Alt+
Liquid Simulation • Interactive AI Chat Experience • 2025
The Challenge
Alt+ approached us with a clear and bold question: can we use liquid shapes to communicate with our clients using our AI chatbot. By twisting, morphing, and simulating the black fluid we need to convey complex emotions in a way that is easy to understand by anyone. The catch — this all needs to run, in real time, on our website.
Houdini
Spline
Next.js
The Solution
Using Houdini we researched different movements and expressions and found that combining slow, calm and confident movement when the AI character was listening with active, energetic movement when the AI was transitioning between states provided the best experience.
The second step was recreating these shapes in Spline's SDF modeling suite, keeping in mind performance, quality and art direction. Through a custom workflow we were able to retain the liquid effects and comfortably move between various "emotional states of intelligence".
The material of the liquid was also a large part of our research — too colorful felt quite light and too reflective didn't convey intelligence enough. We settled on a material that was able to gently transition between a rippling liquid and a strong and even material.
Emotional States of Intelligence
The Result
By integrating the Spline website's high quality visuals into the Alt+ development environment, we were able to confidently create an experimental and convincing interactive experience. When working with AI you always want to make sure each iteration is safe and controlled — using Next.js we were able to ensure both visual quality and safety.
Note: This project was a creative exploration and the official website is no longer online.
