2-3 days now, but it’s very difficult to get a decent result in such a short time. Here, for example, I’ve tried to mimic the effect using only surface deformation.

But I’d have to generate points in a volume instead, and calculating the falling drops will take a long time…

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That’s not a bad start, tbh. The visual effect is fairly compelling, if not fully simulation accurate.

Remember, faking it is always an option!

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If you combined this with some Boolean volume loss over time, I think you’d have what you need

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In the typical case of a candle melting, I’d probably setup a simulation zone to generate a wax pool via proximity to the wick/flame.
Then I would generate points from the wax pool and have them trace the lowest path down (similar to an erosion generator), this trace can then be used to displace the wax, either inward (when hot enough to melt the base wax) or outward (when the wax is cooling and solidifying)

I do think it is possible, but would certainly take a lot of time to make it work right.

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Hmm… someone melted Suzanne !!! (in 2022 !!)
:exploding_head:

and made this:

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thank you I had already seen it. To be honest, the effect isn’t very convincing. But it’s useful and gives you ideas, thank you.

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It’s always good to tell what someone has seen already… :wink:

Nevertheless: this could be base for further developement.

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Animated SDF primitives are possible in Blender using one of these add-ons:

Or you could try Blender’s native metaballs.

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You can use experimental sdf boolean in combination with wetmap displacing normals. Can come close with a bit of fiddling.
candlemelt.blend (2.9 MB)

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Thank you very much for this solution. It could be pretty good with a little more preservation of the melting volume and a few adjustments, thank you! Even if it’s always difficult reach the right aspect at the end…