Thick and Sticky Honey Simulation in C4D

[piece-quality]

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to create a simulation of thick, sticky honey flowing over a sculpture in Cinema 4D, but I’m struggling to get a convincing result using the native tools.

What I want to achieve:

"Honey blobs" that retain their volume without gaining or losing mass.
A slow and compact flow that doesn’t spread out too much but instead merges with other flowing parts.
Honey that follows the shape of the sculpture, flows down to the base, and then onto the ground.
Honey that gets stuck in crevices but is eventually pulled along with the rest, so that by the end of the animation, all the honey has left its original state.

I’ve tried different approaches using C4D’s native particle systems and dynamics, but I can’t seem to achieve a realistic and coherent fluid motion. Unfortunately, Insydium/X-Particles is out of my budget.

Does anyone have ideas on the best method to simulate this thick, viscous liquid using only C4D’s built-in tools?

Here the link : https://we.tl/t-N9Q19xfklj

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Dr. Sassi]

Hi piece-quality,

Please have a look here:
https://projectfiles.maxon.net/Cineversity_Forum_Support/2025_PROJECTS_DRS/20250128_CV4_2025_drs_25_SIsh_01c4d.zip

The example from above would be the simplest way. If more details are needed, I would place the particles into a Cloner with little spheres as Clones and have them "explore" the collisions. This is way more calculation, but creates a better interaction, as the size of the spheres is in the game. Then, use the Tracer to turn that information into splines and feed the Volume object with the result of the Tracer.

However, perhaps with some tweaks of the Tracer (I have animated the length over time), please explore how the Smoothing might also affect the results over time.

The Volume settings are surely crucial here as well. This means there is a lot to explore and to do Art-direct here. Given the scene, I assume you have a very clear vision of the result, and I hope your artistic intent can be turned into the renderings you are after.

My best wishes.

https://www.youtube.com/live/qWmJR0gptuQ?t=3988&si=oZlnhKTZ_5kuY1mb

[piece-quality]

Thank you for your quick response!
The tracer technique is amazing, I'm getting really close to what I want!

However, I didn’t quite understand the cloner technique...
How can I combine both a particle group and a small sphere in a cloner?

[Dr. Sassi]

Thanks for the reply, piece-quality,

It has some complexity, but I hope you enjoy exploring it.

CV4_2025_drs_25_MGhp_02.c4d

Typically,*, the information flow moves from top to bottom, which is preferable for any scene, but it is also good to read the setup easily.
*(the Volume goes from child to parent, first Volume then Mesh)

Enjoy