OVERVIEW
For María Becerra’s music video Imán, we worked as VFX supervisors, collaborating from pre-production through filming to ensure the seamless integration of all visual effects with the live-action footage.

One of the main challenges of the project was the creation of multiple chewing gum simulations, each requiring different physical behaviors and levels of viscosity. To achieve this, we developed custom setups in Houdini, combining fluid simulations, particle systems, and Vellum, allowing us to represent a wide range of textures, from elastic stretches to dense, organic surfaces.

A key sequence involved the gum expanding and completely covering the characters, requiring an effect similar to the organic spread seen in Venom. This required precise control over the simulation to achieve a result that felt both natural and stylized, while maintaining continuity with the performance and camera movement.

For the final chewing gum statue, we performed on-set 3D scans of the actors and later sculpted over the scanned geometry to reach the required level of detail and artistic direction.
We also supervised the scanning process during the shoot to ensure clean data capture and to facilitate accurate integration during post-production.

The project was completed under very tight deadlines, which required optimizing both the simulation pipelines and the overall workflow, allowing us to deliver the expected level of visual quality within the available timeframe.