Caustics in (slo-)motion

Caustics appear when light refracts and concentrates through a liquid or glass, and can take a long time to render at high quality. This slow motion fluid simulation started as an experiment in using two layers of particles with different densities. In the final render the densities are discarded and all of the particles are meshed into a fluid volume.

Created in Cinema 4D and X-Particles. Rendered in Redshift.

An alternate style where the particles are rendered inside a clear fluid, giving the appearance of glitter glue.

This was the original look but the pattern occurring at the surface didn't look great as an animation.