And then there was one! Day 31 of Mardini 2026 is time to Refract on the experience of all the entries you created this month. Congratulations to everyone for creating such amazing work. Every day we were challenged to pick from a host of wonderful art.
The Best Image and Best Animation will be judged over the next week and if you are going to submit for the Ironheart be sure to download and fill in the Ironheart Contact Sheet [www.sidefx.com]
After the winners have been announced, there will be a form for them to claim their prize. Watch out for that post.
Until then enjoy the final challenge of Mardini 2026!
Robert Magee Senior Product Marketing Manager SideFX
For this entry, I try to replicate an iconic album design, I couldn't bend the light and separate the channels of light with the transmission calculations, but wanted to emulate it with particles moving across the prism. Also... something weird, at some point of the rendering process, the particles appears like fur, I don't know if the velocity attribute made this or what, I can't remember how to fix it now but... no time for render again.
I can't believe I finally made it to the end. I've learned so much and have been deeply inspired by all of you every single day. It was truly an honor to create and show works alongside artists from around the world. Thank you for this incredible journey.
Did lot's of funky RnD for this one, it was supposed to be super quick cuts with various refractive objects, but it takes too much time to render these :0 Thanks for participating it wouldn't be the same without you <3
MARDINI 2026 | Day 31: REFRACT | Final Day! For the final day, the theme was "Refract." I decided to build a procedural diamond generator and drop them into a rigid body simulation to see how the light would play off the facets.
This month has been a massive learning curve. I learned a lot about where I need to improve and picked up plenty of tips and tricks from the pros. It was both fun and stressful, so thanks for hosting such a productive event! I walked away with some great pieces to add to my portfolio.
Zbrush was used for the character, so this entry is not eligible. I did it mainly to spend more time on rigging and animating, since I already modeled quite a few characters in Houdini.
But Mardini was a great experience and I thought I make an entry to celebrate. Its also my first time using Apex and Animation in General. I also tried to animate the hair and created Blendshapes using Shot Sculpt, but quickly got overwelmed by the short timing. I really like the Autorig Builder and Animation was fast and fluid. Took me an hour to find out that I need a scene invoke to get the animation into Solaris.
My first Mardini is coming to an end! It’s been super fun, and I’ve loved seeing everyone’s work.
It was tough meeting the daily deadlines, but it helped me learn so many techniques—especially how to pivot to "Plan B" when the renders or the ideas in my head just weren’t working out.
It’s been a pleasure, and I’ll see you next year with more!
Procedural greetings to everyone!
Thanks side FX team for mardini!!!You are the best!!!
Refract. 
but... no time for render again.
